State rejects blame for stoplight problem
BY MARTHA STODDARD
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN — The State Roads Department has changed nothing in its procedures for dealing with traffic signal problems since a malfunctioning signal cost a Schuyler youth his ability to walk, use both arms, see clearly and live independently.
The accident also is costing the state $9.9 million, a record amount for an injury lawsuit in Nebraska. The settlement was announced last week.
Mary Jo Hall, spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Roads, said roads officials continue to believe they did everything they could to prevent the Valentine’s Day 1999 accident.
“We stand by our safety methods, our procedures, and always ask that people drive carefully,” Hall said.
While the Roads Department says it did nothing wrong, two state lawmakers question the department’s response. The attorney for the victim is contending that the state is not following nationally accepted protocols.
In July, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that the Roads Department was at fault for not fixing the traffic light at the intersection of U.S. Highway 30 and Nebraska Highway 15 in Schuyler, despite repeated complaints that it flashed green in conflicting directions at the same time.
Jacob Wagner, then 16, was driving his car south when a westbound semitrailer truck owned by Metz Baking Co. hit him. Witnesses said the light was displaying green to both southbound and westbound traffic when the crash occurred.
After losing before the Supreme Court, the state settled with Wagner and his mother, Gail Fickle, on compensation for Wagner’s injuries.
The $9.9 million settlement will come out of the Roads Department’s state funds, which come from fuel taxes, sales taxes on motor vehicles and motor vehicle registration fees.
Wagner suffered severe brain damage. After years of therapy, he remains unable to walk. He has no use of one arm and limited use of the other. He has double vision and difficulty speaking.
State Sen. Arnie Stuthman of Platte Center, vice chairman of the Legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, said the Roads Department’s failure to change procedures concerns him.
After getting multiple reports of problems, the department should have done more to find out why there was a malfunction in the traffic light, he said.
“In my opinion, the state should make sure that they (the lights) work and really monitor them,” Stuthman said.
Another committee member, Sen. Dwite Pedersen of Omaha, said the Roads Department should be looking into what went wrong and who dropped the ball. Ultimately, he said, the responsibility lies with the Governor’s Office, which oversees the department.
Hall said that because the department believes there was no wrongdoing on its part, no disciplinary action was taken against any employee.
Jen Rae Hein, a spokeswoman for Gov. Dave Heineman, offered no additional comments to those from the roads officials.
She referred questions to state Risk Manager Laura Peterson, who said: “I think we would categorize this as an extraordinarily unfortunate accident, but not a failure of the system.”
Sen. Deb Fischer of Valentine, chairwoman of the Transportation Committee, said she doesn’t know the specifics of the Wagner case but her experience has been that the Roads Department is responsive to citizens’ concerns.
Wagner’s family also settled with the City of Schuyler and with the trucking company, bringing the total settlement to more than $10 million. Lincoln attorney Doug Peterson said confidentiality agreements bar him from revealing the exact figure.
The $9.9 million portion appears to be a record for an injury lawsuit against the state, said both Doug Peterson and Laura Peterson, who are not related.
State officials agreed to the settlement after the Nebraska Supreme Court refused the state’s motion for a rehearing in the case.
In the trial, four members of the public said they noticed the malfunctioning light in 1998 and 1999 and reported it to the state. A Roads Department employee confirmed receiving two of those complaints.
Department employees said they found nothing wrong when they observed the signal. The department also presented evidence that workers had corrected other problems with the signal during the six months before the accident.
Wagner’s attorney said the Roads Department replaced the signal cabinet the year following the accident, but there had been at least one complaint about conflicting green lights since then.
Kevin Domogalla, operations and maintenance manager for the Roads Department district that includes Schuyler, said he couldn’t recall any reports of problems with the light during the year and a half he has held the job.
Wagner’s attorney said his clients had hoped the case would prompt state officials to change how they respond to reports of highway problems.
Doug Peterson said national standards on dealing with traffic light issues call for states to have a central number for people to report problems and for collecting detailed information from those people.
The standards also call for a signal technician to respond and open up the traffic-signal cabinet for all calls of conflicting green lights.
“They are not following industry standards,” Doug Peterson said. “It would seem that, after an accident this serious, to choose to operate in the same way is shocking.”
Hall said safety is a top priority for the department and reports of problems are always checked out but, in this case, those checks never revealed a malfunction.
“We at the Department of Roads sympathize with the Fickle family,” she said. “We hope the settlement proceeds will enable Jacob to receive the medical care that he needs.”
