Wrangell’s first, traditional four-way stop signs went active at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning at the St. Michaels and Church St. intersection. The solar powered flashing lights quit functioning during the first hour because it was not exposed to enough sunlight. But that wasn’t much of an issue for long, according to Police Chief Gene Meek. He said there were a few violators on that first day.
“I think I made four, five, six traffic stops altogether,” he said. “Just informing people that hey, those stop signs are there now and to watch for the flashing lights once the sun started warming up those solar cells. Today [the second day, Jan. 8], I haven’t gotten any traffic stops on them.”
Even though he made six traffic stops, he didn’t issue any citations.
“We’re not about that,” Meek said. “We want to educate people that they’re there, they’re operational, they’re functioning, please stop. Teach awareness for it right now. And it’s a learning process because it hasn’t been there before. But in a couple weeks, if we start seeing the same violators, we’ll change directions and start writing citations.”
The city decided to put in a four-way stop at St. Michaels and Church because the intersection has a limited line of sight going up and down Church St. They also want to prevent accidents since some drivers drive fast at this intersection.
“Their field of view looking left and right is very limited because of our parking situation,” Meek said. “There’s not a lot of parking and the cars line up fairly close to that intersection, and your line of sight is very poor. So that’s the first [reason], is to prevent vehicles from pulling out into someone who has the right of way.”
Even though there’s a strange type of four-way stop down below the post office near the Stikine Inn, with four points of access, that one doesn’t have the typical crisscross shape.
Rules of the game
Stopping at a four-way might be confusing if people aren’t used to it.
But Meek said the basic rule of thumb is that every driver needs to completely stop at all stop signs first and then proceed.
“If two vehicles get to the intersection at the same time, the vehicle on the right has the right of way,” he said. “If one vehicle is turning left and one vehicle is going straight, and you get there at the same time, the vehicle going straight has the right of way, the one turning left needs to yield.”
Again, Meek said, “right is the one with the right of way.” He also said to stop completely before turning left.
Meek said the community has embraced this new change in traffic. He said people have stopped and given him compliments while he sits watching for violations.
Meek said, “Everybody understands that we’re trying to save property and life.”
He said in about six months, people will look back and not even think twice about the new traffic addition to our community.
