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No-turn-on-red signs have been installed at five highly trafficked intersections in Celina in an effort to prevent accidents.
CELINA - Since October, no-turn-on-red signs have been installed at five protected intersections in Celina in an effort to prevent accidents.
City councilors have since taken calls from the public, and they addressed the issue head-on at this week's regular council meeting when an audience member drew attention to increased traffic resulting from motorists no longer being able to turn right at the protected intersections.
Council president Jason King said he himself was contacted this week by family members wanting to know why they can no longer turn right at certain intersections.
"I see it both ways," he said about the pros and cons of the signs. "But I think the signs are actually reducing the danger more so from what I've heard and what council members also kind of chimed in about what they're hearing as well."
The first no-turn-on-red sign went up at the intersection of Havemann Road and Grand Lake Road, one of the three busiest intersections in Celina, city safety service director Tom Hitchcock said.
The request for the no-turn-on-red sign was made by Councilman Myron Buxton, Mayor Jeff Hazel told The Daily Standard.
"The protected intersection has a green arrow," Hazel explained. "It's too chancy with respect to somebody turning right into a car that has the green arrow that they don't see."
Many motorists cross the intersection to get onto Havemann Road, home to the city's bustling retail district.
Crown Equipment Corporation, a global manufacturer of material-handling equipment, lift trucks and equipment, also has a site at 410 Grand Lake Road. Its parking lot is situated west of Menards, with ingress and egress occurring on Havemann Road.
Signs then popped up at other protected intersections - Ash Street and Market Street, Logan Street and Main Street, Havemann Road and Irmscher Boulevard, and Havemann Road and Menards' driveway, according to Hitchcock.
Celina Police Chief Tom Wale said officers will be ramping up enforcement of the signs at the protected intersections.
The first sign installed was at the busy intersection of Havemann and Grand Lake roads.
Audience member Daniel Applegate took the podium to address councilors about increased traffic on Havemann Road sparked by the no-turn-on-red signs.
"We're just basically concerned of increased traffic, especially in the summertime when everyone's coming over, all the festivals and stuff coming up," he said. "Anyone knows increased traffic equals … more accidents."
Applegate questioned whether much research went into the decision to install the signs.
"Administration put those up and it was due to complaints about near accidents at the intersection of Havemann and Grand Lake, which there were multiple of those," Hitchcock said. "After we put that one up, it seemed to work to help cut those down. Then we started getting complaints that there were other intersections that were also unsafe, and so we put them up at those intersections also."
It appears that some people support the signs while others don't, Hitchcock continued.
"Originally, they were up years and years ago, but then they were taken down. Now they're put back up," Hitchcock said. "It's really up to the city whether they're up or they're not up."
Councilman Matt Gray voiced support for the signs, pointing to problems he's experienced at the Havemann Road and Grand Lake Road intersection.
"I leave for work at 4:30 a.m. in the morning, and there are quite a few people from Crown trying to beat that light to make it to work on time," he said. "I was almost T-boned this morning because somebody was failing to do the no turn on red. There was one that actually ran the red light, no turn on left, and it was their red light."
At that same corner, Gray said one of his family members was struck. He also mentioned that he's nearly been T-boned there three or four times "because somebody coming north on Grand Lake is trying to beat that light and make it to work."
"So I actually am for the signs, and I believe that it's helping slow some of the people down and making people look the other way as I'm coming across Grand Lake on Havemann. So, I mean, it's helped saved me."
King recalled the conversation he had with family members this week.
"My explanation is, when you have a protected left green light, what happens is the oncoming traffic at a red light doesn't always know if it is protected, the green (light), because sometimes it's on and sometimes it's off," he said. "So you've got these people turning left, turning left, and these other people that are just turning right on red, and they're merging right into each other, mainly at where Crown is there at the corner of Grand Lake and Havemann."
Councilman Joe Wolfe then chimed in, relating an experience he had on a Friday a few weeks ago coming up State Route 29 to turn right onto Havemann Road.
"I seen two cars ahead of me, but their turn signals on the green light and I'm like, that's odd," he said. "As I got closer, they were back all the way up to Irmscher Boulevard. That's one of the concerns I had."
City officials may have to rethink the no-turn-on-red signs at some of the protected intersections, Wolfe argued.
"If we've got cars sitting on a highway at 60 mph speed limit, and we've got traffic backed up that far, that may be an intersection that we have to rethink it on," he said.
However, other signs should certainly remain in place, including at the Grand Lake Road and Havemann Road intersection, Wolfe added.
"There's too much traffic there," he said. "Market and Ash Street, that needs to be there, maybe the one out by Bob Evans there at Irmscher Boulevard, we might need to discuss that."
Hitchcock agreed that city administrators may need to take another look at some of the signs. But the one at the Havemann Road and Grand Lake Road is nonnegotiable, at least as Hitchcock sees it.
"There are some, like Irmscher and Havemann, that may be able to be removed because it's causing more of an issue being there," he said. "I would not feel comfortable taking down the one at Grand Lake and Havemann."
"Just for clarification, ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) does not control the no-turn-on-red signs. That's done locally," Hazel pointed out.
Wolfe asked Applegate the nature of his concern about the no-turn-on-red signs.
"Is it an inconvenience?" Wolfe asked.
"Anyone can tell you it's going to be inconvenience," Applegate replied. "But not just that. Obviously increased traffic flow. Obviously you're going to get accidents there when you have increased traffic."
Councilman Eric Clausen said he questioned the logic of how a sign could cause accidents.
"The sign is telling you stop and don't turn on red. It seems like the accidents occur when there's no sign there, because now you're turning into traffic that you don't know whether it's coming at you," he said.
Applegate countered that many people don't follow traffic signs, creating the potential for accidents.
Wolfe maintained that the city has to keep traffic flowing - albeit it in a safe manner.
"The experience I've had in working with the city, traffic signs, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't," he said. "But when you don't have them and then you have an accident, then you have issues there."
Applegate asked if a petition could be pursued to show the community does not want no-turn-on-red signs.
King replied that Applegate could certainly take that tack but council would not be bound by a petition.
"I think we're always going to err on the side of caution and safety for the community, typically," King said. "I think you would end up finding that you'd have two opposing viewpoints on that. You could probably get a lot of signatures for either one."
