Why has the tote board in front of the State Patrol office on U.S. Highway 101 east of Port Angeles remained unchanged in the face of two fatalities on state Highway 112 in recent weeks?
It’s because the digital tote board, which counts the number of days since a serious collision, reflects traffic wrecks only on the Highway 101 Safety Corridor between state Highway 112 on the west and the Clallam-Jefferson counties line to the east.
“A lot of people are calling us because they don’t understand why we haven’t changed it because of collisions on 112,” said Trooper Krista Hedstrom, State Patrol spokeswoman, on Friday.
“It’s only for the safety corridor on Highway 101, between Milepost 274 and 242,” she said.
Fatalities on 112
Last Sunday, Marian M. Byse, 65, of Port Angeles was killed when a vehicle driven by Marylan A. Thayer, 65, of the Joyce area allegedly hit her bicycle from behind at about 2 p.m. on state Highway 112 near Elwha River Road.
On Aug. 25, Darrell E. Campbell, an Ahousaht First Nation member from Vancouver Island, was killed as the result of a head-on collision on state Highway 112 near Sands Road.
Neither fatality would be reflected in the tote board at the State Patrol office at the intersection of Old Olympic Highway about five miles east of Port Angeles.
The sign grew out of the grant-funded Highway 101 Safety Corridor Project, formed to promote safety along the 32-mile Highway 101 corridor.
The group held its final meeting in May 2007.
