Intersection safety still a concern

A year after Kalispell teenager Allison Fifield died in a traffic accident at Stillwater Road and West Reserve Drive, a nearly identical crash happened recently at the same intersection.

This time, the results weren't tragic - the young driver whose vehicle was hit by a dump truck was not injured.

But traffic in the formerly rural part of the valley has become almost a nonstop parade of gravel trucks and passenger vehicles. A recent traffic study showed 7.4 vehicles passing east and west through the intersection per minute.

That's about to be compounded by the opening of Glacier High School near that intersection in fall 2007.

Kalispell Police Chief Frank Garner took his officers to the intersection where Fifield was killed when a loaded truck rolled through a stop sign and hit her vehicle.

They stood at a memorial for the girl and Garner said, "Never again."

Garner, though, has limited jurisdiction at the intersection on the western edge of the city limits. Only one quarter of the intersection is inside the city limits. Three quarters is in the county, where it is the responsibility of the Flathead County Sheriff's Office and Montana Highway Patrol.

A state traffic study is in progress there. Another study, commissioned by the Kalispell school district, recommends a four-way stop. Garner thinks that's "highly appropriate."

But he fights what he says is a public misconception about stop signs. Residents complain about the danger of uncontrolled intersections, where there are no signs indicating who should yield. The reality is there have been three fatal accidents in or near the city and all of them were at intersections with stop signs.

At unsigned corners, drivers share "a sense of apprehension," he said. At those with stop signs, drivers may have a false sense of security that people will stop.

On June 23, 2005, Andrew Johnson, 52, didn't stop.

His loaded dump truck crashed into 16-year-old Allison Fifield's Subaru. She died at the scene.

On July 25 this year, "It was the same deal," Garner said.

Henry Kramer, 63, was driving a truck for Precision Dirt Works Inc. His truck ran into a vehicle driven by Emily Tutvedt, 19. This time, no one died. Kramer was cited for failing to yield.

Two things would make the intersection safer, Garner said.

"Enforcement and engineering have to happen," he said. There are currently no boulevards, no sidewalks, no warning of the danger.

Garner is happy to provide enforcement, even though it isn't technically the sole responsibility of his department.

"If we get a call, we respond" and officials can sort out the boundaries later, he said. "I feel personal responsibility" about traffic enforcement there.

His department conducted its own traffic survey at the intersection in May and again in July.

It counted and clocked the speed of vehicles traveling east and west on Reserve. Each survey lasted about nine hours and recorded 3,333 vehicles and 3,610 vehicles, respectively. Their average speed was about 40 mph in the area posted at 55.

A study prepared by Stelling Engineers for the Kalispell school district recommends a four-way stop with striping, advanced signs and an eastbound flashing beacon.

The Department of Transportation will set a school zone speed limit on Reserve Drive, probably before the Glacier High School opens next year, according to a letter from Director Jim Lynch. The department hasn't committed to putting in a four-way stop.

The Flathead Infant, Child Mortality Review Team - a state-funded public health initiative - reviewed Fifield's death and came to the same conclusion her parents did.

Paul and Marlene Fifield say the speed limit should be lower and they think a four-way stop will help.

"If money is an issue, I'll buy a couple of stop signs," Paul Fifield said.

They meet people who offer to sign a petition or do what they can to improve safety at the intersection. They hope it doesn't come to that, but they are willing to do what it takes to help prevent another memorial going up next to their daughter's at the intersection.

"We've been trying to work through the system," Marlene Fifield said. "The system is extremely slow."

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com