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Talent petition drive targets speed limit Photo by Jim Craven Nancy Henderson sets up a booth outside the Talent Wal-Mart to attract voters for her petition to address safety concerns on Highway 99. Highway 99 stretch cited as problem By WENDY SIPOREN TALENT -- Two years ago, Nancy Henderson's car was rear-ended as she attempted to turn left off Highway 99 into her home at the Easy Valley Mobile Village. She vowed then and there to try and get the speed limit reduced on a two-mile stretch of state highway that runs through the city limits. But visits to the doctor to treat a neck injury from the accident sapped her time and energy for the effort. Then, almost two years to the day after Henderson's accident, her neighbor's daughter was hit in the same location. Three days later, the driver of the car responsible for the accident died from his injuries. "That said to me, 'get your butt in gear and do this,' " Henderson said. "It's just been happening way too often this year ... even the fire department has been rear-ended." Since July, Henderson has been talking to neighbors, getting signatures on a petition to have her safety concerns addressed. So far, she has collected more than 260 signatures and secured the support of the Talent City Council. She has even attracted the attention of state transportation officials who will be conducting a speed zone investigation of the area. The current speed limit is 45 mph from Colver Road to just south of Valley View Road. At the entrance to the mobile home park, it increases to 50 mph until the south city limits, where it again rises to 55 mph. Since Henderson broached the subject with the city council, Police Chief C.W. Smith has stepped up patrols on the highway and paid officers overtime to work traffic patrol. He would like to see the speed limit reduced to 40 mph and eventually a traffic signal installed at Rapp Road. Henderson takes her safety concerns a step further. She wants a turn lane added to the highway, as was installed between Medford and Phoenix in 1988. "This is a freeway we've got here," said Henderson. "None of us here in the park feel at all safe turning into this park." While the talk about town is that traffic is getting worse, overall the accident rate along Highway 99 from Colver Road to Creel Road has remained fairly consistent in recent years. Moreover, statewide accident data indicate that the accident rate for that stretch of road is below the state average for this type of road -- hovering around three accidents per million vehicle miles traveled. What has quadrupled this year is the number of accidents at the highway's intersection with Rapp Road -- a major access route to Talent residential areas. In 1998, three of the 27 accidents along the highway were at Rapp Road, according to Talent Police logs. So far this year, there have been 12 accidents at the intersection out of a total of 24 along the highway. The Rapp Road intersection is already on a state list of dangerous spots slated for a traffic signal, according to Gary Colfax, a traffic operations supervisor at the Oregon Department of Transportation. But that doesn't mean a signal is coming soon, he says. The intersection must compete with all the other dangerous intersections for the $200,000 state funding needed to install a signal. While everyone seems to agree that the city has a safety problem -- particularly for people attempting to turn left from the highway who are hit from behind -- it's not clear that either a reduction in the speed limit or the eventual installation of another traffic signal at Rapp Road will mean fewer accidents. In some circumstances, a new traffic signal can actually cause more rear-end accidents because of cars getting backed up, said Colfax. And without a turn-lane, there always will be left-turn accidents. "What a speed reduction will probably do is reduce the severity (of the accidents)," he said. "Putting in a 30 (mph) isn't going to slow people down without enforcement." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA