Uxbridge considers pulling out stop signs
Posted June 10, 2010 2:12 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – The mayor of Uxbridge, northeast of Toronto, is waging war against the stop sign.
Bob Shepherd told 680News he’s not anti-stop sign. He simply doesn’t agree with them being used to to control speeding traffic.
“It’s short sighted, ill-conceived, it hasn’t been thought through. Stop signs should be used where it’s a safety concern, not to control the speed of traffic,” Shepherd said.
The town of 11,000 has seen an increase in development and with more people moving into new subdivisions comes more vehicular traffic.
“There’s a tendency where stop signs have been used by the township based on complaints by residents that there’s speeding in their neighbourhood so the knee-jerk reaction has been put a stop sign in,” the mayor explained.
The town is studying all of its stop signs and will identify which intersections would be better off without.
Some local environmentalists want the town to remove all of its stop signs, claiming motorists use 40 per cent more fuel stopping at a sign versus rolling through; however, Shepherd said that doesn’t support removing all of them.
“That would be total over-reaction in the wrong direction. Use common sense, good judgment and say ‘that stop sign is not needed, take it out’,” Shepherd said.
