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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTraffic Safety Commission - Minutes - 2/23/2017MINUTES OF THE BAYFIELD COUNTY TRAFFICE SAFETY COMMITTEE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2017 The regular meeting of the Bayfield County Traffic Safety Committee was called to order by Chairman Paul Susienka at 9:01 am on Thursday, February 23, 2017 at the Bayfield County Emergency Operations Center, Washburn, WI. Attendees: Paul Johanik-Bayfield County Highway Dept., Paul Susienka, Bayfield County Sheriff, Beth Heflin –WI DOT, Matthew Reddy-WI DOT, Don Swedberg-Citizen, Bob Follis -Citizen, Deb Milanowski- Bayfield County Sheriff’s Office. Approval of Minutes: Motion by Sheriff Susienka, 2nd by Paul Johanik to approve the minutes from November 17, 2016. Motion carried. Report from Matt Reddy: Reviewed the 2017 highway projects which include: Chip seal the roadway on Hwy 2 from Sznaider Road to Co Hwy A; on Hwy 13 from Superior Avenue to 7th Street will have culvert repair in June then a resurfacing of the same stretch after the culvert repair is finished. It looks like in 2018 the Iron River Bridge project will be expected to start. Matt informed the committee that this will be his last Traffic Safety Committee meeting. He will be replaced by Dan Bieberitz. Report of Highway Department: Paul Johanik updated the committee on the project scheduled for the summer of 2017 which is the resurfacing of County Hwy D from Chicago Avenue to Grand View. There was also a discussion of load limits on the roads There was a sign put in the wrong spot and should have been at Co. Hwy F. This was posted on 2/20/17. This may be the earliest that road limits have been placed on roads in the county. Report from Paul Susienka: The Sheriff and Deb reviewed with the committee the traffic accidents for the county using the Community Maps program. Discussed the increase in deer crashes, there have been no fatal accidents as of today’s date and reviewed numbers from 2016 as compared to state averages. The Sheriff informed the committee members that we are looking at the MACH system. It interfaces with Tracs and gives better crash locations. Report from Beth Heflin: Beth reviewed the Preliminary 2016 data from the Bayfield County Profile. She will be emailing the committee members this information. Reviewed other processes through the state and the push for paperless. Reviewed inattentive drivers and the difficulties with catching the plate number in work zones. There is a push to come up with creative solutions especially in these work zones where the workers are too busy to catch plate numbers. There was a review of the fatal accidents and perhaps a pattern of elderly drivers being the victims of fatal crashes. The question was posed “is there is a need for driver safety education among the elderly?”. Beth updated the committee that she made a request for summer speed assistance on behalf of the Iron River Police Department. Spring Click It or Ticket campaign materials should arrive in April. Report from Community Representative: Don Swedberg informed me that he couldn’t open the attachments that held the agenda and minutes. I will post these on the county website so that Don (or anyone else) may download and print off the materials. Don indicated that he received a call regarding an incident that occurred at the round-a-bout where a citizen went the wrong way through the round-a-bout. She was following the Red Cliff sign which is placed in the median before the round-a-bout as you head east on Highway 2. The signed indicated a left turn so the citizen went left as they reached the round-a-about instead of going right and following the road to end up heading north on Hwy 13. This caused a 12 car back up until the vehicle could be removed. Is there a problem with the sign or with the driver not understanding how to navigate a round-a-bout. Matt will check into having this sign removed but he indicated that it was placed there at the request of Red Cliff. The committee discussed the need for more education regarding navigating round-a-bouts. Could this be handled with Aging and Disability or putting information on our general tourism page as an informational piece so visitors are aware prior to coming to the area? Beth indicated she would try to find some informational material that could be handed out. Paul Johanik informed the committee that there is a camera that has live feed of the round-a-bout. He also indicated that there are four other cameras throughout the county besides the one at the round-a-bout. Report from State Patrol: There was no State Patrol representative at the meeting, however Beth updated the committee with the February Law of the Month: “Driving too Fast for Conditions” and March’s Law of the Month “Motorcycles need an Endorsement”. Meeting ended at 10:33am Respectfully submitted by Deb Milanowski Next meeting is scheduled for 5/18/17 at 9:00am at the Bayfield County Sheriff’s Office in the EOC.