Having dealt with a few stop signs of dubious merit in and around the Houston area, I can certainly feel the pain of Cranston, RI residents.
An NPR story (which links to local reports with more information) details the stop sign crisis in Cranston, which has discovered around 700 stop signs installed without going through the proper channels. An investigation revealed that the state DOT installed some one-third of the signs at the entrances to state roads. There is a state statute in Rhode Island that all drivers must stop prior to entering a state road, sign or not. I don’t know Rhode Island law but it is quite possible the DOT was legally justified in leapfrogging the city by installing the signs.
Anyway, that still leaves a great many of the stop signs unaccounted for, and a potentially dangerous situation. Put up too many traffic control devices, and the motoring public starts to lose respect for all of them. As a consequence of the superfluous traffic lights and signs, those that are truly needed get ignored by more drivers, with potentially disastrous and fatal consequences.
I’d like to think that residents did not take it upon themselves to install stop signs. While it may seem harmless to them, it’s an invitation to disaster if everyone does it.
Stop signs are one of the main reasons that Meadows Place is a separate city today. Neither Houston nor Stafford were willing to annex the area, due to the large number of 4-way stops on S Kirkwood. Both cities determined that, were they to annex, most of the signs would have to come down, which was not acceptable to the residents.
BTW, I hate driving that section of S Kirkwood.
~EdT.
With having to stop four times when once or twice would be just as safe, who doesn't hate driving that section of road? I haven't been out there in a long while (I confirmed that it was still as I last remembered it from Google Maps Street View).
I have to wonder if Meadows Place put up some of those stop signs for revenue, similar to how some cities lower the speed limits for revenue (ex: the 35 speed limit on Jones through Jersey Village or the former 55 speed limit on US 59 through Humble).