Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher speaks with Washington State Patrol Deputy Sgt. Rob Brusseau and Deputy Jen Ortiz on Tuesday afternoon at the scene of Monday night's crash just outside of Onalaska.
Two mourners walk away from the scene of a crash after placing flowers and balloons on the side of state Route 508 in July.
Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher speaks with Washington State Patrol Deputy Sgt. Rob Brusseau on Tuesday afternoon at the scene of Monday night's crash just outside of Onalaska.
Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher and Washington State Patrol Deputy Sgt. Rob Brusseau examine the marks left at the scene of Monday night's crash just outside of Onalaska on Tuesday afternoon.
Since 2012, there have been nearly 30 collisions in a less than 4-mile stretch of state Route 508 just west of Onalaska, according to an analysis of data obtained by The Chronicle.
The majority of the crashes were caused by inattention, speeding and driving while intoxicated, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation, and don’t reflect negatively on the safety of the road.
“The road’s safe. If it wasn’t safe, we’d shut it down,” said Bart Treece, a communications manager for WSDOT.
On July 13, a late-night collision on state Route 508 at Hyak Road killed three Onalaska teenagers — Taylor Thompson, 13; A.J. Mullinax, 17; and Dakota Dunivin, 18.
The three were riding in a Land Rover, driven by Mullinax, along with five other teens — including three 13-year-old-girls, a 17-year-old boy and an 18-year-old boy — when the vehicle collided head-on with a Ford Freestyle carrying two people. Both cars were over the center line, according to the Washington State Patrol.
The driver of the Ford, Joseph W. Rogerson, 36, of Chehalis, was charged with driving under the influence. Rogerson’s blood is being tested to determine his blood-alcohol-content at the time of the crash. The results are not yet available, according to the State Patrol.
Officials from the State Patrol and Lewis County Prosecutor's Office have estimated the investigation could take up to two months.
At about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, about two weeks after that crash, a second collision at the exact same location blocked the westbound lane of state Route 508 for a short time. One person was transported to a hospital for precautionary reasons, according to the State Patrol.
According to WSDOT data, there were 27 collisions in the 3.69-mile stretch of state Route 508 between Gish Road and downtown Onalaska between January 2012 and June 2015. The data for 2015 is preliminary, according to WSDOT, and doesn’t contain July numbers, including the July 13 and July 25 collisions.
In 2012, six collisions involving nine vehicles were reported in the stretch of highway. Eight collisions with 10 vehicles were reported in 2013. Nine collisions with 10 vehicles were reported in 2014. As of June, there were four collisions with six vehicles reported in 2015.
After accidents, WSDOT reviews investigation reports and other data to determine the role the roadway might have played.
“We take a look at the police report and see what they saw and then we’ll do our own review of the site,” said Chad Hancock, southwest region traffic engineer for WSDOT. “There’s anecdotal things we know about, but we can also go back in history and see what we’ve missed. Then we can make some decisions on whether we need to make some operational changes.”
WSDOT also surveys state highways each year to find “hot spots,” or areas with disproportionately high levels of collisions, Hancock said.
“(State Route) 508 I don’t think has ever come up on our radar screen as being an … accident corridor,” he said.
Trooper David Bourland, a public information officer with the State Patrol, noted that the highway just east of the Hyak Road intersection has some damage from washouts, but said it likely isn’t the road that is causing accidents.
“Most of this has human error involved in it, either distracted drivers or under the influence, that type of thing,” he said. “I’m not sure why they’re all of a sudden having a lot of crashes there, but it’s definitely human error.”
WSDOT’s crash data supports that conclusion.
Of the 27 collisions between January 2012 and June 2015, eight were caused by inattention, distracted drivers, following too closely or rear-end accidents, according to the data. Four were caused by speeding and four were caused by driving under the influence.
“There’s not a lot we can do,” Hancock said. “The rear-end collisions — again, that’s an attention thing. It’s paying attention to what the car in front of you is doing … Enforcement is a piece of that but there’s only so many state troopers and county sheriff’s officers out and about, especially in that part of Lewis County.”
Hancock said WSDOT can add some features to roads to improve safety in areas they do identify as collision hot spots. The agency can lower speed limits in an effort to prevent accidents, but Hancock said drivers already tend to drive the speed they’re comfortable with, especially on narrow, windy roads. The agency can make small changes, such as adding signage and road paint, or large changes, such as adding a left-turn lane to prevent rear-end collisions.
“We start small and we look at incremental improvements in an area,” Treece said.
No such changes are planned for state Route 508. WSDOT previously added rumble strips to the highway’s center line to alert drivers crossing over into oncoming traffic.
“We need drivers to help us out and drive appropriately for those traffic conditions,” Treece said. “Drivers need to be prepared when they get behind the wheel.”
