INEFFECTIVE STOP SIGNS
“My call concerns the traffic signs located in the Safeway parking lot on E. Dunne Avenue. Drivers are not obeying the stop signs that are painted on the asphalt. These painted signs do not have the regular red octagonal stop sign accompanying them. What can be done about this?”
RED PHONE
The Red Phone visited this parking lot and counted no less than five such stop signs painted on the roadway with no posted sign next to them. There are other stop signs close to the stores’ entrances and exits, but they have the sign and the paint on the road. Drivers obey these signs closer to the storefronts, but they seem to consider the other signs in the parking lot not so much an order to stop, but more of a suggestion. Perhaps because the signs don’t look like normal stop signs, they treat them differently.
The Red Phone talked with Morgan Hill police officer Max Cervantes from the Morgan Hill Police Traffic Unit. Cervantes told us that the police do not have the authority to ticket drivers in a private parking lot, except for a few instances including illegal use of the parking space for people with disabilities, driving over 15 miles per hour in the lot and failure to stop at a stop sign at an intersection that empties into a public roadway, such as the exits of the lot next to Burger King.
Stopping at the remainder of the stop signs within the parking lot is left to the drivers’ good sense and civic duty to follow traffic laws.
TRAFFIC SIGNAL QUESTION CROPS UP AGAIN
“I have been a resident of Morgan Hill for some time, and it is no secret that the intersection of Main Avenue and Monterey Road is a mess, especially with the addition of the El Toro Brew Pub at that location. We really need to improve the traffic flow by adding a dedicated turn signal at the intersection.”
RED PHONE
This very question was brought up by another Red Phone caller and was answered in the Oct. 13 issue of the Times. We followed up on what was in store for this intersection with Scott Creer, senior civil engineer for the Morgan Hill Department of Public Works.
Creer informed the Red Phone that the work to be done at Main Avenue and Monterey Road will begin in June. The traffic light will get a change of phase, which means that all westbound traffic will be allowed to proceed, then next, all the eastbound traffic can go. This will eliminate waiting for through traffic before making a left turn and should alleviate some of the congestion.
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