Putting a brake on stop signs

There might be a break from all the braking going on in the town of Beaconsfield soon, with a recommendation from the town's traffic committee to remove two stop signs from the city likely to go ahead with the council's approval.

"What we are removing is whatever stop signs are not warranted, or justified, under the (provincial) Highway Traffic Code," explained city councillor James Hasegawa, who is also chair of the traffic committee.

Hasegawa said the provincial traffic safety code recommends having certain amounts of stop signs per area, and Beaconsfield is currently narrowly in excess with its own number of little red octagons that are the bane of speedsters anywhere.

"When there are too many stop signs, people ignore them," Hasegawa offered as an explanation of the committee's reasoning.

The signs on the corners of Beacon Hill/Andover, and Creswell/Berwick will be removed in July.

Hasegawa said he does not expect any opposition from the public. In fact, according to anecdotes he has heard, people are positive about the idea. "They seem to understand the reason why (the stop signs) have to be removed," he said.

Beaconsfield Mayor Bob Benedetti acknowledged some members of the public requested a raised intersection at Creswell/Berwick as opposed to a removal of one the signs. "The stop sign (to be removed) is a dangerous one," he said. According to him, explanations provided to citizens at a public consultation meeting were enough to alleviate their fears.

The City of Pointe Claire was mulling over a similar plan to remove extra stop signs from residential streets recently, but decided against the idea after consulting with some citizens.