Sandy installs lit stop signs in response to outcry after deadly collision

SANDY — Less than two weeks after a deadly auto-pedestrian collision, city crews installed new stop signs at a busy intersection Tuesday with hopes of boosting safety and visibility.

Hundreds of residents signed a petition calling for safety improvements at the intersection of 11000 S. and 1000 E., and Sandy Mayor Monica Zoltanski said she listened to the concerns by having crews install new solar-powered stop signs with flashing LED lights.

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“They really help enhance the visibility,” Zoltanski said during an interview with KSL. “I was coming up 10th East, and I could see the stop sign from a block and a half away.”

On Jan. 15, police said 40-year-old Joshua M. Perry was crossing 1000 East when a suspected intoxicated driver ran a stop sign and hit and killed him.

Prosecutors charged the driver, identified as Zoe Carisa Blankenstein, with second-degree felony automobile homicide, among other counts.

After the deadly collision, Josh Karr started the petition calling for changes.

He said the intersection just north of Alta High School was “troubled” long before the crash.

“There’s been many close calls,” Karr said. “My neighbor was jogging through, almost got hit in this intersection because somebody didn’t stop.”

He said within 12 hours of launching the petition he had 300 signatures and he had nearly 800 by the time he presented it to the city council.

Karr said an additional 300 people have signed the petition since that time.

“The ask of the community is to improve the visibility of this four-way stop, and when everyone comes together like that, we certainly listen,” Zoltanski said. “Our thoughts are with the family who lost their loved one in a tragedy and when any serious accident happens in Sandy, we examine everything.”

Zoltanski acknowledged cities aren’t always in a position to act swiftly as Sandy did, installing the lit stop signs less than two weeks after the fatal collision.

“This was in the scheme of things I could do as a mayor,” Zoltanski said. “This is just the first of a longer-term view and review of what’s happening to the safety here at this intersection.”

Zoltanski said she wasn’t certain what the intersection would look like in the long term but said the city had hired an outside consultant and was accelerating its reevaluation of plans there.

“We’re going to be moving quickly and collaboratively with our community,” Zoltanski said.

Karr said he was surprised to see changes had already been made by Tuesday afternoon and he called the new LED stop signs “phenomenal.”

“This is what you want to see with community and government in action together,” Karr said. “I feel safer with these flashing lights where people are paying attention. This is a hard stop.”

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