40 - Friday, January 17, 1997 — North Shere News

Arterial motives dictate stop sign placement

signals

A senseless crash
involving a car and a
wheelchair van has left
a few people wondering
about road design at
15th Street and Mahon
Avenue in North
Vancouver.

Last December an appar-
ently negligent driver blew
threw a stop sign on Mahon
and broadsided a Handidart-
type van. The van ended up
on its side and one passenger
lost her arm as a result of the
accident.

It has been suggested that
a four-way-szop should be
placed at that intersection to
prevent such crashes from
happening again. After all, as
the North Shore grows, so
does its traffic problems and
the once quiet 15th Street is
now becoming a well-trav-
elled causeway.

In truth, placing a four-
way-stop in this intersection
might be the worst possible
solution. Traffic-control
devices are placed in areas to
aid the flow of traffic; a poor-
ly-placed device can have the
opposite of this desired effect
because the driving public
does not tolerate interrup-
tions that have no obvious
value.

Len Merieu, North Van's
traffic technologist, has draft-
ed a comprehensive manual
on intersectior: control for
both the City and District. A
compilation of the numerous
books and manuals already
used in the road design
industry, Len’s book lays out
for us the straight dope on
the why’s and where’s of
road design.

Simply stated, 15th Street
is considered a “Collector
Road,” which means it col-
jects us drivers and sends us
towards an “Arterial Road”
upon which we get in and
out of the city.

Mahon Avenue is a “Local

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Road” and its sole purpose,
ideally, is to service people
living in the community.

When roads intersect a
decision is made regarding,
traffic control devices — Le.
stop signs, traffic lights etc.
— and the larger road servic-
ing more drivers will usually
get the right of way, When
traffic volumes on both
streets are similar, both roads
surrender their rights to an
all-controlling device.

To place a stop sign on
15th streer — a collector
road which, by definition,
sees up to 10,000 vehicles
per day — sould actually
hinder traffic flow, The nwo-
way stop on Mahon complies
with both common sense and
the guidelines for traffic con-
trol by definition.

Knowing, this does nor
explain why the senseless
crash took place, why people
run stop signs nor why so
many people are using 15th
Street as a main thorough-
fare. Ecan only explain the
last one.

As mentioned, traffic con-
trol is placed in areas in need
of a controlled flow.
Invariably this means thar
somebody's flow must be
abruptly stopped. Drivers in
general will not tolerate
senseless blockage to their
right to flow and, like water
(since that metaphor has
slipped its way in anyway),
traffic will find the path of
least resistance, stop signs be
damned.

Looking at 13th Street,

1ith’s big sister two blocks
south, ene will note thas, for
the most part, it is four Janes
wide and handily services cast
and westbound traffic all the
way from St. Georges to
Marine Drive (it becomes
Keith Road along the line).

Handilv except for the
rude bortleneck along the
100 block of West 13th
where it is a mere two lanes
but with ample street parking
parking. People are opting to
use 13th Street as a “Minor
Arterial” simple because 13th
is not deing its job; it is not
aiding the flow of traffic and
L5th Street offers the path of
least resistance. What must
happen is a sacrifice.

People parking along 13th
Street will no doubt have to
give up their hindy free park-
ing in the interest of traffic
flow. The road designers had
this in mind all along. That’s
why 13th Street is so wide —
planners knew they'd have to
service more cars eventuaily.

Ironically, this expansion
has been on the table for
years but City council has
constantly deferred its prob-
lem over and over in the
interest of a tight budget. It’s
tvo bad thar a senseless and
horrific crash had to happen
to bring this problem out in
to the open.

In the end, these roads
and their control devices are
there to keep things smooth
and safe, which is something
we should all aspire to.

Get on with it council.
Let me be safe.

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NEWS photo Terry Patere 7
THE above traffic accident occurred when a car ran a stop sign at 15th Street and ff
Mahon Avenue in North Vancouver in December and plowed into a Handidart van.
Traffic guru Shaun Conlin was surprised to fearn that installing a four-way. stop
sign at the intersection would do little to heip the traffic prebiem in the area. ~

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