Police are seeing a drop in the number and severity of crashes at a Lansing intersection a local woman pushed to make safer.
Before 2015 the Ingham County Sheriif's Office was called to fatal crashes at the intersection of Bishop Highway and Waverly Road almost every year. Deputies say that changed when a blinking red light and four way stop were added two years ago.
The push to change the intersection was started by Renee Schaffer, whose finance was killed while trying to cross the road there.
"It's an answer to a prayer," Schaffer said. Her fiance, 55-year-old Kevin Hornbeck, was crossing the road on his motorcycle when he collided with a pick-up truck and was killed.
"When I saw the cross up there that someone else had passed, I knew as long as I had breath something was going to change here," Shaffer added, referring to a memorial for a man who died at the intersection a year before Hornbeck.
Believing Hornbeck's crash could have been prevented if traffic was forced to stop, Renee started pushing for change. She reached out to as many people she could including the county road department, state police and county commissioners. After conducting a road study, the county agreed changing the intersection to a four-way stop would make it safer.
"He didn't realize it was his last few moments on this earth or that he'd be making a difference in the lives of so many people," Shaffer added.
In the two years the four-way stop and blinking light have been up, the Ingham County Sheriff's Office has responded to three crashes each year. Before that, deputies were called to an average of 10 crashes a year. The Sheriff's Office says that drop is significant because the crashes since the change have all been minor.
"They're more rear-end crashes where probably people are not paying attention to the car in front of them," Sgt. Matthew Flint with Ingham County's Delhi Division said. "They're less extensive because the speeds have been slowing down due to the four way stop."
Deputies hope that number of crashes will continue to drop, especially as more time passes and drivers adjust to the change in traffic flow.
For Renee it's progress but she'd rather those crashes stop altogether.
"You never really have closure when someone dies, but it gives me a sense of accomplishment that not everything was done in vain," Renee said.
If police start seeing more severe crashes, Renee says shes' ready to lead the push for a three-way traffic light. She's hoping it never gets to that point though, and her family's loss will be the last one.
"It cost him his life for the safety of so many others," Schaffer said. "He just always was a giver and his death is a reminder that he just continues to give."
