Putting a Stop to Dangerous Corner : El Toro Neighbors Protest Traffic Signal Delay at Intersection Where Boy Died

Under a warm morning sun, about 15 mothers, fathers and children gathered in a park Tuesday to remember Andy Dao, a 6-year-old boy who died July 28 in an accident at nearby Normandale Drive and El Toro Road.

For months, the El Toro residents said, they have pleaded with county officials to get a stoplight installed at the busy crossroad. Now, neighbor Marilyn Judge said, “we’re afraid more children will be killed if a stoplight isn’t soon placed at the intersection.”

Andy’s mother, a quiet woman named Phuong Dao, clasped her hands and lowered her head at the neighborhood park near the intersection as one of her neighbors recalled “what a nice, cute kid little Andy was.”

The mother responded in a soft, emotion-choked voice: “If there had been a light, I believe Andy would be alive now. I hope whoever is responsible for lights will pay attention to this as soon as possible. . . . Something is needed to help everybody coming through that intersection.”

The accident occurred at 11:50 a.m. that Friday as Andy Dao was riding in a car driven by a family friend, Phung Nguyen, 16, of Lake Forest. Phung had taken Andy and Phung’s brother, Hanh, 9, and sister, Christina, 11, for a morning at the beach. She was returning Andy to his parents’ home on Vintage Way, which is parallel to El Toro Road just off the Normandale intersection.

There are stop signs at the intersection on Normandale Drive but none on El Toro Road, a six-lane thoroughfare.

Phung drove east on Normandale, stopped at the sign, then tried to cross El Toro, California Highway Patrol Officer Ken Daily said.

Phung got across the first three lanes of El Toro, then was struck broadside by a pickup truck. The truck driver was not cited because he had the right-of-way, Daily said: “He did nothing wrong. . . . He was traveling at about 45 miles per hour.”

Andy died of multiple injuries from the accident. Phung suffered a broken right shoulder and cuts, Christina suffered a spleen injury, and Hanh suffered head injuries.

Hieu Nguyen, Phung’s father, stood with the Dao family at the park Tuesday. “Our families have been friends for 20 years,” he said.

Tu Tien Dao, the dead boy’s father, said: “We do not blame Phung for the accident.”

Others in the group said even veteran drivers have had close calls while trying to make turns at Normandale and El Toro or trying to cross the intersection.

“Traffic on El Toro Road goes at freeway speed,” said Nola Peffley, a resident of Normandale Heights. “This intersection is very unsafe.”

Alan Leingang, a resident of Vintage Way, added: “Every driver around here can tell you horror stories about that intersection.”

Judge, who also lives on Vintage Way, asked rhetorically: “Why is it taking the county so long to get a stoplight here, especially since they’ve said one is needed?”

Spokesmen for both the county and the Baldwin Co., an El Toro developer assigned to install the proposed stoplight as part of a county-builder agreement, each pointed fingers at the other.

According to Lance Natsuhara, chief of signal design and traffic engineering for the county Environmental Management Agency, the Baldwin Co. was supposed to have installed the stoplight by March 30.

“We sent a letter to them this week,” Natsuhara said. “We don’t know why the work isn’t done. They have their permit.”

An official at the Baldwin Co., however, said in a separate interview that the environmental agency dragged its feet in approving Baldwin’s stoplight plans.

“Our plans languished in the EMA from last September to this May,” said Geoffrey Fearns, Baldwin’s executive vice president. “We already had a courtesy walk-through on our plans, and we were ready to move, but the county didn’t give us approval until May.”

Fearns said Baldwin has now bid the work to a construction group. “The only delay now is getting power poles, which have to be specially ordered,” he said, “and we are told this delay could be up for 16 weeks.”

He added that the company expects the poles to be received and the stoplight installed by early November.

Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, who represents El Toro, said Tuesday that he also has heard conflicting information about reasons for the installation delay.

“We’re acquainted with the situation, and it’s our wish to get this moving expeditiously,” he said.

The residents who gathered Tuesday said the delays are difficult to understand.

“I know in the overall scheme of things, this stoplight doesn’t sound big,” said Peffley, the Normandale Heights resident. “It’s not like the Middle East or the hostage situation.

“But it still is a matter of human life. We just hope it won’t take another tragedy to get the county government to move on this.”