The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

A florescent yellow-green sign now adorns the middle of the intersection on Highway 20 and Locust Street. The sign shrieks caution to motorists. They are approaching a school crossing. They are expected to slow down.

"It has worked to slow down traffic... because that sign is so visible in that crosswalk out there that it has helped," said Deschutes Sheriff's Deputy Don Pray.

As a deputy Pray serves as the School Resource Officer for the Sisters School District. During the winter six to eight elementary students use the crosswalk. The number is probably double during the spring.

According to Pray the sign is bringing added awareness that a crosswalk exists. Motorists haven't always paid attention, even though signs are posted both to the east and the west of the intersection. There is also a flashing yellow light to warn of the intersection and the crosswalk.

"It's been there for so many years that the people who go by, it's not even in their peripheral vision. They just don't see it. They don't notice anymore. They've been so accustomed to it. We have even had staff from different schools forget that there's even a flashing yellow light there for that crosswalk," Pray said.

The day-glo sign is changing all of that. Placed in the middle of the crosswalk, drivers' visual focal point is drawn to the sign.

A sign like the new one used to be in the intersection in the 1980s and early '90s. It was removed when the highway was resurfaced and the receiver for the pole was covered over.

The new sign is on a hard rubber 30-pound base.

"It doesn't blow over when trucks go by. If somebody hits it, it won't do damage to the vehicle. It will just knock over," Pray said.

Knowing that a traffic signal will not be placed at the intersection before 2009 at the earliest, Pray contacted ODOT (Oregon Department of Transportation) to see if a sign like the one they had in the later 1980s and early 1990s could again be placed in the intersection. "They said that could be a possibility," Pray said. After several meetings, a sign like the one the district purchased was approved.

"We did not need a permit for it, because there was nothing mounted in the asphalt," Pray said.

At the beginning of the school year with the help of Sisters Public Works Director Gary Frazee, Pray contacted ODOT to have the old yellow school zone signs that the city has had for years replaced with new lime green ones.

"I contacted ODOT ... at the beginning of the school year. We also had to have the crosswalk painted. We got them to match the European style type crosswalks. These are much more bold, so they put those out there. I think its the whole package of putting in the new crosswalk, the new florescent signs plus the new placard sign in the middle of the roadway that have really done a lot to slow down traffic," Pray said.

The sheriff's department has used both its speed car and ODOT's speed trailer to the east and west of the intersection throughout the school year. Frazee puts the trailer out in the mornings. The speed car and trailer calculate and announce to a driver the speed he is traveling as he passes by.

Crossing guard Bill Mitchell confirmed that safety at the intersection has improved.