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Drivers waiting for more signs
(by Dave Lange - September 03, 2008)
Drivers waiting for more signs
When a Chardon Township resident asked his elected trustees for an additional sign reading, "Cross-traffic does not stop," on Clark Road last spring, I thought it was a reasonable request. He said the warning is needed at the existing stop sign where Clark Road meets Auburn Road, because there isn't a four-way stop at the intersection. Unfamiliar drivers on Clark Road might mistakenly believe that approaching motorists on Auburn Road also will be stopping, he reasoned, and consequently make a grievous error.
Township Trustees agreed and forwarded the request to Geauga County Engineer Robert L. Phillips, who's still sitting on it.
In the interim, being a frequent traveler on Auburn Road but seldom straying onto Clark Road myself, I considered the possibilities. I have not yet encountered a motorist pulling into my path from the Clark Road stop sign, but stranger things have happened.
Perhaps unfamiliar drivers just don't frequent the area at the same time that I do. Or maybe they happen to be familiar with four-way stops, in general, because most of them are clearly marked with signs that say so. Since there are no signs designating the intersection as a four-way stop, it's possible that motorists who arrive at Auburn and Clark roads simultaneously with my vehicle do not erroneously assume it's a four-way stop.
But you never know. Therefore, I would like to request that Mr. Phillips consider a sign on Auburn Road, as it approaches Clark Road, cautioning drivers, "Cross-traffic is supposed to stop, but you never know."
However, the Geauga County engineer and his fellow traffic experts regularly caution sign-happy elected officials that the overuse of traffic signs causes motorists to ignore them. That makes sense. The more often my wife tells me to put my dirty underwear in the hamper, the more likely I am to toss them onto a lampshade.
I don't think the public officials in Chagrin Falls got the message. Their two-block-long downtown district has wall-to-wall traffic signs, including, "Do not block drive," "Two-hour parking" and "Commercial district" on a single pole, "Stop for pedestrians" in the middle of the street, along with neon green stick figures at the curbs, plus, "No left turn," "No turn on red," "Through trucks prohibited," "No thru trucks," "No U-turn," "Leaving commercial parking district" and more. But I swear those were not my underwear dangling in the bushes at Riverside Park.
In my own community, Bainbridge Township, they love stop signs so much that they put them up at tennis courts. I'm surprised they haven't added the warning to stopped drivers, "Watch for low-flying green balls."
The township also has an electronic billboard in front of the fire station on Chillicothe Road (Route 306) which generally flashes meaningless messages to passing motorists. That could divert their attention from other nearby signs that flash some sort of caution about firetrucks.
In Solon, the Route 422 freeway could use a sign notifying travelers, "Amusement park closed," so they don't follow the directions on that huge Geauga Lake Park directional sign that the state never bothered to remove.
At the approaches to Lander Circle in Pepper Pike, I've heard rumors about the mayor putting up a sign that says, "Honk if you hate traffic circles." In fine print, he could add, "Another unnecessary road project to be funded by the taxpayers of Ohio." But he won't.
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