KANE COUNTY, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Community members addressed the Kane County Transportation Committee Tuesday morning, calling for safety improvements at the corners of Randall and Red Gate Roads.
It's the same intersection where St. Charles North graduate Kevin White was killed last month.
“This really hit hard,” said Terry Ayers, an assistant coach at the high school where White played varsity baseball for three years.
“So many men [are made] out of so many boys. They come to school 14, 15, 16 years old and graduate and go on and live their life and that's what's tragic about losing Kevin. He didn't get to take that next step.”
On August 16, White was a passenger in a car going through the intersection of Randall and Red Gate when another driver turned left on a flashing yellow light.
The two cars collided, leaving White dead and the driver of his vehicle seriously injured.
Ayers told the committee the current traffic signal isn’t safe and that sometimes as a coach, things don’t work out the way they were supposed to.
“We have to go back and analyze what went on and fix it. We say, coach it up,” said Ayers. “I guess that's what I'm really asking the transportation department to do today, coach it up.”
Ella Roth is a senior at St. Charles North who was also involved in a crash involving a left turn at that same intersection her sophomore year.
Two months after that crash, she witnessed another crash, again involving a left turn.
She started a petition four weeks ago which now has close to 8,000 signatures.
“We have support from St Charles North students and parents, as well as other residents of St. Charles and even people from outside of our community as well,” she told committee members.
The Kane County Transportation Committee recommended striping the lanes and offering protected left turns between 6a.m.- 10 p.m. and allowing permissive left turns during off-peak hours.
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