![Paint on the pavement of Egan Drive and 12th Street marks the spot where Larry "Brandon" Blatnick, Jr. died in a motorcycle/vehicle collision on August 14, 2012. The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is asking for people not to paint on the roads and limits on roadside memorials for fear of causing a distraction for other drivers. Michael Penn / Juneau Empire](http://jun-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/superphoto/11547101.jpg "Paint on the pavement of Egan Drive and 12th Street marks the spot where Larry "Brandon" Blatnick, Jr. died in a motorcycle/vehicle collision on August 14, 2012. The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is asking for people not to paint on the roads and limits on roadside memorials for fear of causing a distraction for other drivers. Michael Penn / Juneau Empire")
The swirling neon hearts painted on the surface of Egan Drive near West 12th Street, the site of a fatal motorcycle a month ago, will soon be painted over.
Citing safety concerns, the state Department of Transportation is planning on covering up the hand-scrawled tribute as soon as the road dries from the rain, according to the DOT’s Southeast Region Director, Albert H. Clough.
Clough said his office has received several complaints about the anonymously drawn eye-catching commemoration, reporting it was a distraction to drivers. The DOT’s safety traffic engineers then deemed it unsafe due to its proximity to a busy intersection and the high number of drivers observed “rubbernecking” instead of paying attention to the roadway, Clough said.
Clough says he has the deepest sympathy for the motorcyclist’s grieving family members and friends, but that the worse thing that could happen is if the impromptu memorial, which sprung up just hours after the Aug. 14 crash, caused another accident.
Phone calls to family members of Larry Brandon Blatnick Jr., 27, who died in the crash, went unreturned Friday.
The corner memorial itself began with flowers in vases, balloons and a black cross, but grew larger with time to encompass a flower planter box, a traffic cone, and a bicycle. The multi-colored fluorescent paint appeared on the roadway about a week or two after the accident, depicting two hearts and tear drops, after rain had washed away chalk messages on the sidewalk.
Clough says that state statute acknowledges the right for grieving family members and friends to create temporary roadside memorial, but that memorials are not allowed to be “an attractive nuisance” that could create a hazard for drivers by distracting their attention from the roadway.
“We are responsible for keeping the highways safe, and we have to keep the distractions down to a minimum,” Clough said in a phone interview Friday.
DOT maintenance staff removed items from the memorial earlier this week and are keeping them in DOT facilities, should someone claim them. The department also posted a sign at the site explaining the statutory guidelines, DOT contact information and other options for roadside memorials.
This is the first time Clough said he could recall a roadside memorial being taken down due to safety concerns.
There have been 27 reported crashes at the intersection of Egan and West 12th from 2000 to 2009, according to DOT statistics. Regional safety engineers say that is not considered a high amount for a nine-year period, according to DOT Assistant Chief Communications Officer Jeremy Woodrow.
Only one of those 27 crashes were considered a “major crash,” which means it required transportation to the hospital; 11 were minor injury crashes; and the remaining 15 were property-damages only, meaning fender-benders.
Twenty-one of the 27 were “angle crashes,” meaning the accident occurred when one of the vehicles was turning onto 12th street from Egan. None of those were motorcycle related, although one involved a pedestrian.
• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (24)
Add commentI don't find...
... some paint on the road to be that big of a safety hazard.
Soon our roads will be covered by snow and ice. That will be the larger safety hazard that Mr. Clough should focus his energies on.
sorry
It's unfortunate that Larrys not with us anymore, but he did it to himself, trying to blast his rice rocket passed a car already turning. Why no concern for the lady he hit?
The accident and Larry's
The accident and Larry's death were tragic, but it is time to remove the memorial. I drive by there everyday and I still take a look each time. Al is right ... it is time for it to go.
Latitude, Al needs to be concerned year round about highway safety, not just during the winter
@isldandhopper
Ahh... can you point to the story to support your claims? The last one I read was the day after the accident that mentions the police is still investigating ..
as they
are the accident on auke lake. Accidents happen & are tragic, but the immortal mentality of youth is a contributing factor that cannot be avoided & to paint graffiti on the highway (another youthful act) can leed to additional accidents. A more appropriate memorial are the flowers along the roadway.
Any bets on how long before
Any bets on how long before it reappears? Of course of they are waiting for a dry day it could be a while.
Important to all
I drive through that intersection every day and notice people getting distracted - a pedestrian even stopped in the crosswalk the other day (while I was waiting) so he could look. I'm sure the grieving family would not ever want anybody else to experience an accident or similar tragedy due to the memorial they made for their loved one. I didn't see this as graffiti at all, but an expression of love and loss immediately after the accident. I think it's an appropriate time that it is reduced so as not to cause any more distraction to drivers and pedestrians in the crosswalk and I hope the family and friends of the young man understand it is not with disrespect to his memory that it is confined to a smaller space on the side of the road.
It's graffiti and shouldn't
It's graffiti and shouldn't have been allowed to stay there as long as it has. Now a precedence has been set.
Keep the roadside memorial.
Memorial to stupid behavior
This kid passed me on Egan numerous times with speeds in excess of 70 mph, several times between cars in both lanes. I've been told that the brake pads on his motorcycle were worn down to nothing.
We don't need any monuments to this kind of stupidity.
I just wonder when DOT is going to enforce the law outlawing advertising in the right of way, like that by Marlintini's, Jensen Furniture, and the formerly Vito & Nick's. I won't do business with anyone who violates the anti-advertising law.
.
Memorial
I agree it's a distraction on the road maybe they could have put it on the sidewalk. But before you badger this person you don't know remember it was someone's son what if it were your child, would you say the things you are saying about him? As far as speeding passed you on the highway, have you been a saint driver to be able to cut someone else down?
Covering up the outline
In the week prior to the pavement art appearing, I wondered how long CBJ & JPD were going to leave the painted outline of the victim's body on the road. I have to imagine the effect seeing it had on those that cared about him, as well as the driver involved in the accident. I view the art as their way of dealing with what DOT would not.
I understand why DOT is going to paint this over. But on the same note, they should have addressed the orange paint left by the accident investigation once that portion of it was concluded. It was perhaps likelier to cause confusing to motorists, and certainly had some level of distraction as well.
stupid rant
Geeshh, what a stupid rant about the investigators marks on pavement. Let's see...... after the investigation come the lawyers who will want to see it, and the traffic engineers, and the investigators will be back a few times, more lawyers...... once the initial investigation is done, the investigation isn't "done".
It is a distraction
I turn on and off that road daily and it always catches my eye. I also consciously check for children as there is an elementary school right there. My sorrow goes out to the families of this tragedy but would hate for there to be another.
I have to say...
I'm sorry, I just don't see it. "Safety concerns?" REALLY? I drive everywhere on the Juneau road system and am frequently drawn to various "attractions" that deter my attention momentarily.
This (in my ever to be humble opinion) is nothing short of ignorance in its most base form. The good folks of Juneau are not "unsafe" as a result of a tribute to a loved one struck down in traffic.
The way I see it (as I am sure it is to most others) smacks of insensitivity. By the cities presentation in this manor it seems a bit superficial and beneath them to allow or insist the removal of so many peoples heart felt expressions of love and sadness. To demand the removal of harmless drawings on the road through what appear to be excuses as obviously transparent as this is shocking to me.
To those above let me say this, I ride, but I did not know this young man. I don't care if he was wrong and as it was stated already that is still being determined. A young man died, there were people who knew him, people who loved him and were morning his passing. They made separate statements of their sorrow and I see no safety concerns here. So given those facts one must at this point ask ... why? Let the grieving grieve and share their love for someone they cared about. Do I really need to say this?
?
I do wonder how they spent that much time on the road to paint the memorial in the first place - I can only guess it must have been in the middle of the night and dark - seems like that is a pretty big risk to take...for the painters and for drivers...
I'll tell you what's
I'll tell you what's distracting. Election time and the corners on Egan. The political supporters stand on the medians during rush hour. It's dark, icy, snowy, rainy. I've even seen little kids out there. Nothing can be done because it's considered freedom of speech. I already checked into it. Unfortunately, it's going to take a tragic accident and lawsuits for a change to happen. No candidate is worth dying for.
I haven't seen the memorial...
... because I'm usually on the phone or texting when I pass that intersection
gapeachineak -
nail....head! (as in, you hit the nail on the head)
I too am frustrated by the safety hazard all the sign holders on election day pose.
As for islandhopper and curmudgeon - conjecture, hearsay and gossip? Shame on you two! Someone died - how heartless can the two of you be?
It's time
We have mourned. It's time to move on. We don't need any more distractions in this already-busy intersection.
yep, it's a distraction.
DOT should paint over it yes.
It is not the proper way to memorialize the loss of this young man’s life. It is a distraction; I myself saw it out of the corner of my eye for the first time last week or so and found myself craning my neck to see what it was. I can only imagine whoever painted the pavement did so in the middle of the night, possibly dodging traffic in order to complete their work. Lucky for them there wasn’t another tragedy in doing so.
The lady that made the left hand turn in front of the motorcyclist was 100% in the wrong. It is a left hand turn AGAINST oncoming traffic. She DID NOT have the right of way, he did, no matter how fast or slow he was going. She had no light, no green arrow, nothing to give her the right of way. It was a clear sunny day on a stretch of perfectly straight road and she had clear view of oncoming traffic. Can you imagine what was going through HIS mind when he saw she was turning in front of him anyway? Slow down and possibly lay his bike down and maybe hit her, or speed up and possibly hit her anyway. HE paid the price for her incorrect decision. What a dirty rotten shame.
@countthis
Thank you..... well said, well put, and accurate.... One of the few comments that isn't hurtful to our family. I appreciate your words.
chick324
you are welcome.
Playing Chicken With A Vehicle?
IMPORTANT: When anyone suits up and rides, the decision has to be made to drive into the ditch, hit the throttle, hit the brakes, go into the median, put the bike into a slide, or just pray when a vehicle bigger than you heads straight for you.
From the way the incident was written, the rider used his skills to attempt to avoid the vehicle by slowing then having to make the decision to throttle up to try to avoid the vehicle. From information I learned later, the bike equipment was possibly not up to his skill level. Having the skill level to throttle up to maneuver out of an accident is necessary.
I had a 400+ lb bike. I kept my bike upright in the gravel near Black Lake Fire Dept. in WA when a van pulled out in front of me. I kept in my lane when a smaller car drafted me toward itself on I-5 near capitol lake. I practiced my braking to the point of gouging my rear tire. I practiced my throttle control only up to the speed limit with one exception and I talk about it--because all it is is like flying in a jet, feeling like standing still, a very dangerous worthless feeling of speeding. The sound of a motorcycle red-lining in low gear is deceptive and very well could be within the speed limit everyone!
A disintegrated bike? Even if it happened at a speed limit speed, I viewed a disintegrated bike probably due to the tourist viewpoint back-out parking. I never saw the victim.
I requested from my local police dept. the permission to spray paint around potholes, permission was denied. Lewis County didn't think it was graphitti, I could clearly see the danger to the rider on their roads. My simple point was that potholes are dangerous. My small town police chief's point was that it was graphitti under Title 9. I have jokes about him.
I left my bike in that police chief's small town. I don't ride in this small town either. Some roads around here obviously need to be safer. DOT has the statistics.
To the family, I would have throttled up too because the only other option would have been to put the bike into a slide or head straight into oncoming traffic. A deadly intersection.
There are soooo many dented vehicles in this town. Due to what? The sky is falling.
I agree with MPShake...
That road-drawing doesn't distract me, especially compared to election supporters, or even pedestrians walking on the sidewalk. Over-zealousness to an extreme...as usual... ho-hum...and Props to downtowndude, who said he hasn't seen the memorial cuz he's usually texting or on his celly when he drives by there. Lol - dude that's funny! Not a comment on the accident, but a barb to all those "distracted drivers" cruising around with their heads stuck in a dumb smart-phone! At least put it on speaker-phone for cryin out loud...And lastly, again condolences to the loved ones of Brandon, an individual who was loved by so very many...