An interesting idea that I will take to Staff.
I was biking down the rail trail that follows the Speed between Speedvale and Norwich yesterday when it occurred to me that all the stop signs on the trail are for the cyclists at each road intersection.
I remember noting this when the trail was first installed, and didn’t think about it much at the time since I figure that’s how most trails are: the cyclists stop at the road and look for cars.
But looking at how heavily the trail is used now by cyclists, rollerbladers, pedestrians, runners, etc, and how very low-traffic the roads that intersect with it are (e.g. John, George, Earl), I got to thinking – why don’t they flip around those stop signs and require the cars to brake and make sure the intersection is clear before proceeding? The trail is practically a bike highway through the north half of the city, and almost no one drives on those short local roads between Dufferin and the river.
If the idea behind stop signs is that they’re supposed to control intersections by giving right of way to the corridor with the higher volume of traffic, it strikes me that the stops on this particular trail ought to be rotated 90 degrees.
I’d love to hear what you think about this. LW