Too many stops signs aren’t stopping traffic so stop with the stop signs, this city official says

Traveling north or south while driving through Palmetto on the primary roadways off the bridges can test the patience of any motorist during peak hours.

But if you are thinking of finding a quick short cut through the city’s back roads, think again.

The city’s back streets require a different kind of patience as stop signs have sprung up over the years like weeds in an unattended garden. Some say it’s time to do some weeding.

At least one commissioner has had enough and wants the city to slow down when it comes to installing new stop signs.

According to Allen Tusing, public works director, about 90 percent of the existing stop signs have been citizen-driven with requests to help with speeders.

But it doesn’t work very well and can have an opposite effect to the intended purpose, he said.

“Stop signs are not the most efficient means,” Palmetto Police Chief Scott Tyler said.

The Federal Highway Administration agrees, citing several studies that show stop signs can cause more problems than the intended solution “and should be used only where needed.”

The FHA reports a few reasons why, such as a stop sign at a residential road entering a main traffic corridor, but essentially it boils down to if the accident data backs up the need for a stop sign, then one should be installed.

The majority of Palmetto’s stop signs are due to complaints about speeding.

“Many studies have shown that stop signs are not an effective measure for controlling or reducing mid-block speeds,” the FHA report cites. “In fact, the overuse of stop signs may cause drivers to carelessly stop at the stop signs that are installed.”

FHA says nearly 50 percent of drivers do a “rolling stop” and about 25 percent don’t stop at all. Other studies indicate that drivers become frustrated with multiple mid-block stop sign locations and even if they do stop, accelerate even faster to the next stop sign to make up for the perception of lost time.

Intersections with stop signs account for one-third of all crashes in the United States and 40 percent of the fatalities, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

For years, Palmetto has had a simple process: A citizen would complain, the complaint would go the city’s traffic advisory committee and get approval without a lot of consideration to the alternate consequences.

Commissioner Tambra Varnadore said it’s time to change policies.

“It’s something the city really needs to look at,” Varnadore said, noting the city also needs to re-evaluate its existing stop signs to determine which ones are necessary.

If they are not, Varnadore said it’s time they were removed.

“My thing is that there are just too many of them and people are ignoring them,” Varnadore said. “We need some real requirements where we put stop signs because we have so many of them.”