Newly-installed traffic lights are now operating on a busy road in Santee where a high school student was killed in a crash earlier this year.
As of Tuesday morning, traffic lights at 8756 Mast Blvd. – right in front of West Hills High School (WHHS) – were functioning. The lights were installed Sept. 10, but had not been operational until now.
Changes to the roadway came after WHHS student Ryan Willweber, 17, was killed in a crash at the school’s entrance on May 1. The teenager’s car – also carrying his brother, who survived – was T-boned as Willweber tried to turn left out of the campus onto Mast Boulevard.
The crash put a spotlight on the intersection and its need for a traffic signal, with parents and students calling for immediate change.
Santee city leaders, including Mayor Randy Voepel, took suggestions from the public on how to improve safety on the roadway, including adding new striping, flashing beacons, rumble strips or traffic lights.
A few weeks after the deadly crash, some changes went into effect with leaders installing two new traffic signs barring left turns at two driveways leaving campus.
Ultimately, leaders decided to add new traffic lights at the school’s entrance, too.
Officials said there would also be a change to the traffic signal at Medina Drive, less than a mile away from the campus, to allow for U-turns for drivers wanting to travel west on Mast Boulevard from the school, as well as changes to the striping on Mast Boulevard.
Today, as drivers use the new traffic lights to turn onto the campus, a mini memorial stands in remembrance of Willweber: a small cross surrounded by flowers – a reminder of the kind, charismatic, young track star whose life was cut short far too soon.
