Tuscola County commissioners got tired of waiting for someone else to fix dangerous intersections. They’re voting Thursday to spend about $22,500 on safety equipment themselves after the road commission didn’t install it like they asked.
The meeting’s set for 8am at the Purdy Building in Caro. Top agenda item is approving purchases for flashing red lights on stop signs and rumble strips at six intersections that keep seeing crashes. These aren’t random spots – they’ve been officially designated as hazardous based on accident data.
This whole push started after the September 26th tragedy that killed three members of the William Putman family and injured others. That crash hit the community hard and made everyone realize these dangerous intersections needed immediate attention, not bureaucratic delays.
Commissioners asked the road commission to install the safety features. Road commission didn’t do it. So now county commissioners are saying fine, we’ll do it ourselves with county money. That’s how government’s supposed to work when lives are at stake – somebody steps up and gets it done.
The numbers break down like this: twelve flashing lights for stop signs will cost about $1,683. Twenty-four rumble strips add another $20,851. Total comes to $22,534. Not a huge amount in county budget terms, but enough to potentially save lives at intersections where people keep getting hurt.
Flashing red lights on stop signs are simple but effective. They catch your attention way better than a regular stop sign, especially at night or when drivers aren’t paying close attention. Rumble strips give you that physical vibration warning before you reach the intersection. Your whole car shakes and you know something’s coming up.
Six intersections getting upgraded means twelve stop signs total – two per intersection. Each sign gets a flashing light. The rumble strips go on all approach lanes so no matter which direction you’re coming from, you get warned. Traffic accidents at rural intersections remain a persistent problem across Michigan counties where visibility and sight lines create hazardous conditions.
The Federal Highway Administration has documented that flashing beacons on stop signs can reduce crashes at rural intersections. Their research shows these simple additions make drivers more aware and more likely to actually stop instead of rolling through.
What’s frustrating is this safety equipment should’ve been installed months ago. The Putman family crash happened in September. It’s mid-January now. Four months of commissioners asking nicely and the road commission apparently doing nothing. At some point you stop asking and start acting.
Road commissions have their own budgets, priorities, and decision-making processes separate from county boards. That independence is usually fine, but when public safety gets delayed by bureaucracy, somebody needs to override the system. That’s what’s happening here.
Other items on Thursday’s agenda include appointments to the Economic Development Corporation and purchasing eight GIS tablets for mosquito abatement. The tablets are probably for field work tracking mosquito populations and spray zones. Standard county business stuff.
Public can participate remotely if they want. Phone number’s available plus Google Meet link and instructions on the county website. County government meetings typically allow virtual attendance now, though important votes like this traffic safety purchase deserve in-person attention from commissioners.
Twenty-two thousand dollars seems like a lot until you consider what traffic deaths cost in medical bills, lost productivity, emergency response, and pure human suffering. If these upgrades prevent even one fatal crash, they’ve paid for themselves a hundred times over.
The six designated hazardous intersections probably all share similar characteristics – poor sight lines, high speed limits on approach roads, maybe trees or hills blocking visibility. Rural Michigan intersections can be death traps when you’ve got county roads crossing each other with minimal signage and drivers not expecting cross traffic.
Installing this equipment won’t happen overnight. Once commissioners approve the purchase, county crews or contractors have to do the actual installation. Flashing lights need electrical power – could be solar panels or battery packs. Rumble strips require grinding grooves into the pavement. Weather in January might delay some work.
But at least it’ll get done. That’s what matters. Commissioners taking action when the road commission wouldn’t. Local government decisions affecting public safety sometimes require officials to step outside normal channels and bureaucratic procedures.
The Putman family deaths created enough pressure to force this issue. Tragic that it took a fatal crash to get movement, but that’s often how safety improvements happen. Someone dies, community demands action, politicians finally allocate funds for fixes that should’ve been there all along.
Thursday at 8am. Purdy Building, 125 West Lincoln Street in Caro. Expect commissioners to approve this without much debate. Nobody wants to be the person who voted against traffic safety improvements after what happened to the Putman family.
$22,534 to potentially save lives. Easiest vote those commissioners will make all year.
