In all the years that I have been Mayor, the request to add a stop sign to a street is far and away the most common request I have received. Rightfully so, people in Lansdale want traffic to be safer and to move at slower speeds across our community. That is my desire and the near universal desire of every resident I have ever spoken with. However, stop sign deployment is not as easy as it sounds, and it has some high bars to jump before a new stop sign can be established on a street. Frankly, I never thought I would have this much knowledge on stop signs, but now that I do I feel compelled to share it with all of you.
Firstly, it is important to define what a stop sign is and what it is not. According to PennDOT, a stop sign is a traffic control device. It is not a speed control device. This distinction is important because the primary deployment of a stop sign, according to PennDOT, is not to decrease the speed of a roadway, it is to mitigate and manage traffic flow. This means that a high traffic speed on a roadway does not necessarily qualify that roadway for a stop sign. In fact, according to Chapter 2B of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) after defining what a stop sign can be used for it states openly “STOP signs should not be used for speed control.”
I find it hard to argue with that clarity.
However, in the rules it also stipulates that a sign can be deployed if “high speeds, restricted view, or crash records indicate a need for control by the STOP sign.”. So, how many crashes are enough to warrant a stop sign? According to PennDOT “five or more reported crashes in a 12-month period for […] the most recent 3 years of available crash data” warrants the review for a stop sign.
Additionally, as noted above, it stipulates that if high speeds are present a stop sign may be a solution. However, the manual also clearly states that to place a stop sign a traffic study should be conducted to determine the right solution. Traffic studies, for those who have not delved deep into this topic, are expensive. Hundreds of thousands of dollars expensive. Lansdale is due for a traffic study, and I have been pushing the Public Safety Committee and Borough Council to pull the trigger on a study since we were scheduled to complete one in 2020. We postponed that decision due to the significant change in traffic during the pandemic. It is my hope that we will execute a traffic study in 2024 to solve some of our existing traffic issues.
In lieu of a traffic study, the Lansdale Police Department will deploy a speed study on a roadway to determine if the average speed is reaching an unsafe level. We have deployed dozens of these studies in my time as Mayor and I have never seen a speed study come back with an average speed higher than 35 MPH and we do not currently have an intersection that has recorded five or more crashes in a 12-month window.
Shocking, I know.
So, why don’t we just tell PennDOT to go pound sand? Can’t we manage our roadways the way we want to? We can. However, if someone crashes at the intersection of a newly placed stop sign and we are out of alignment with PennDOT regulations we will very likely be held liable in court for the damage done to all drivers involved. By following PennDOT’s rules we are mitigating our legal risks and ensuring that the community, and taxpayer dollars, are not wasted on legal expenses.
So, what can we do? Continue to fight for a comprehensive traffic study. Our roadways have changed significantly in the last decade due to community growth and development. There are real traffic management adjustments needed across Lansdale and to make them we need to look at the whole picture, so we have a compelling solution that works for everyone while also meeting PennDOT’s standards.
I wish I could help every person who comes in looking for a stop sign on their road. I know how nervous you are about your kids and the cars that might be traveling too fast on your road. I too have small children and I share these concerns. I want to make Lansdale a safer place to live, work, and play. It is part of the reason I ran to be Mayor. We have improved dramatically over time, but undoubtedly, there is more to do.
A comprehensive traffic study will put us on that path. If you really want that stop sign, or some solution to this problem, please come to a Public Safety meeting and ask for a comprehensive study. I firmly believe that the resulting plan will keep Lansdale moving toward becoming the community we all want it to be.
(Mayoral Musings is a weekly op-ed column submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Lansdale Borough Mayor Garry Herbert. The views expressed are his own and not representative of North Penn Now or Lansdale Borough.)
See also:
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Mayoral Musings: Pride Month 2023
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