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Del City council member defends recent 4-way stop installations after resident raises visibility concerns
Summary
A resident and a council member discussed sight-distance and safety after new multi-way stop signs were installed at intersections in Midway Village. The council member cited Del City ordinances, Oklahoma statute and MUTCD guidance as the basis for the city manager—s authority to place the signs.
A resident told the Del City City Council on March 3 that he could not see traffic signals until he was nearly in the intersection and warned the council a collision was likely if signage or sight-lines were not remedied.
At public comment, Joe Satterwhite of Lamar Drive said approaching the intersection of 15th Street and I-40 vehicles cannot see the stop lights until they are almost in the intersection. "You can't see those till you're almost in the intersection," he said.
Later in the meeting a council member explained that 4-way stop signs had been installed at two Midway Village intersections (Matthews & Meadowview and Matthews & Long Drive) after constituents raised safety concerns. That council member said they personally reviewed the area, observed vehicles failing to yield at existing yield signs and saw vehicles traveling at high speeds into the neighborhood. The council member said they recommended installation to the city manager and that the signs were placed under the city manager—s authority.
The council member cited Del City Code Chapter 11, Motor Vehicles and Traffic, Section 11-11 (Designation and Marking of Through Streets, Stop, Yield Intersections), subsection c(1), which, as read at the meeting, authorizes the city manager "to determine and designate intersections where a particular hazard exists ... and to determine whether vehicles shall stop at 1 or more entrances to any such intersection, in which event he shall cause to be erected a stop sign at every such place where a stop is required." The council member also cited Oklahoma Statute Title 47, Section 15-102(a)(6) (local authority over stop/yield designation) and portions of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) addressing stop-sign applications and multiway-stop criteria, including consideration of speed and roughly equal volumes on intersecting roads.
The council member recommended the signs remain for a review period tied to the city's five-year incident statistics for the intersections (January 2020 through January 2025), noting the police department had provided incident statistics for that timeframe and recommending staff review those numbers after a similar period to determine whether the devices are effective.
Council members did not vote on removing or changing the signs during the meeting; staff were asked to note the citizen concerns and the request for further review.
