Stop signs have popped up in odd places, such as right in front of the South Side firehouse at Oceanside Road and Neil Court; one after another on comparatively short stretches like Cortland, Henrietta and Waukena Avenues between Oceanside and Long Beach Road and Sunnyside Road; and in the middle of main roads, as on Waukena Avenue at Bayfield Boulevard. Today, stop signs dot many of the corners on Oceanside Parkway. Two have recently appeared on Greentree Drive, at both Sally Land and Candee Court, and two more have sprouted on Fulton Avenue at West Henrietta and Vermont avenues. There are others on Yost Boulevard at Henrietta Avenue, on Carrell Boulevard at Cecilia Place and on Nassau Road at Anchor Avenue. This is just a sampling.
Why does it matter? Why the alarm? Isn¹t this a good sign, so to speak, given how most motorists drive these days?
Not necessarily.
Traffic issues often top residents¹ complaint lists at community meetings, and stop signs are often sought as a way to deal with speeders on their streets. The Waukena Avenue-Bayfield Boulevard sign, for example, was installed after residents attending community meetings asked that a sign be posted there to slow down drivers on Waukena. The signs on Henrietta at Second and Third streets are there because children play in the area, as another new sign posted nearby warns.
In determining what areas warrant stop signs, traffic-control inspectors conduct surveys, analyzing information such as the number of accidents that have occurred in a given area, the angles of the road and obstruction of visibility by trees, bushes and other objects. The inspectors consult the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which contains standards for these devices. Among its instructions is that stop signs cannot be used to control speeding.
At a community meeting in Oceanside, former 4th Precinct Inspector Richard McGuire spoke out about the misuse of stop signs. McGuire cited studies by the National Traffic Safety Council whose conclusions were that stop signs should never be used as speed-control devices.
³First, they encourage a disobedience to stop signs, because stop signs are meant to control access to main roads, not to control speed on main roads,² McGuire explained. ³Secondly, what happens is, cars speed up in between stop signs in order to make up for lost time. Third, it creates traffic congestion.²
Stop signs may be a quick fix to silence unhappy constituents, but a poor long term solution to the hazards posed by speeding motorists. The real issue here is the way Nassau County is policed and the way we measure the effectiveness of our police force.
Nassau has one of the lowest crime rates of any county in the nation. But police staffing shouldn¹t be assessed solely according to crime or auto-accident statistics, but rather should also be judged by ³quality of life² standards ‹ such as speeding.
Policing impacts the way motorists drive and share our roads. Driving has never been more hazardous, due in large part, we believe, to a lack of patrolling officers when compared with years past. The mere presence of an officer keeps motorists from acting unlawfully.
Calling for more stop signs around town is a Band-Aid approach; a better, more fundamental solution is putting more police on the streets.
Ultimately, our police force can only do so much to corral dangerous motorists. In the meantime, drivers should focus on what is in their control. Like any behavior you¹d like to see more of in our community, the first step should be to lead by example, and be a better, more cautious driver yourself.
