Deadly intersection to get lights

Stephen Curran and Launce Rake

Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004 | 9:41 a.m.

An intersection where a traffic collision took the life of a little girl in September is to get stopgap flashing warning lights today.

The Clark County Public Works Department was scheduled to install flashing beacons this morning at Hualapai Way and Desert Inn Road, where a driver ran the stop sign and hit the car in which 7-year-old Debbie Blinder was on her way to school with her mother and younger brother. Debbie died of her injuries a short time later.

The county plans to install a full, four-way traffic light at the intersection, but the process of selecting a contractor and having the work completed could take months, Public Works officials have warned.

Blinder's parents and others have criticized the county for not installing the traffic lights sooner. County officials have said, however, that traffic lights at the intersection may not have prevented the crash.

They pointed out in a recent public hearing that 57-year-old Sharon Rapstad, the driver of the sport-utility vehicle that failed to stop at the intersection's stop signs, lived just a few miles away, so she probably was familiar with the intersection and its stop signs.

Rapstad was issued a traffic ticket for the collision.

The flashing warning light planned for the intersection is a new, relatively inexpensive and solar powered piece of equipment from Canada. Public Works will install seven of the warning beacons above the existing stop signs.

Clark County Public Works spokesman Bobby Shelton said it will probably take the installers about an hour to complete the work. At $1,900 for each warning light, the total cost for the intersection will be about $13,000.

County officials said they will monitor the effectiveness of the flashing beacons, and they could be used at other intersections as warnings of upcoming four-way stop signs.

"Although we are adding to the already in-place traffic control devices, it will still require the intersection's motorists to pay attention to their surroundings and stop their vehicles prior to entering the intersection," Shelton said.

The Regional Transportation Commission approved the $60,000 for the new traffic light after the crash, but the agency will have to select a contractor and purchase the elements needed for the light.

The county said in a written release that it plans to "fast track" the purchase of materials needed for the construction of the new light and expects to begin advertising for a bid for work later this month.

About three-dozen similar intersections now qualify for traffic signals. Of those, 10 do not have funding for the new lights, county officials said.

The County Commission last month told the county's Public Works Department to develop a comprehensive strategy for enhancing the safety of intersections where each intersection is controlled by stop signs. The program will include strategies for streamlining and speeding up the installation of traffic signals at all priority intersections.

A progress report on the effort is to go to the commissioners at their Nov. 16 meeting.