A Ucluelet councillor continues to urge the district to yield on two new stop signs that have created a 4-way stop at the Peninsula Road and Bay Street intersection.
Coun. Mark Maftei had signaled his disdain for the new 4-way during council’s July 30 meeting and he more-than-doubled-down on his opposition to them last week bringing six publications, consisting of 273 pages, to the Sept. 3 council meeting, arguing that a community-wide 30 km/h speed limit would increase traffic safety much more effectively.
The Sept. 3 meeting council agenda also included three letters from residents in favour of the new 4-way stop, with no one writing in to express opposition to them.
Dan Edwards wrote that turning off Bay onto Peninsula has become more dangerous in recent years, suggesting drivers are speeding along Peninsula while the summer months are bringing heavier traffic.
“The new stop signs on Peninsula, creating a four way stop intersection, have been a very welcome and appreciated change. I recognize that there has been criticism of these new stop signs, so wanted to indicate my support,” Edwards wrote. “For anyone who regularly uses Bay St., the ability to safely enter into and exit off of Peninsula is a relief. The new stop signs also have the added benefit of slowing down traffic on Peninsula, where speeding down the street is all too common and very dangerous, particularly given pedestrians crossing at the cross walks and people exiting parking spaces.”
Jaime Larsen wrote that she had read about Maftei’s opposition to the new 4-way in the Westerly News and the local mom spoke in favour of keeping the stop signs in place.
“Ucluelet is seeing increasingly busy summer seasons and with that more vehicle traffic. It was often dangerous to cross traffic on Peninsula Road from Bay Street as visibility is low and traffic was fast. As my children are learning to walk, run, and ride bikes I thank you so much for prioritizing pedestrian safety. I urge Council to retain the new traffic calming 4-way stop sign,” Larsen wrote.
Patricia Sieber agreed.
“I recognize that it has come as a surprise and like so many other changes, has rattled some,” Sieber wrote. “For years I have hated driving around Ucluelet in tourist season because once off Peninsula it takes a very long time to return to Peninsula. There is often non stop traffic both ways. The stop at Bay at least gives drivers a fair chance to merge onto Peninsula.”
Maftei said he had reviewed the letters and had conversations with other residents who are in favour of the new 4-way, but he says their support of the stop signs is misguided as he believes they have decreased traffic and pedestrian safety. He added that he and his two young children walk around the community frequently and both ride their bikes to school.
“I want to clarify that my opposition to the stop signs is really rooted in my desire to see improved road safety in our community,” he said.
“I’ve seen lots of stuff that I think is beyond the pale in terms of the risk that pedestrians and children on bikes are facing. My opposition to stop signs is not something that I just sort of pulled out of a hat. “The opposition to stop signs is fairly universal.”
He cited from the sources he had added to the meeting’s agenda, including a Sept. 6, 2024, report from DriveSmartBC entitled, ‘Stop signs are not for speed control.’
“Putting up a stop sign to arbitrarily interrupt through-traffic on a street is a common misuse. Vehicle speeds are only slowed at the sign. Drivers then tend to accelerate from stop signs,” Maftei read from the report. “Vehicle speeds are only slowed at the sign and drivers tend to accelerate from them, often reaching speeds higher than before the stop sign was installed. This attempt to make up for lost time is one reason that stop signs are not effective as a speed control.”
That same report suggests stop signs push traffic elsewhere as drivers seek out the “path of least resistance” leading to more vehicles on residential side roads.
Maftei further cited from the report: “Drivers will ignore a stop sign if they think it is unnecessary,” which he believes the new four-way is, noting he has a front row seat to the Peninsula and Bay intersection from his office as the Raincoast Education Society’s executive director.
“Our offices are exactly at that intersection and my desk faces that intersection and I can tell you that the vast majority of vehicles going through that stop sign, at best, roll through and many times of day I see vehicles that it’s as if the stop sign is not even there. They go right through it.”
He also cited sources suggesting stop signs create negative environmental impacts. “Removing stop signs significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions because you don’t have vehicles idling. It improves mobility. It increases safety,” he said.
Maftei added he was surprised when district staff had suggested the stop signs were put in at the recommendation of the provincial government, as he cited a BC Provincial Manual on Regulatory Signs that suggests stop signs should only be put in after other measures are tried out first.
Referencing the Ministry of Transportation’s signage guidelines, he said stop signs should never be installed unless proven warranted and that excessive use of stop signs creates unnecessary delay to motorists and may contribute to an increase in rear-end collisions.
“It’s very clear and it’s unambiguous. This is the province that ostensibly installed these stop signs and they clearly say right at the beginning of this section…’Stop signs should be used only where traffic engineering studies indicate they are warranted.’ I am not aware that there was such a study,” he said. “Even the province is basically saying a stop sign is the last resort…I don’t want to see accidents. I don’t want to see anyone getting hit. I don’t want to see anyone in a fender bender. I think the stop signs are a bad idea…I’ve already seen a couple near-misses.”
He reiterated his acknowledgment that some neighbourhood residents have voiced support for the stop signs due to the ease they’ve brought to turning onto Peninsula from Bay, but suggested that support shouldn’t outweigh the greater good.
“There are way more people and many more vehicles that drive down Peninsula Road than drive on Bay Street,” he argued. “The foundational philosophy of how road signage is applied is to improve flow. Improving flow for 5-10 people who live on Bay Street and impeding the main thoroughfare on Peninsula Road, to my mind, is foolish. I see this as a real risk with real drawbacks.”
Maftei pushed back further on residents in favour of the stop signs when Mayor Marilyn McEwen suggested she had only heard positive feedback about the new 4-way.
“To those people I’d say, ‘I hear it, but you’re wrong,’” Maftei said, re-citing the reports he had brought to the meeting suggesting stop signs should be used with caution.
“When everyone who actually studies the problem says, ‘This is a bad idea,’ if anyone thinks it’s a good idea based on zero data or their own anecdotal experience, they’re wrong. I don’t want people in our community to pay the price for that mistake, getting hit by a car. I’d like to see a safer community for everyone and I’m going to defer, as a data minded person, to the experts that have studied this time and again.”
Coun. Jennifer Hoar said she was unsure of whether the 4-way should be removed, noting she had raised the idea of a 30 km/h community speed limit before and is in favour of it.
“We’ve talked about it and around it and, to me, that’s always been the best solution,” she said. “I totally agree with dropping the town’s speed limit.”
Coun. Ian Kennington suggested keeping a higher speed limit on Peninsula Road to avoid pushing traffic onto residential side streets.
“It would be great if everybody listened to that and we reduced the speed limit, but what’s going to happen is people are going to be driving 30 km/h on Peninsula and every tourist in town is going to dart off onto every sidestreet that we’ve got to do more than that,” Kennington said. “I would suggest that we have a speed limit on Peninsula that’s slightly above that of the side streets to keep people in that flow of traffic. I don’t want to see people getting frustrated and speeding.”
He added the reports Maftei had brought presented a compelling case for removing the stop signs.
“You make a good argument and it’s hard to refute all of that documentation,” Kennington said, adding although council needs to investigate whether an engineering report was done to prove the new stop signs were needed.
Maftei agreed.
“I’ve asked for that (report) and I haven’t seen it either,” he said.
Maftei said he’d like to see district staff provide data-based reasons for the stop signs, not just anecdotal support.
Council unanimously agreed to direct staff to bring a report back on the two stop signs as well as the feasibility of a blanket, 30 km/h speed limit in town.
District CAO Duane Lawrence said staff would present a report on the new stop signs as well as lowering the town’s speed limit, but added the provincial government would need to be consulted.
“You can’t just go in and remove stop signs once they’re in because it’s an approval process done through the Ministry of Transportation,” Lawrence said. “There’s a lot more to it than just removing the signs.”
