EPHRATA - Grant County Public Works put in larger stop signs after two fatal collisions at an intersection near Moses Lake.

The 48-inch signs replaced the 36-inch signs on Road Four Northeast where it crosses Road L Northeast. The department also added placards to warning signs, located before the signs, in hopes of attracting the attention of drivers, Director Derek Pohle said.

The installations comes after two collisions, where drivers allegedly ran the stop sign and were hit by vehicles traveling on Road L. The first occurred on Oct. 11, 2009, and resulted in the death of a 4-year-old girl. A 2-year-old boy died in the second collision on Feb. 4.

Since the collisions happened within 18 months of each other, the department took action, Pohle said, adding they usually wait for a pattern to start to develop.

"If you look at the accident distribution in Grant County, locations don't jump out at you because they're random," he said. "There wasn't an issue with the signs. It's not an issue with the road. The issue is inattentive driving, so you try to make the signs bigger and you try to put more warning placards up."

Pohle said they have also asked the sheriff's office to increase patrols in the area, and the department plans to examine the intersection. The study is funded by a $750,000 federal grant intended for a system-wide study of Grant County roads.

Pohle said they will examine items such as the physical layout of the road, the amount of traffic and traffic patterns to see if any unusual data appear. The analysis is focused on items such as speed, the direction of travel and where the most traffic is.

"What the intent of the safety program is, is to look at a county-wide safety program," he said.

Jeniel Cramer, who lives near the intersection, is hoping the new signs will help decrease collisions at the intersection. She witnessed the October 2009 crash and said people have told her if they hadn't been paying attention they wouldn't have noticed the original stop signs.

"We're hoping that this does the trick," she said. "We've got the REC (Silicon) traffic coming through here. When REC was building up those cars would be backed up a fourth of a mile."