STOP the insanity, Ludington

[XLFD]

Those who have been around Ludington Talks and other local sites since April of last year are probably well familiar with my campaign to correct the placement of about a dozen stop signs from where they were, which went against state law and federal mandates, and get them to where they should be placed. 

 

To whit, these stop signs were placed beyond the crosswalk at the intersection they regulated in clear violation of the US Dept. of Transportation's regulation in the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices: "Where there is a marked crosswalk at the intersection, the STOP sign should be installed in advance of the crosswalk line nearest to the approaching traffic.", and the MI DOT equivalent, which delineates it should be about three feet in advance of the crosswalk.

 

Constant badgering by this individual to the City Manager, the Chief of Police, and, most effectively, the MI DOT over the course of late 2008 and 2009, got them to move all but four of these stop signs, two of them in critical areas for pedestrians and other road-users.  There really is no legitimate excuse for not moving these two signs to the proper place.  It shows a total disregard for the safety of the citizens and visitors to our area, and a total overlooking of the potential liability issues to the city for any accident that occurs at an intersection regulated by these signs. 

 

By MCL 257.671 and Rule 305 of the Uniform Traffic Code, an improperly placed stop sign, et.al., has no official regulatory value.  A vehicle could cruise over one of the crosswalks and hit someone walking or on any other device, and be able to pass along the liability that should befall him to our city who has not obeyed the proper protocol of placing these signs. 

 

Send an E-mail, write a letter, or gripe directly to the people who are disrupting the safety of our community and opening the door for our tax dollars to be used to pay off an unnecessary lawsuit.