THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270530
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 79 lines
The worst fears of Tallwood High School parents and administrators were realized last week when a 16-year-old driver careened into three fellow students.
Concerned citizens have lobbied for two years to have school zone caution lights and pavement markings installed in front of the school on Kempsville Road.
With the recent accident, the group has stepped up its efforts to try to force the city to action, beginning with a petition drive at tonight's homecoming football game.
``Our biggest fear was that we would have students killed or seriously injured,'' said the Tallwood principal, Bernard E. Morgan III. ``There's no question in my mind that we need the markings.''
City engineers have long told the group that the area did not meet specific requirements for a school zone for several reasons, one being that the school sits back from the busy four-lane road and has its own driveway on Lions Way. Engineers also say that traffic from the school and on Kempsville Road is already managed by a traffic signal at the intersection of Lions Way and Kempsville Road and that the intersection is equipped with push-button pedestrian signals.
``Reduced speed doesn't really change the measures of traffic safety when you have a fully actuated traffic signal there,'' said John Herzke, the city's traffic engineer. Engineers investigated the possibility of adding the warnings last year and will do so again in light of the recent concerns, he added.
``At this point, our recommendation to date is we don't think it's justified,'' Herzke said. ``Obviously we can put them in, but we just question the nature of the accident. If it was someone going through the light at Kempsville it'd be different but there's no evidence of that type of driver behavior through there.''
Most of the accidents reported at the intersection have been rear-end collisions. Because the road is straight, Herzke said, ``that section of highway functions very well at 45 miles per hour.''
The real solution, he said, is to do a lot more in the way of safety reinforcement for student drivers. ``Putting up signs, markings and lights may make some people feel better but it isn't going to change what the root problem is - driver behavior,'' Herzke said.
Parents respond that the reasons given by engineers just aren't good enough and they cite the recent accident as proof that something needs to be done.
``In October 1994 we began requesting school zone markings and/or flashing lights,'' said Pat Bullock, who, as president of the Parent Teacher Student Association, is spearheading the effort. ``People don't pay attention to the fact that there's a school here.''
At about 2 p.m. Sept. 20, a 16-year-old student's car went out of control after turning left onto Kempsville Road from Lions Way and struck three students walking home. Two of the girls, Rosanne Marie Haga, 17, and Jessi Leigh Machak, 15, have been released from the hospital. The third, Nicole D. Jones, 17, is listed in stable condition at Sentara Norfolk General.
Charges are pending against the driver, said Mike Carey, a police spokesman.
Bullock said, ``Had he lost control at 25 miles per hour he may have been able to recover. At 45 miles per hour, even an experienced driver would have trouble trying to recover. I know that 25 miles per hour at that time of day could have made a difference.''
Bullock added that students don't always cross at the pedestrian signal and that if traffic was going slower, the risk of getting hit would be lower. Bullock also is concerned about the timing of the traffic light and the pedestrian signal.
Two Virginia Beach high schools, Princess Anne and Cox, don't have pavement markings or flashing lights. Both sit back off main highways where traffic is controlled by signals in front of the schools. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
GARY C. KNAPP
Tallwood High School students Matt Nelson and Tracey Brickhouse
stand at the intersection on Kempsville Road where they say school
zone lights and markings are needed.
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