Some new four-way stop signs are in place in Rehoboth Beach, but members of a city traffic safety committee may not have the appetite to place more in the city’s bustling downtown area.
The new stop signs are in place on State Road and Columbia and Henlopen Avenues. Speaking to the city’s City Streets and Safety Advisory Committee, Police Chief Keith Banks said that when it comes to enforcement, his officers will be using a light touch at first.
“I always tell the officers they have discretion, and as long as they see a violation, they pull it over and address it,” Banks said. “If it's with a citation, if it's just with a warning, that's fine. We're getting our point across that, hey, we need to stop or we need to slow down.”
But, Banks warned the committee against the possibility of further all-way stop signs on First Street, citing concerns about their effectiveness and the possibility of increased congestion.
City Streets and Safety Advisory Committee Chair Mark Saunders, a member of the Rehoboth Beach Commission, floated the idea as a way to make it easier for pedestrians to cross one of the city’s busiest streets.
“It's difficult because there are no stop signs there and you're looking in every direction,” Saunders said.
But, committee member Michael Venanzi had reservations about the effects new stop signs on First Street would have on traffic.
“While I agree with you, my concern is, is it going to just now cause a problem where we're backing up the intersection and blocking the box?” Venanzi asked.
“It does it now anyhow without the signs, my hope would be that people would stop at the stop sign so that the pedestrians could get by,” Saunders countered.
But Banks presented data that indicate that stop signs might not be the best pathway forward. He agreed that adding stop signs could cause major traffic snarls. He also brought data about accidents along First Street going back to 2019, 33 crashes in all. According to his analysis, there were fewer than 10 accidents per year in any of the intersections mentioned by Saunders. And, over that time frame, only one accident involved a pedestrian while two others involved bicycles. He also noted that nearly half of the accidents, 15 out of 33, didn’t happen in the intersection.
“Many of these involved parked vehicles being sideswiped or crashes resulting from unsafe backing,” he explained. “This suggests that a considerable portion of the collision history may be attributed to parking and roadway conditions rather than intersection traffic control issues.”
The problem at intersections, Banks said, is line of sight. Big cars, SUVs, and trucks make it difficult for drivers to see pedestrians waiting to cross until they’re in the intersection in many cases.
“If you can't see the person standing there on a curb because you got a big truck or a car [blocking the view], what do they do?” Banks said. “Start tiptoeing out there closer and closer, and that's where we get into bicycles or mopeds that you'll see some of these crashes.”
Members of the City Streets and Public Safety Committee will head back to the drawing board and discuss alternative traffic calming measures at a future meeting.
