93-71 ESTABLISHING YIELD INTERSECTIONS - VIRGINIA AND WESTMINSTER - HILLCREST AND WESTMINSTER - CAROLINA AND WESTMINSTER

Home Browse Search

. s � Newell stated that signs are placed where realistically the ' people will obey them. Signs work best when they reinLorce an expected behavior. Ile could post the street 20 or 10 mph and te11 the children to ride their bikes, but people will disregard the signs. If he puts a sign w}iere people will not respect it, it gives a false sense of security. 'I'he City needs to protect against this and be realistic. Experience around the City shows that stop signs will not be respected on Westminster. Barthelemy stated that with respect to Rogers and Illinois, l�ere is another situation where stop signs are in order; so why did staff recommend them here? Newell recommended signs here because people had trouble dis- cerning who had the right-of-way. His interpretation of the accident reports is that a lot of the proUlem is people perceiv- ing who has the right-oL-way, and realistically Westminster has it. If stop signs were put on all. three side streets, they would be respected and well received. The 85th percentile speed ---"-- on Westminster was just under- 30 mph: The� average speed was 25 mph. Most neighborhoods average about 25 to 30 mph. The side streets are running about 14 to 18 mph. This shows Westminster is the major street in the neighborhood. Mrs. Mears is concerned that the speed on Westminster will . ;� increase if the traffic knows the side streets stop. Newell believes the speed will probably go up to 33 or, at most, 35 mph. People are tryir�g to challenge Westminster as the through street, and that is why the accidents are occurring. Barthelemy noted it is used as a through street, even tl�ough it is not by design. Tl�ere are several streets like ttiat irz town. Nordholm stated tl�at north of Westminster, Carolina, fiillcrest and Virginia are dead ends . If the streets were longer, West- minster would not be perceived as the through street. Bauer noticed a poor line oL sight oi� Carolina, going west and looking south. Newell reported there is a large number of cars on Westminster for a residential street, and the numbers are significantly lower on the side streets. Some of the ve}�icles exercise tt�eir right to have the right-of-way anci the people ot� Westminster ignore them. 7'l�at is wt�y tlie accident rates are higli. 7't�e people who know the area probably have a higtier regard for Westminster. If tlle Commissio» wants to reinforce tl�at Westmit�- ster is t}ie tt�rougli street atld make everyone know tl�at, s�:o�� ' signs should be installec3 . IIe would rattler ut ield si Il5 anc3 P Y 9 start at ttie low er�d of traffic control £or eact� street. ile would have no problem wit11 puttii�g stop signs or yield signs on � �he side streets.