Sheriff and engineers highlight serious Feb. 10 crash, guardrail visibility and skewed intersection in Vernon County

A serious, early-morning crash on Feb. 10 that required a 40-minute extrication was the focus of the Vernon County Highway Safety Committee's safety reports on April 2, 2025, as county officials and engineers discussed visibility at rural crests, guardrail mounting heights and a skewed intersection that has a recent crash history.

"That was a 40-minute extrication, from that vehicle," the sheriff said while describing the Feb. 10 crash on Pierce Hill Road, adding that the crash was "really, really difficult to watch" and that a dash-cam recording has been preserved for the pending criminal case but was not shown to the committee.

The county's traffic-safety analyst reported that, for the period since the committee's January meeting, Vernon County had 90 reported crashes, 0 fatalities and 16 injuries. The analyst said 24 crashes were flagged as involving teen drivers and 24 were flagged for speed; 12 crashes involved drivers age 65 or older. "Of all the...90 crashes in the county, looks like 24 of them were flagged teen drivers," the analyst said.

Engineers and highway staff discussed visibility and guardrail issues at two sites. At the intersection of State Highway 27 and State Highway 82 in Franklin (the Fargo area in discussion), staff measured the recently installed Midwest Guardrail System (MGS) and found the rail face higher than older rail installation. An engineer explained: "The guardrail at Fargo is the, we call it MGS. It is mounted higher than our old guardrail...there is a mounting height difference between those two types of guardrail." Committee members said the higher rail can obscure traffic at the intersection for drivers in small vehicles and asked staff to check slope and clear-zone conditions to determine whether the rail could be removed, lowered, or if grading would be required — actions that could require right-of-way purchase and a formal project if slopes are steep.

The committee also reviewed a Jan. 17, 2025 intersection crash at Highway 56 and County Road S in Liberty Township. The investigating deputy's diagram shows Unit 1, a northbound 2025 Ram 1500 (68-year-old driver), stopped at the intersection and then pulled into the intersection where it was struck by Unit 2, a westbound 2010 Ford Focus driven by a 17-year-old who was a suspected serious-injury victim. The analyst said Unit 1 "did stop... they failed to yield." Committee members noted the intersection's skewed geometry and discussed whether squaring the intersection or moving one leg back westward could reduce the risk; staff said culverts, guardrail and property impacts could affect any redesign and that the geometry could open the door to a safety-improvement project if crash history supports it.

Committee staff also briefed members on work-zone crash definitions and statewide reporting practices and highlighted a statewide teen-driving education initiative from Children's Wisconsin aimed at reducing teen-driver crashes over the summer months.

Next steps noted in the meeting: the sheriff's office and the state technical reconstruction unit continue the criminal and technical investigations related to the Feb. 10 crash; highway design staff will check slopes and clear zones behind the Fargo guardrail to determine whether the guardrail is required under current criteria; and staff will further evaluate the Highway 56/County S intersection for potential safety-improvement eligibility based on crash history and geometry.