Dear Editor,
This is an open letter to the citizens of Sweet Home, addressing a few of my concerns regarding all of the new stop signs throughout town. I know that I can’t be alone in how I feel about these, and I wish to share my opinions on them.
These locations were seemingly chosen by throwing darts at a map, as most of their placements make no logical sense, such as the three on airport road. That is not a heavily traveled road with traffic backing up on side roads, which already had stop signs before entering the main road. The city can’t provide traffic studies or engineering on any of these because it was never done. Traffic engineering is a science, taking everything into consideration, both positive and negative outcomes, as well as taking basic human behavior into account.
Traffic controls, including stop signs, are not designed or intended to disrupt or slow traffic, but rather to keep it moving smoothly and quickly on congested roads with heavy cross traffic. If traffic backs up on a cross street because there are few gaps to pull out, then traffic control should be considered to keep things moving. This isn’t the case with most of the new placements.
People of this town might eventually get used to the odd placements, but traffic from out of town will not, and illogical locations which do not conform to the standards of every other town in the state will make these intersections more dangerous with signs than without. I find myself looking more for random stop signs than watching for pedestrians, pets, children playing, road hazards, etc. because stop signs seem to just sprout up anywhere at any time. If an accident occurs and the insurance companies find out that no engineering or traffic studies were done, could the city be open to lawsuits?
I feel all traffic controls within the town should comply with the MUTCD (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways) and the State Highway Commission. These standards are in place to ensure no matter where people are driving, the traffic signage and controls will be uniform and make natural sense, creating a safer environment for both drivers as well as pedestrians. I realize the city council is not required to follow those standards, but that doesn’t mean they can’t. I feel they should, to keep our roads safe and making logical sense compared to the rest of the state.
If you have any of the same concerns or others, I urge you to call city hall and/or go to a city council meeting and let them know how you feel. We were able to get the ridiculous signs removed from 47th and Long by taking action and letting them know how we felt and the reasons they were not helpful, and in fact, detrimental in many ways. Thanks for making your voice heard, and together we can make sensible decisions for our town.
Travis Frick
Sweet Home