The Latest Stop Sign Debate in Ludington

[XLFD]

As reported by the LDN in today's edition, and the Saturday edition (see below) the Ludington city council spent a lot of time discussing what to do with stop signs at the corner of Washington and Bryant.  Currently, stop signs exist only on Bryant Road and the council was considering adding them to Washington St. too.  Apparently 144 people in the area signed a petition asking for the intersection to be a 4-way stop.  After debate, an abstention, a split vote found for the new stop signs.  They will be installed there contingent on the Mason Co. Road Commission's approval.

 

While it is impressive that 144 citizens of this city signed a petition to install new stop signs for safety at this intersection, I think they have got it wrong.  I think it's likely to be less safe and contrary to guidelines set up by the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).  Here's how I got there. 

 

A traffic study done at this intersection would likely show that E-W traffic on Bryant is greater than N-S traffic on Washington.  The MUTCD says (2B.05) STOP signs should be used if engineering judgment indicates that there is the intersection of a less important road with a main road where application of the normal right-of-way rule would not be expected to provide reasonable compliance with the law. 

 

No other guideline indicates otherwise, thus the two stop signs already there would be better placed on Washington, rather than Bryant, if Bryant's traffic volume is greater.  If you are familiar with this intersection, and its visibility issues, doesn't it make more sense to stop on Washington rather than Bryant? 

 

Perhaps thats a factor in that during a five year period, there has been 6 accidents caused by a failure to yield the right of way.  One a year is not much according to the MUTCD.  In fact, when road commissions follow the MUTCD, they generally don't consider putting in a multi-way stop until you get to 5 accidents per year.  Here's what they say:

 

The following criteria should be considered in the engineering study for a multiway STOP sign installation:

1. Where traffic control signals are justified, the multiway stop is an interim measure that can be installed quickly to control traffic while arrangements are being made for the installation of the traffic control signal.
2. A crash problem, as indicated by 5 or more reported crashes in a 12-month period that are susceptible to correction by a multiway stop installation. Such crashes include right- and left-turn collisions as well as right-angle collisions.
3. Minimum volumes:
   1. The vehicular volume entering the intersection from the major street approaches (total of both approaches) averages at least 300 vehicles per hour for any 8 hours of an average day, and
   2. The combined vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle volume entering the intersection from the minor street approaches (total of both approaches) averages at least 200 units per hour for the same 8 hours, with an average delay to minor-street vehicular traffic of at least 30 seconds per vehicle during the highest hour.

A four-way stop is not the panacaea its advocates would think it is.  It would slow traffic down, but there would still be failure to yield accidents.  The best way to prevent those would be to put the stop signs on Washington, as per the US Dept. of Transportation guidelines, and remove the Bryant stop signs. 

 

 

[AQUAMAN]

I see where the Raven's owner recently rejected the plaza as good too. She's right I think. That alley is being used and trafficed with too many cars, speeding too. It would be easy for someone leaving one of the Ave. stores by the back door to get hit and hospitalized, I'm surpirsed it hasn't happened already. It also serves to block alot of would-be customers, cause it's somewhat difficult to get to the rear parking lots to shop. The Plaza never did live up to it's promised destiny. Just a hang-out for juvenile delinquents when the expensive $35K gazebo was there. Now where is it? Lincoln Lk. way out north of town, where it's still never used hardly. What a waste of money. The only reason I go near the Plaza is to get a BBQ sandwich once in a while, when they are open. So, they aren't going to install yield signs on Wash. there now are they? That would really mess that intersection up big time. JMO

[XLFD]

On Tuesday's paper, it was updated that the proposed 4-way stop will come up for debate at the MCRC Boardon April 6. The managing director Gary Dittmer recommends the change, however, he did concede that the two way stop should have been on Washington Ave through the years, as Bryant is a primary road and Washington's primary status ends there. He already seems to signal it's passing by saying "Hopefully, we're rectifying that (misplacing the stop signs originally) now by making it a four way stop.

Typical thinking in this matter: "more stop signs mean more safety". WRONG; placing too many stop signs is often as dangerous as having too few. Rectify the situation by conducting an actual traffic study over a brief period, analyse the data found, and do what the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices suggests to do based on this study. I bet it won't justify a four way stop.

[AQUAMAN]

It'd be nice if someone sent Mr. Dittmer a letter to that effect, and took some friends to the meeting to get them to table the measure for study first, before making a hasty decision that will impede the proper traffic flow. JMO Btw, that's Blinkey's boss out there.