Despite city staff’s recommendation against it, city council has approved a four-way stop at the intersection of Mary Street and Douglas Street.
Currently, the intersection is home to stop signs on Douglas Street, making Mary Street a through-street at the corner. But councillors Ralph Cipolla and Luke Leatherdale suggested a four-way stop after hearing resident complaints of speeding, near misses, drivers ignoring the existing stop signs amid numerous children in the neighbourhood.
In their report to council on Monday, city staff noted the intersection does not meet the necessary safety warrants to justify installing a four-way stop.
According to traffic data gathered in 2023, the intersection’s peak volume was 77 vehicles during the highest hour recorded — or 22 per cent of the required minimum laid out in the Ontario Traffic Manual Book.
Stop sign control may also be warranted when there are three or more right-angle or turning collisions over a three-year period. There were zero such collisions in the past three years, and four total in the past five years, according to the staff report.
The 85th percentile speed along Mary Street was 48 km/h, and 37 km/h along Douglas Street, with a posted speed limit of 50 km/h along both roads.
City staff also reported there are no sightline issues at the intersection.
“Recent studies have shown that the use of unwarranted stop signs creates disrespect for traffic control devices, which increases non-compliance. This non-compliance leads to increases in collisions at warranted intersections,” said Steven Murphy, the city's project engineer.
“Additionally, the unwarranted overuse of all way intersection controls can then also increase mid-block speeding due to driver frustration.”
Despite this information, a majority of councillors supported the four-way stop.
“With all due respect to all the reports and everything else, the people live on Mary Street,” Cipolla said. “I sat down in a lady’s driveway for about an hour-and-a-half, two hours and people … do not obey the speed, and they’re well beyond the 60 kilometres per hour — quite a few of them.”
Coun. Jay Fallis said he can “understand the logic” of unwarranted stop signs breeding additional traffic issues, but he supported the idea and suggested gathering traffic data after the four-way stop had been installed for a period of time.
“I'm just curious if it might be possible … to look at what the speeds are like — I guess we can use the data we've already collected — and then compare that with what comes from the sign,” he said.
City staff responded that council could introduce an inquiry asking for such a study at a later date, but noted that four-way stops are not meant to be used as a speed control measure — a notion that Coun. Tim Lauer took issue with.
“I don’t have any problem considering a stop sign a traffic calming measure,” he said, noting that additional stop signs along Mary Street would discourage residents from using the road as a thoroughfare across the city.
In past years, neighbourhood residents submitted a petition for traffic calming measures in the area, which several council members highlighted in their support of the four-way stop.
“If it pleases the people that (live) there and makes them feel safer, I think it's really important that we do that,” Cipolla said. “Sometimes what people want is different from what the official report (states), and I think this is what people want in that neighbourhood.”
