By Tom Gilchrist
Staff Writer
DAYTON TWP. — Put an “X” across Dayton Township’s request for special “Deer Crossing” signs along Hurds Corner Road.
The board overseeing the Tuscola County Road Commission on Thursday denied the township’s request for placement of such signs along two miles of Hurds Corner Road from Mayville Road north to Phelps Lake Road.
Road Board members voted unanimously to follow County Highway Engineer Michele L. Zawerucha’s recommendation to deny the request. Zawerucha said she did some research regarding such signs.
“I could find no support for the effectiveness of ‘Deer Crossing’ signs,” she said. “The only thing that proved to slow down motorists was actually a deer carcass laying next to the road.”
Under Road Commission policy, any “specialty signs” — such as “Deer Crossing” signs bearing the silhouette of a buck leaping skyward — require approval of the Road Board. When asked by Road Board member Julie Matuszak why the township wanted the signs, Zawerucha said “They discussed that there was a high accident rate in that area, with deer — that was my understanding.”
Zawerucha said she found statistics on car-deer crashes along the two-mile stretch of Hurds Corner Road.
“In the five years from 2009 to 2013, there were 29 (in that stretch),” Zawerucha said. The two-mile stretch along Hurds Corner Road “ranks No. 17 (in the county), so it’s not even in our top 10 areas for (car-deer) accidents,” Zawerucha said.
Zawerucha said she couldn’t find any such signs along county primary or local roads, but added that such signs do exist in the village of Gagetown.
Vassar Township resident Don Clinesmith, who said his mother lives in Dayton Township, said he travels Hurds Corner Road often to and from his mom’s home. Clinesmith said the area along Hurds Corner Road north from Snover to Phelps Lake roads “is probably the worst in the township because of (a) swamp” in that locale.
“If I wanted to watch, I could see deer there all the time,” Clinesmith said. “Yesterday, I went to my mom’s place late at night and actually saw deer just north of Phelps Lake Road, which is on top of a hill. Four deer ran out in front of me right there, and I’ve never seen deer there before. But the fields are worked now, and they’ve never been worked before, so there’s something different about it.”
The signs would have been paid for and maintained by the township had the Road Board approved them.
“I can see why they’re requesting the signs,” Clinesmith said. “Would it help? Probably not. People drive 65 (mph) through there all the time, anyway.”