Ucluelet’s stop sign scuttlebutt continues to swarm across the town’s council agendas.
The saga began when two new stop signs were installed on Peninsula Road in July, creating a four-way stop at the Peninsula and Main St. intersection as part of a $2.4-million repaving project that included new bike lanes.
Coun. Mark Maftei first raised concern about the new four-way stop during a July 30 council meeting, suggesting they were decreasing traffic safety in the area and urging for a further review into whether they were needed.
Maftei’s opposition sparked a flurry of public support for the new signs with letters from residents calling for them to remain in place showing up on nearly every council agenda since he raised his concerns.
The latest letter landed on Oct. 10’s agenda from resident Todd Evalina who wrote that the new stop signs have improved the intersection.
“After attending the previous council meeting I feel the need to highlight the absurdity of some comments regarding the purpose of stop signs,” Evalina wrote. “While lowering the speed limit to 30 km/h throughout Ucluelet is a great idea, much of the dialogue and cherry-picked research constituted a one-sided, anecdotal argument against essential signage.”
Evalina offered four sources that supported stop signs, including DriveSmartBC and America’s Transportation Research Board.
“The primary importance of stop signs are to assign the right of way at intersections. Full stop. All pun intended. To argue that stop signs are ineffective at lowering traffic speeds is partially correct, but this argument completely misses the importance of right of way,” he wrote. “In short, Ucluelet currently has an issue with driving culture where many assume their larger vehicles have the right of way over those driving smaller vehicles, people travelling by foot or wheel, and children or those with mobility and/or visual or auditory disabilities. It is a waste of time to entertain arguments to remove stop signs in Ucluelet without considering peer-reviewed studies and conclusions.”
He noted previous letters had suggested that turning onto Peninsula from Bay Street was “near impossible” before the new four-way was added.
“As someone who travels by bicycle, by car, by foot, and with a child in a stroller, the intersection of Bay & Peninsula has undoubtedly improved life for Ucluetians and visitors. Every time the issue has been raised on community boards there is an overwhelming response of positive feedback,” he wrote. “As councillor Maftei pointed out, there is a shocking number of drivers who ignore the intersection, but I believe it is a flawed argument to suggest infrastructure design should yield to problematic behaviour. We should correct the core behaviour of inattentive and dangerous driving instead of shrugging and further enabling it by softening traffic control.”
After reviewing the letter, mayor Marilyn McEwen jested that Maftei had “opened up a can of worms here.”
“Oh my God. I didn’t know there were so many worms in town,” Maftei laughed, before realizing his mistake. “Sorry, that is not what I meant. That is not what I meant.”
“You’re making it worse,” Coun. Shawn Anderson quipped. “Digging deeper.”
“Take that foot out,” added McEwen.
“Let the record show that is not what I meant,” Maftei laughed. “It’s a very large can. A beautiful can. Beautiful worms.”
Following the lighthearted banter, Coun. Ian Kennington asked if district staff were still working on a traffic report regarding the stop signs.
Director of Community Planning Bruce Greig said the report is still in the works, though it is unclear when it will be ready for council’s review.
“There’s a few other engineering things and we have some staff away at the moment, so I’m not sure of the timing of when that report would come forward,” he said. “It’s on the list.”
Kennington suggested there would likely be a long conversation to have when it arrives.
“There’s no stopping it now,” Anderson said.
“It’s got a mind of its own now,” McEwen agreed.
The stop signs had also taken a prominent seat during Sept. 24’s meeting with two letters expressing disdain for words Maftei had spoken the meeting prior where he had doubled down on his opposition to the new four-way and suggested those writing in to support them were “wrong.”
Maftei had brought six publications, consisting of 273 pages to support his argument that the stop signs were decreasing, rather than increasing, traffic safety at the intersection.
“I’m not sure how many times councillor Maftei has tried to make a left turn from Bay Street onto Peninsula, or tried to continue across Peninsula on Bay Street, in the middle of tourist season prior to the installation of the new stop signs but, I suspect it wasn’t very often,” wrote Art Skoda. “I view the new stop signs as one of the most positive changes made to Peninsula. This has been a dangerous intersection with poor sight lines from Bay Street for a long time. The new stop signs do nothing but improve safety no matter what councillor Maftei’s studies say. They are not studies of this particular intersection. Leave the signs where they are.”
Danielle Edwards submitted a lengthy five-page letter suggesting that Maftei had shown an “extremely disrespectful and dismissive attitude” in his rebuking of the new stop signs and that the sources he had presented were biased. Edwards took particular exception that Maftei “bluntly proclaimed” those who supported the new stop signs were “wrong” as well as his suggestions that the new four-way only benefited “5 to 10 people who live on Bay Street.”
She also took issue with him suggesting support for the new stop signs was “anecdotal” while his opposition to them was based on “data.”
“This is not what I expect from an elected council member for my community. While this could perhaps be excused as an attempt at levity, the reality is that this behaviour is extremely disrespectful and the residents of this community deserve better,” Edwards wrote.
“A foundation of respect in our dealings with one another is critical to a healthy and functioning democracy and a supportive community.”
Edwards wrote that stop signs are effective tools for traffic control and preventing collisions and should not be considered traffic calming tools as Maftei had suggested.
“The new four way stop is a traffic control measure, addressing right of way issues and safety risks for vehicles entering Peninsula from Bay St. The fact that the stop signs have a secondary benefit of calming traffic is just that – a secondary benefit,” she wrote.
Edwards also cited each of the six publications Maftei had presented and suggested they were not entirely credible.
“In conclusion on the issue of the ‘evidence’ put forth by Councillor Maftei, it is overall of a poor quality, consisting mostly of opinion pieces by non-experts and lacking supporting evidence on the issue of four way stops for the purposes of traffic control,” she wrote.
She also spoke against Maftei’s suggestion that the new signs only benefited “5 to 10 people who live on Bay Street” suggesting the number of residents in the area is in the hundreds.
“I would like to invite the Councillor to visit the neighbourhoods around Bay St so that he can be better acquainted with the community in this area, and the reality of these neighbourhoods,” she wrote.
She concluded her letter with several suggestions for Maftei, including being more respectful to his constituents.
“Please treat people with respect,” she wrote. “Disagreeing with a Councillor does not make one ‘wrong’. Dismissing people’s lived experiences as merely ‘anecdotal information’ is incredibly disrespectful and dismissive and does us all a great disservice. When constituents take the time to communicate with their elected officials, they do not deserve your scorn. Please remember that in future.”
Maftei thanked Edwards for a “fulsome package of information.”
“I found it relevant, compelling, germane,” he said, noting he particularly found Edwards’ inclusion of a Bismarck et al, 2022, paper discussing stop signs and traffic safety interesting.
“My intent was to open up a debate. I hope my zeal wasn’t perceived as an excuse for arrogance and I think that some of the material that she sent us, particularly that report, was certainly worth considering,” he said.
The Westerly News reached out to Maftei, but he declined to comment further on the stop sign issue.
