News

City to study pedestrian safety around Boys & Girls Club

The city will study traffic and regulations around the Boys & Girls Club, shown in background, on Ashe Street at Ray Street.

By Bill Moss, Published: December 5, 2014

The city will take a comprehensive look at traffic and pedestrian movement around the Boys & Girls Club after one City Council member suggested the need for stop signs on Ray Street at Ashe Street.

City Councilman Jeff Miller last month asked city officials to look at the feasibility of adding the stop signs on Ray Street for safety reasons. A longtime supporter of the youth club on Ashe Street at Ray Street, Miller said cars speed around the corner from Ray to Ashe in an area where hundreds of kids are crossing the street.
One obstacle to Miller's request was that a "traffic calming" policy the City Council adopted five years ago says the city won't use stop signs to slow traffic. Erecting a stop sign to slow traffic "seems like an obvious inexpensive way to reduce vehicle speeds," the policy says. "However, what seems to be a perfect solution actually causes other problems."
When stop signs are used as "speed breakers," drivers often ignore them, the city policy says, and when they do stop they speed up "to make up for lost time. This results in increased mid-block speeding.
"Most drivers are reasonable and prudent," the city's report goes on. "However, when confronted with unreasonable and unnecessary restrictions, motorists are more likely to violate them, and they develop contempt for all traffic signs... often with tragic results. For these reasons, the city of Hendersonville will not use stop signs as speed control devices."
"I don't care what it says," Miller said of the city policy, adopted four years before he was elected to the council. "I want to have the discussion. I don't want some kid to get run over because we were just stopped by something painted with one brush. I'm not wanting to slow down traffic. I'm wanting stop signs where they're appropriate."
The council was scheduled to discuss the matter on Thursday but City Manager John Connet intercepted the agenda item and asked the council to let the staff study the question and come back with a recommendation at the council's January meeting.
"Councilman Miller provided a letter that really shed some light on the situation," Connet said.
Among other things, he said the city also needs to look at the routine violation of a no parking zone on Ashe Street and the possibility of adding a crosswalk.
"It's been there this long," Miller said. "If we wait another month to try to get it exactly right I'm OK with that."
Connet said, "We'll come back with a comprehensive recommendation."