BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I bike Comrie Way a lot; it's probably the best east-west bike route through Garfield. I've had a close call near there.

I too had a near collision on Comrie once. The other vehicle was a bicycle on the sidewalk of the intersecting street, with the view of each other blocked by a hedge.

I've started using Comrie Way and Coral St. As a bypass for Penn Ave. Even though all the stop signs are annoying, I stop at every one of them. I wonder why some of the intersections along Comrie Way and some other alleys have no stop signs at all making them uncontrolled junctions. Also, there is no stop sign on Bishop St. where it intersects Antietam St. in Morningside. I often go that way to avoid the stop sign on Chislett St. at Standish St. when heading toward the Gallatin St. steps.

That sucks, I hope she is okay. I use Comrie Way / Coral Street very regularly now. There are inexplicably some stop signs at some street crossings on Comrie Way, where perpendicular traffic has none, and no stop sign none at others (Friendship Ave, Cullen St, Pearl St, One of Two Directions on Edmond). It could be very easy to not see a stop sign and assume you have the right of way. I don't think that was the case here, but it's something to watch out for since it's not consistent. I have no idea what the criteria is for when there should actually be one present, since it's technically an alley I assume they are not required, and you're supposed to stop at all exits from an alley to a street (like spring way in the strip).  

IIRC, if you are coming from an alley, like a "way", you have an implied stop sign at every street. There's a lot of ambiguity there.

@Mick, Believe me, I am no fan of all-way stop signs, but due to what happened, I think more stop signs are needed along Comrie Way because not everyone is going to know about the implied stop sign rule with alleys. In fact, before I know about that, I wondered why there are no stop signs along any of the alleys in Aspinwall where there are excessive all-way stops on the other streets. I also used to prefer Penn Ave. or Friendship Ave. to Coral St. because there are fewer stop signs. There is also no stop sign on Comrie Way at Winebiddle St. Also, I think the intersection of Winebiddle St./Coral St./Comrie Way should have stop signs in all directions and not just on Coral St. There should also be a stop sign on Aiken Ave. at it's staggered intersection with Coral St. due to poor sight lines.

Z, you seem to love signs, but the fact of the matter is, nobody gives a beggar's damn about signs. At $500 a pop for a sign, I can think of a lot better uses for the money. The rule is there, and people are expected to know it.

What are you supposed to do at intersections that do not involve alleys and have no stop signs, yield signs, or traffic light? An example would be Bishop St. and Antietam St. in Morningside. What I do is slow down just enough that I can stop if cross traffic is approaching prior to turning left onto Antietam St. Also, if they cost so much, why are stop signs recklessly installed where they are not actually needed? All they do is aggravate motorists, increase emissions, increase mid-block speeds, inconvenience cyclists, and make motorists even more resentful of pedestrians and cyclists. On my street, there are four stop signs in each direction in a 1/4 mile. I don't think any of them are really needed as 9 times out of ten, there is no need to stop other than the sign.

Street view shows Antietam has a stop sign. If it's fallen off, it would be appropriate to 311 it. Most likely, every stop sign is there because a traffic engineer though one was actually needed right there. Those folks are mostly not thinking of cyclists, they're thinking of keeping heavy metal boxes from hitting stuff. The fact that a cyclist sees no reason to stop, nine times out of ten, isn't much of a factor in the equation. They're thinking of two cars approaching the intersection at right angles, at exactly the same time, each going a little over the speed limit. If neither gets a stop sign or any other traffic control device, they crash. If you give vehicles on both streets the right of way and just expect them to notice a car coming up on a side street, also going 25 or 30 mph, you get a lot of twisted metal.