Canadian's hate stop signs
02-15-2011, 01:02 PM
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Canadian's hate stop signs
What do you all think about this? Think its a good idea?
http://www.thepassinglane.ca/2011/02...top-signs.html
By David Menzies for MSN Autos
Three cheers for Charlottetown, P.E.I. – a Canadian municipality that’s putting a stop to excessive stop sign proliferation.
Indeed, according to a front-page article in the National Post (that’s how rare Charlottetown’s efforts are, folks), after years of caving in to the demands of residents asking for stop signs to stem the flow of speeding cars, PEI’s capital city is preparing to tear up more than a dozen residential stop signs that have been deemed unnecessary – and in some cases, harmful.
"Signs that are placed in areas where they're not needed and they don't work are dangerous," councillor David MacDonald told a recent city council meeting. "Stop signs that people do not stop at and go through are dangerous."
The city is planning to get rid of 16 stop signs after a review found few of them meet national guidelines for the amount of traffic needed to justify a stop sign. The review was part of Mayor Clifford Lee's re-election promise to take the politics out of Charlottetown's road safety decisions, leaving traffic policy up to traffic engineers rather than residents and councillors.
Thankfully, Charlottetown isn't the only Canadian city changing its attitudes toward stop signs. Winnipeg and Nelson, B.C., are also studying the problem of too many "unwarranted" stop signs. South of the border, Cranston, R. I. is removing 21 "undocumented" stop signs and reviewing nearly 600 more after judges began throwing out tickets because the signs hadn't been officially approved before being erected.
Meanwhile in Charlottetown, authorities are questioning the usefulness of stop signs.
"As a speed-control device, it doesn't work," says Charlottetown Police Chief Paul Smith. "If you put it in to slow traffic, you might slow it down, but you're just creating another problem because they're not stopping."
Indeed, stop signs have become more of a "status symbol" for upscale neighbourhoods to keep out interlopers than a safety measure, notes Thomas Szirtes, an automotive engineer who petitioned the city of Toronto to replace its stop signs with yield signs that allow drivers to roll through an intersection if there's no traffic.
"If you put a stop sign every 20 feet, what does it mean? It just makes people frustrated and they don't obey it," he said. "It has the additional disadvantage of instilling people with disobedience for the law."
Environmental groups have also been pushing for communities to remove stop signs to help cut down on pollution. In Uxbridge, Ont., members of the township's Energy Conservation Committee pushed politicians to get rid of stop signs after calculating that stopping 20 times uses up a litre of gas.
Now, if only authorities would get serious about removing an even more insidious affront to hassle-free motoring: the evil speed bump.
Three cheers for Charlottetown, P.E.I. – a Canadian municipality that’s putting a stop to excessive stop sign proliferation.
Indeed, according to a front-page article in the National Post (that’s how rare Charlottetown’s efforts are, folks), after years of caving in to the demands of residents asking for stop signs to stem the flow of speeding cars, PEI’s capital city is preparing to tear up more than a dozen residential stop signs that have been deemed unnecessary – and in some cases, harmful.
"Signs that are placed in areas where they're not needed and they don't work are dangerous," councillor David MacDonald told a recent city council meeting. "Stop signs that people do not stop at and go through are dangerous."
The city is planning to get rid of 16 stop signs after a review found few of them meet national guidelines for the amount of traffic needed to justify a stop sign. The review was part of Mayor Clifford Lee's re-election promise to take the politics out of Charlottetown's road safety decisions, leaving traffic policy up to traffic engineers rather than residents and councillors.
Thankfully, Charlottetown isn't the only Canadian city changing its attitudes toward stop signs. Winnipeg and Nelson, B.C., are also studying the problem of too many "unwarranted" stop signs. South of the border, Cranston, R. I. is removing 21 "undocumented" stop signs and reviewing nearly 600 more after judges began throwing out tickets because the signs hadn't been officially approved before being erected.
Meanwhile in Charlottetown, authorities are questioning the usefulness of stop signs.
"As a speed-control device, it doesn't work," says Charlottetown Police Chief Paul Smith. "If you put it in to slow traffic, you might slow it down, but you're just creating another problem because they're not stopping."
Indeed, stop signs have become more of a "status symbol" for upscale neighbourhoods to keep out interlopers than a safety measure, notes Thomas Szirtes, an automotive engineer who petitioned the city of Toronto to replace its stop signs with yield signs that allow drivers to roll through an intersection if there's no traffic.
"If you put a stop sign every 20 feet, what does it mean? It just makes people frustrated and they don't obey it," he said. "It has the additional disadvantage of instilling people with disobedience for the law."
Environmental groups have also been pushing for communities to remove stop signs to help cut down on pollution. In Uxbridge, Ont., members of the township's Energy Conservation Committee pushed politicians to get rid of stop signs after calculating that stopping 20 times uses up a litre of gas.
Now, if only authorities would get serious about removing an even more insidious affront to hassle-free motoring: the evil speed bump.
http://www.thepassinglane.ca/2011/02...top-signs.html
02-15-2011, 01:15 PM
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I say replace over half of the stop signs in existence with traffic circles.
1.) Just like mentioned above stop signs more often create a larger problem than they solve
2.) Most people don't know how to use them so they'll smash up their cars trying to figure out the mysterious object thus:
a.) Fewer will drive resolves congestion
b.) More cars sold as they get smashed to bits, stimulating the economy
c.) Some dumb people will die, stimulating the gene pool
1.) Just like mentioned above stop signs more often create a larger problem than they solve
2.) Most people don't know how to use them so they'll smash up their cars trying to figure out the mysterious object thus:
a.) Fewer will drive resolves congestion
b.) More cars sold as they get smashed to bits, stimulating the economy
c.) Some dumb people will die, stimulating the gene pool
02-15-2011, 01:29 PM
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We have tons of roundabouts here. Back when I was designing roads I went to a traffic flow course and it was very interesting. Roundabouts are greatly efficient but only through a fairly small window of traffic volume. Get outside of that volume and they are horrible. Lower volume a signed intersection is preferable, above it a signaled intersection is more efficient.
Traffic accidents are much more common in roundabouts than any other type of intersection, but fatalities are almost nonexistent.
I was just thinking yesterday that there are too many stop signs. Over a short area of my drive home there were several that weren't required to be there. I especially hate them when exiting a driveway.
Traffic accidents are much more common in roundabouts than any other type of intersection, but fatalities are almost nonexistent.
I was just thinking yesterday that there are too many stop signs. Over a short area of my drive home there were several that weren't required to be there. I especially hate them when exiting a driveway.