“Allowing these signs at unwarranted locations could result in a proliferation of requests for them at all of our intersections, which we can’t afford,” Gruner continued.
But township residents and its police chief say the solar-powered, lighted signs pose no economic burden on the county and better draw the attention of drivers.
“We got an overwhelming positive response from residents that have thanked us for trying to do something there,” said Jackson Twp. Police Department Chief Jon Schade. “If we can make it safer we will.”
There would continue to be regular stop signs at the intersection, just not the solar-powered ones with the ability to flash at oncoming traffic placed there by the township, if the county pushes ahead with removal. Gruner told trustees if the signs are not removed by Feb. 14, county crews will replace them.
Montgomery County has jurisdiction over traffic control at the intersection because Hemple Road is a county road.
DeVilbiss, the trustees president, declined comment when reached this week.
Mike Kilroy, a township resident who lives on Hemple Road near the intersection, doesn’t understand why Gruner wants the signs down.
“We never asked for a penny,” Kilroy said. “If we pay for it ourselves and it meets all the national codes for stop signs — which it does — why would he want us to take them down?”
Township crash data show during 2010 there was one injury and one fatality accident at the intersection, both the result of drivers failing to yield at a stop sign. There was a non-injury failure-to-yield accident there in 2014. No accidents were reported there until 2018, when four crashes near the intersection were recorded. One was due to water in the roadway while the three others, including an injury accident, were due to drivers not yielding at the stop signs. One more injury accident was reported last year, also because a driver failed to yield.
“It’s not that they don’t stop, they stop and then pull out in front of you when you are going 55 miles an hour,” Schade said. “I’ve experienced it; my wife’s experienced it. I get a lot of reports saying, ‘You’ve got to do something about it chief.’”
But federal and state standards call for enhanced traffic control signs only at intersections where nine or more accidents are reported within a three-year period, Gruner said.
“There’s also unlimited site distance at this location … It’s straight and flat. So there’s no reason to have that sign there,” he said. “It’s kind of like crying wolf. If these signs are put up everywhere without any warrant, then people will ignore the fact that there’s a flashing sign.”
Schade said the sight line might be unlimited during the winter, but that’s not the case in the thick of summer when row crops like corn mature.
“In late July, it’s terrible. So I think that’s the other reason residents are interested in it,” he said. “What’s scary about it in the summertime is you can’t see cars approaching the intersection … If you are east or westbound on Hemple, you don’t know until it’s too late.”
Neighbors and those signing an online petition — more than 780 as of Tuesday to keep the signs — say the crash statistics reveal only part of the danger.
“Lots of people run off into the fields and it doesn’t even get reported,” Kilroy said. “My son has pulled people out of that field multiple times. We just do it and go on your way … It doesn’t get reported.”
Kilroy said his son was transported to the hospital in after a driver ran the stop sign in the mid-1990s.
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The county follows state and national guidelines for safety reasons, Gruner said.
“The goal is to have a uniform system of traffic control devices so that drivers know what to expect when they see a certain sign,” he said.
Kilroy’s wife, Vickie Kilroy, started the Change.org petition to keep the new stop signs in place.
“We are well aware that the solar stop signs are not an absolute solution: some drives will still fail to stop,” she wrote “However, one more unnecessary death or one more unnecessary accident makes them more than worthwhile.”
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