Posted at: 09/28/2009 10:48 PM
Updated at: 09/29/2009 7:58 AM
By: Donny Rowles

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Danger on Highway 14

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- A 23-year-old Dodge Center man was killed on a stretch of Highway 14 between Dodge Center and Owatonna.
 
It's the latest of many accidents on the highway over the past several years and that's got some saying it's time to fix the road to save lives, but it's not an easy task. 
 
In February 2006, Priscilla Ruemping pulled out of an intersection on Highway 14.
 
"The light turned green so I took off and I got broadsided. The other car hit me right at the back of my seat,” Ruemping says.
 
Ruemping says the other driver said she was trying to pick up a billfold in the car and didn't notice the light had changed.
 
"I have a plate in my arm, cause it almost took the head off this bone here," she says.
 
Generally 2-lane areas of Highway 14 are the most dangerous, but when it comes to intersections - some of the most dangerous are the ones with 4 lanes because there are many opportunities to get hit by other cars when crossing a 4-lane road.
 
Still - the most dangerous areas of Highway 14 are its 2-lane portions, like the one near dodge center where this past weekend a local 23-year-old dodge center man was killed.
 
Dodge County Chief Deputy Mike Leonhardt's been responding to accidents on Highway 14 for 20 years.
 
"We have had a lot of bad accidents in that area."
 
Leonhardt says the 2-lane stretch of 14 between Dodge Center and Owatonna is one of the most dangerous.
 
"If you make a mistake it's either in a ditch or you hit another car," he says. 
 
Minnesota Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kristine Hernandez is very familiar with the stretch of 14, and she says they're working to make it safer.
 
"We put in center line ruble stripes which is down the middle of the 2-lane highway to avoid those head on collisions," says Hernandez.
 
They've also put in new signs and safety measures, but she says the stretch is not more dangerous than other 2-lane roads.
 
"Actually for the crash rates on 14 it's comparable to other 2 lane highways across the state," Hernandez says.
 
She says it's too expensive to fix right now, and that the Minnesota Department of Transportation is focused on maintenance and preservation projects, not new construction.