Concern over a dangerous intersection near Lake Geneva Middle School and Badger High School sparked Badger FCCLA members to study traffic patterns in order to advocate for a traffic light at the intersection of WI 120/Edwards Blvd. and Bloomfield Road. In conjunction with the Lake Geneva Police Department, a Road Safety Assessment (RSA) was conducted by FCCLA on September 27^th at 7:00 a.m. and 2:50 p.m., each for approximately 35 minutes, the times of day that the intersection is greatly impacted by students and staff going to and from school through that intersection.

“My students are aware that there are safety issues near school for vehicles, pedestrians and the community,” said Deanna Giovingo, Badger FCCLA Advisor. “One way they thought they could make an impact was to conduct the RSA. I shared with the chapter that past FCCLA members had participated in an RSA at the National FCCLA Conference in San Diego and the students thought it would be something we could do here, in our community.”

With guidelines from FCCLA’s Families Acting for Community Traffic Safety (FACTS) program, which helps educate peers and local communities about personal, vehicle and traffic safety issues, the RSA revealed the following observations:

• Vehicles traveling from eastbound Bloomfield to southbound WI 120 frequently encroached the crosswalk in order to get a better sightline of oncoming traffic, often actually entering the traffic lane;
• Foliage hinders visibility of the motorists on eastbound Bloomfield looking north;
• A significant number of vehicles get backed up on Bloomfield as vehicles try to turn north or south onto WI 120, with between 22-26 cars at a given time during the afterschool assessment time slot;
• Proximity of the intersection to the Just For Kids afterschool program at Immanuel Lutheran Church poses dangers as children are playing outside very near the intersection.

Constant congestion was observed. In addition, officers and FCCLA members observed speeds up to 18 mph over the 45 mph posted speed limit, vehicles failing to come to a complete stop when the driver felt the intersection was passable, 356 incidents of distracted driving due to cell phones, conversations and interactions with other passengers in the vehicle.

FCCLA also obtained from the Bloomfield and Lake Geneva Police Departments statistics on a total of 7 crashes at the intersection in 2018. Of those, four had property damage and three had injury to persons in the vehicles.

The findings of the FCCLA study were presented on October 4, 2018, to Walworth County’s Traffic Safety Commission. In attendance were Badger FCCLA members Ricardo Sanchez, Yvonne Reyes, Advisor Deanna Giovingo, Lake Geneva Schools Resource Officer Kara Richardson and Superintendent of Lake Geneva Schools James Gottinger. Their presentation was well received by the Board who took their findings into consideration in endorsing the placement of a traffic signal light at the intersection.

“It is a great experience for kids to have an impact on their community,” said Giovingo.

Badger FCCLA member Ricardo Sanchez, advisor Deanna Giovingo, member Yvonne Reyes and Lake Geneva Schools Superintendent of Schools James Gottinger presented their findings on a Road Safety Assessment of Bloomfield Road/WI 120/Edwards Blvd. to the Walworth County Traffic Safety Commission.