Irksome intersection
OKC woman says city should move stop sign to make neighborhood safer
Third time wasn’t a charm for a central Oklahoma City woman who, in combination with her husband, got pulled over thrice in the span of a month for allegedly rolling through neighborhood stop signs.
Two warnings from two different police officers. Then, on Dec. 20, a third officer wrote Amanda Green a ticket for allegedly not stopping at the intersection of McKinley Avenue and NW 30.
She blames a row of shrubs on the south side — and apartment fencing to the north — for blocking the view of drivers attempting to make turns. And, a police officer who she says didn’t see her stop, because of the purportedly obstructed views.
“I stop like I’m supposed to, even though I can’t see anything,” Green said. “I got a 13-year-old daughter I’m trying to teach traffic laws to. I ease forward. I always go slow around the corner, less than five miles an hour, to avoid parked cars. Halfway into the turn, I see the cop. I’m in my driveway, and he pulls up behind me and tells my daughter to get back in the car and asks for my license and registration.”
Green said for about 45 minutes she refused to take the ticket and demanded that a police supervisor be called to her driveway. She eventually relented and took the $183 ticket. Still, the city should do something about the intersection, she said.
“The hedges around the house are nice, well trimmed, taken care of,” Green said. “He keeps them nice. It’s not fair for him to take them out because the city doesn’t want to move a damn stop sign.”
OKC’s Action Center
Green is among thousands of Oklahoma City residents each year who contact the Action Center with complaints and concerns ranging from high weeds and barking dogs to potholes and street signs.
In 2017, the Action Center received more than 71,000 contacts from Oklahoma City residents. Of those contacts, more than 1,000 fell into the category of street signs, which could include concerns like damage and placement, or even missing signs.
The complaints are logged and filed with various city agencies to handle.
“We had a complaint that there’s a concern for the placement of the stop sign,” said Beth Crounse, Action Center manager. “It starts with traffic management and the streets department. They have the people go out, and they’re the ones that put the signposts in and remove them. There’s codes as to where a stop sign is placed — how many feet back from the street curb. Sometimes, if the there’s a utility pole in the way, they may have to go to Plan B. The traffic management division is the one that determines where things are placed.”
And traffic managers rely on the guidance of what they call “The Green Book,” or the lesscolorful
but officially titled “A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets.”
Produced by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the Green Book has a section on what is known to the traffic gods as “sight distance,” or the sufficient length for a driver to avoid striking unexpected objects in the way.
At intersections, there are what is known as “departure sight triangles,” where stopped motorists have enough sight to safely enter or cross a road.
Here’s what Jonah Finkelstein, a traffic engineer with Minnesota-based Spack Consulting, wrote at mikeontraffic.com:
“The sight distance for a stopped vehicle, at an intersection junction, should be enough for the vehicle to view conflicting vehicles/objects approaching on the adjacent/crossing roadway
to proceed on or through the intersection without conflict.”
In Oklahoma City, and cities across the nation, codes are written so that safe sight triangles are maintained.
For example, “No wall, fence, sign, or other structure or plant growth that obstructs vision shall be placed or maintained on a permanent or temporary basis within the sight triangle.”
Sight triangle or shrub?
About the intersection at McKinley Avenue and NW 30. A city traffic engineer looked at the intersection on Google Earth.
“He said the sight triangle was OK,” said Spokeswoman Shannon Cox of Public Works. “The stop sign looks like it is correctly placed and wouldn’t be moved.”
But the shrubs might be. “We are sending the homeowners a letter that asks the homeowner to trim back their shrubs,” said Oklahoma City Spokeswoman Kristy Yager. “They’ll have a few days to do that. If we go out and it hasn’t been done, we’ll have it done.” And the traffic ticket? “If you’ve got three different officers that pulled her over, obviously they think something is not right,” said Police Capt. Bo Mathews, a spokesman for the department.
Green said she has lived in the neighborhood for 10 years and is shocked by the number of times she and her husband have been recently pulled over. When she posted about the matter on a neighborhood website, a debate ensued as to whether she was being nitpicky about the stop signs.
She also received driving tips. It was an outrage nearly as great as the ticket.
“I’m not fighting the ticket,” Green said. “I just want the neighborhood to be safe.”