Kane County beefs up safety at site of fatal St. Charles crash
In response to the death of a recent St. Charles North High School graduate, Kane County moved this week toward immediate traffic safety improvements at an intersection that's seen an increasing number of accidents.
Kevin White, a former baseball player at the school, was a passenger in a 2009 gray Chevy Malibu driven by his friend Mason Koffenberger on Aug. 16. As they drove north on Randall Road, a 2016 silver Toyota Sienna driven by an Elgin man turned left onto Red Gate Road in front of Koffenberger's vehicle. Koffenberger veered off the roadway to avoid a collision and struck a traffic signal pole. White, 19, didn't survive his injuries.
Koffenberger is still dealing with the emotional wounds a month later, said his mother, Deanna Velazquez, in a tear-filled plea to county board members this week.
"Aug. 16 was a day I will never forget," she said. "Please consider a change at the intersection. The community in which we all live, his classmates, his baseball teammates, and the students that attend North now have to drive through that intersection. I don't want any family to go through this again."
Velazquez was just one of several people to speak of the dangers of the Randall-Red intersection.
Ella Roth, a senior at St. Charles North, said she was also in a crash at that intersection in 2020. She also witnessed a subsequent collision there during her time at the high school.
"This is a problem that needs to be addressed immediately," Roth told the county board.
She also presented a petition with 8,000 signatures supporting safety changes, especially a protected left-turn traffic signal.
With accident data supporting what Roth and others shared anecdotes about, Steve Zulkowski, the chief of traffic operations, said that's what his team will put in place.
The speed limit at that intersection is 50 mph. But Zulkowski's data showed it's not uncommon for vehicles to zip through in excess of 67 mph, particularly when drivers are rushing to or from St. Charles North in the morning or afternoon. There have been 63 accidents there since 2016, with 11 so far in 2022.
Part of the problem seems to be the flashing yellow arrow that governs the same left turns at the heart of the accident that killed White. The county will change that to the more common green turn arrow during daylight hours. The idea is to help prevent the misjudging of how quickly oncoming traffic is approaching.
During evening hours, when traffic is lighter, the intersection will revert to the flashing yellow.
County officials will also adjust the timing of the lights, improve the striping to account for the long queuing of cars waiting to make turns, and beef up traffic enforcement during busy times.
County board member Drew Frasz, chairman of the board's transportation committee, said the county staff began examining changes the same day of the accident.
"We have a big high school at the end of a two-lane country road," Frasz said. "We have a surge problem in the morning and afternoons and when there are big events at the school where you have a lot of young drivers in a hurry to get there. Safety is our top priority."
County officials will also explore extending the school safety zone near the high school as a way to justify possibly lowering the speed limit. Existing state and county rules currently block any speed adjustments.