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Law isn't behind no-turnaround signs
(by Sue Reid - July 15, 2009)
Law isn't behind no-turnaround signs
By SUE REID
Solon City Council's safety and public works committee will refer to the city's law director a question raised by a resident regarding signs erected in the Carriage Park subdivision.
The committee had approved a sign in the subdivision in March for a six-month period to deter turnaround traffic. The motion had the contingency that the traffic engineer monitor the area on a regular basis. In addition, it was referred to the traffic task force and city administration for the language to be worked out on the sign.
Resident Kevin M. Anthony said, while driving through the city recently, he saw the two large signs stating that no turnarounds are permitted at Carriage Park and a "local traffic only" sign at its entrance.
"My question is, are these signs written into the traffic ordinances of Solon?" Mr. Anthony asked. "Can non-local drivers entering Carriage Park and other 'local traffic only' streets be cited, fined, get points on their license as they would for moving traffic violations?" He said he also wonders what the process is for a public street, maintained and plowed with public funds, to be designated for the private use of the residents on the street.
City officials have looked at the Carriage Park subdivision for some time and the issue of it being used as for turnarounds.
It has a long history, according to Councilman and safety committee chairman Edward K. Suit.
The city had tried allowing U-turns on SOM Center Road (Route 91) south of the Carriage Park entrance, but that did not work, officials said, so they let the ordinance expire. Studies also have been done by various traffic engineers.
One of the problems is, if left turns are prohibited there, people go further north, and it's worse, Mr. Suit said, citing hills and crests causing site-distance problems.
Assistant Police Chief Raymond J. Tittl said that, for police to enforce any type of traffic-control device, it has to be passed as a city ordinance. "They could get a ticket," he said of violators, "but it is a very difficult type of ordinance to cite."
City Council has not passed the Carriage Park sign into ordinance, he said, but rather put it up for a six-month period and have the traffic engineer review it.
The problem with designating streets for no through traffic is that, if a vehicle is stopped, the motorist may have been looking for a garage sale or a friend's house, Mr. Tittl said. "There are a plethora of excuses a motorist can give an officer as to why they happen to be on the street," he said.
"It makes it difficult to enforce that type of ordinance." He said it's not the same as if a motorist runs a stop sign or red light.
Mr. Tittl said the reason some signage is a part of the ordinance is because the city's legislative body deemed it to be a law. "It's our job to enforce the ordinance to the best of our ability," he said.
Most of the time, the determination to make the signage a law is based on it meeting the traffic criteria as set by the state, but it does not always have to meet those criteria, he said.
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