Potential Lawsuits Trump Safety at Rural Tamaroa Intersection

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ A rural Tamaroa woman is offering to purchase four "Stop" signs, four "Stop Ahead" signs and the eight steel posts it will take to help protect an intersection northwest of Tamaroa where one of five accident victims died in a June 1 car/truck wreck.

Perry County highway engineer Doug Bishop said both the intersection and the accident are the subject of a review by his department.

Bishop said the dilemma is this: If a rural intersection is unmarked and has never been marked then the county believes it has no liability in an accident. Once the county fully marks the intersection as a four-way stop intersection, then the county assumes liability if the vandalism or absence of any or all of the signs results in a wreck.

The absence of signs has nothing to do with the cost of the signs.

But, the law and the risk of liability stand in the way of saving lives.

Mrs. Theresa Knapp lives at the intersection of Falcon and Grosbeak Roads where the deadly accident took place. Knapp sees the traffic pass there day and night and has witnessed a number of close calls.

On Monday, she told the newspaper, "A couple of members of the county road department came out to the intersection earlier today. My husband and father-in-law approached them about putting up stop signs at the intersection and we were told that there would be no stop signs put up."

Bishop confirmed his highway foreman was at the scene Monday as part of the review.

" I am outraged. For years we have watched close calls at that intersection as cars, trucks, semi trucks loaded with grain and fuel tanker trucks fly through there at 55+ mph," she continued.

The intersection is completely unmarked. There are no yield signs, stop signs or caution intersection signs. There are absolutely no warning signs of an intersection," she adds.

"Imagine watching cars go through it at 55 mph (Because that is, after all, the speed limit on roads outside of city limits where the speed limit is unmarked) all day long. It's a sickening feeling in your stomach every time you hear or see a car blow through there. I don't understand how the county can get away with not having any warning signs, especially after a fatal accident because of that reason alone!" she said.

" That intersection is in my front yard and I do especially feel strongly about this. But, it's not the only intersection in rural Perry County that lacks stop signs. Drive any of the rural roads out here and see how dangerous it is. Within a one- mile square block there are four such intersections that do not have any warning. And I know from driving on other Perry County roads that they are all the same. They just don't get it," says Knapp.

"I would like to know if I purchased four 'stop' signs, four 'stop ahead' signs, four way signs and eight posts to donate to the county for that intersection would it be possible to have the news cover it. At least then our intersection would be marked. What excuse could they have to not put them up if they are not costing the county a dime?" she says.

A 20-year-old Coulterville man was killed, three other victims in the same car were hurt and a truck driver in the other vehicle was injured in the crash just off Shamrock Road northwest of Tamaroa Monday.

Perry County deputies, the Tamaroa Fire Department and Pinckneyville Ambulance Service all responded directly to the accident scene as well as two medical evacuation helicopters from Arch Medical Evacuation Services of Sparta and Medivac Medical Services of Mount Vernon.

A 1997 Chevrolet car driven by Brianna Stehl, 17, of Pinckneyville was struck in the passenger side by a 1992 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by Travis Reidelberger, a Tamaroa native, now of Waltonville.

Stehl had three passengers in her vehicle--Thomas Bittle, 19, of Tamaroa; Danielle Burton, 17, of Pinckneyville and Charles Solt, 20, of Coulterville.

Solt passed away at the St. Louis Hospital from his injuries.

Bishop said he could not comment on the accident or the intersection because of potential pending litigation from the accident.