Stop signs work fine when drivers obey them, and most drivers do obey them, more or less, but when drivers don't pay attention, the signs can fail catastrophically. A few weeks ago, for example, I was riding down Regent St. near Hilldale on a bright sunny day. While I was passing through the Owen Dr. intersection, a driver on S. Owen stopped at the stop sign. Then she apparently decided I didn't exist, hit the accelerator, and came within inches of my bike.
This sort of incident doesn't happen to me very often, but it has happened before, and it's not very pleasant. Unfortunately, bikes do not always register in the consciousness of drivers at stopped signs, and I think their attention might be even worse than usual at a four-way stop with a bike path (which is not a "real street," after all, and not really worthy of respect). So I worry that bikers crossing Glenway who rely on a four-way stop for protection might sometimes be disappointed. If we want to slow down traffic on Glenway and improve bike safety, I think the City will have to lay down some concrete, one way or another. I'd like to suggest a raised crossing, like the one in front of the City-County Building; it would act as a speed hump and make the bike path more visible. Rick Funderburg said: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >>I advocated for a 4-way stop at the intersection. The City's engineer >> replied that Madison drivers do not pay attention to stop signs and that >> makes them a poor choice for slowing traffic on Glenway St.. I asked for >> his statistics since I told him I didn't think Madison car drivers >> regularly blew through stop signs without slowing way down or coming to a >> complete stop. I told him I thought a four-way stop would reduce the >> potential for collisions between bicyclists using the path and >> automobiles on Glenway St.. It would also be less costly than a concrete >> structure. >> >> > > It sounds like you made a reasonable suggestion. Stop signs should be > cheap enough that it would be worth trying it out to see if it helped > the situation before investing lots of manpower and materials into > building something. However, if they really want to build something, > maybe aggressive speed bumps would work? > > I haven't generally seen any Madison drivers routinely blow stop signs, > although usually stop signs are at roadway intersections, so there is > more danger for the motorist for blowing those stop signs than would be > present at the bike path. > > -- Rick > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies > > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
