Go South to the Roundabout to Go North

Over the past 10 years, there have been 9,413 total crashes in Door County, resulting in 33 fatalities and 1,925 injuries. Shown here are 8,833 of those crashes mapped out. Transportation and law-enforcement officials say that education to change motorists’ behavior needs to play a larger role than it currently does in preventing accidents. Source: Community Maps–Wisconsin County TSC Crash Mapping Program.

Education efforts needed to help change local driving behaviors

Preventing car crashes means, in part, engineering safe roads and intersections. Law enforcement helps by writing tickets to try to change motorists’ behavior. 

But there’s a third leg of that crash-prevention stool called education, and that’s often missing, said Randy Wiesinger, a liaison/consultant for WisDOT’s Bureau of Transportation Safety Law Enforcement.

Wiesinger said the data show that 87% of motorists involved in local crashes are Door County residents.

“Many of us have a perception that the crash rate goes up because of visitors,” he said. “That’s not who’s crashing. It’s 87% residents in Door County, and higher at that intersection.”

“That intersection” is where Gordon Road/County BB intersects Highway 42/57 in Sevastopol. It was the main topic of discussion last week during the Door County Highway Safety Commission’s quarterly meeting. Almost half the accidents at the intersection happen when motorists traveling eastbound on Gordon Road are attempting a left turn onto the highway.

Instead, Wiesinger said, those motorists should be educated to automatically head south on the highway to the roundabout, and then swing back around to head north. 

“We need to educate the residents of Door County,” he said. “If you want to be safe for you and your family and friends, don’t turn left and go north. Go south to the roundabout.”

Officials surmise that’s not happening because local residents – waylaid by the additional traffic and longer travel times – become frustrated and impatient. Higher traffic volumes, however, are just a fact of life during the tourist season, and Jenny Austin with the Wisconsin State Patrol said education efforts can focus in general on the need for adjusted time management. 

“When traffic volumes are heavy, you have to allow extra time,” she said. “You have to plan that into your trip. You’ve got to leave earlier.”