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4-way stops and a townline

August 12, 2019   ·   0 Comments

SHORT EDITORIAL

WHAT ON EARTH are four-way stops designed to achieve? Theoretically, the object is to deal with a situation where there is a heavy flow of both north-south and east-west traffic.

However, the reality is that in far too many instances they are found where the only apparent reason is a desire to stem the flow of traffic.

As we see it, the perfect example of inappropriate traffic regulation is found on the Mono-Amaranth Townline, the lowest portion being Veterans Way.

In all, there are six intersections between Orangeville’s Broadway and Highways 10/89 east of Shelburne.

Of the six, only three have four-way stops and of those only the one at 30 Sideroad meets the traffic-volume test.

The other two, at 15 and 25 Sideroad, have lots of north-south traffic but precious little on the sideroads. The north-south stop is classically for political purposes, not safety.

As for the other three intersections, the one at 5 Sideroad gives priority to north-south traffic, despite the fact that makes it particularly dangerous for vehicles on the busy County 16 bypass attempting to turn on to Veterans Way, since they must yield to southbound trafffic where the speed limit is 70 km/h.

An even stranger situation is found at Sideroads 10 and 20, where the east-west traffic has no higher volumes and the mandatory stop for north-south traffic has led to multiple fatalities.

We think our local politicians should look seriously at making all six intersections four-way stops.

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