Safety changes coming to Rockville intersection

ROCKVILLE, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - Changes are coming to the intersection of Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike after a FOX 5 viewer pushed state officials based on a dangerous experience she had in recent months.

Liz Iskow said she was driving in the area late at night when there was hardly any traffic on the road and didn't realize she was in a left-turn-only lane. She thought she could go straight and ended up in the opposing lanes of Rockville Pike, before being pulled over by a police officer and led back to the right side of the road.

Iskow says she came back in the daylight to see what she had done wrong and realized the signage and lane markings can be confusing for drivers.

Iskow contacted the Maryland Highway Safety Administration and questioned officials there for months before getting a response last week that they planned to make safety upgrades.

In an email Iskow provided FOX 5 from MDHSA, an official said over the next two months engineers will add pavement markings to remind people in the turn lanes that they are turning left. New signs will also be added further from the intersection to help distinguish the turn lanes from thru lanes.

"I'm set out right now to make a mission to save lives, to prevent accidents and to try and make this intersection less confusing," said Iskow.

Other people also seem to have issues at the intersection, according to Maryland State Police crash data.

The intersection saw 58 crashes between 2015 and 2018 and that number is likely larger because not all crashes are reported to police.