Please come to a complete stop

Portland drivers may have noticed changes at some intersections over the last few weeks.
Gone are the triangular red and white signs. In their place are big, red octagons.
Portland Street Department workers began taking down the city’s more than 150 yield signs and replacing them with stop signs in late December. They finished the job earlier this month, and city council plans to remove yield signs from the ordinance book at its Feb. 2 meeting.
“A yield sign is kind of a request to yield right of way which some people obey and some don’t,” said council member Kip Robinette, a former Jay County Sheriff. “The percentage of times that they’re going to obey a stop sign is a lot larger, No. 1.
“And No. 2, at least most people will slow down for a stop sign. I’ve seen a time when they won’t even slow down for a yield sign.”
The cost of new stop signs was $2,400, and replacing the yield signs took about two weeks.
Council decided to make the citywide change after residents last fall asked about the possibility of eliminating yield signs in favor of stop signs on Grand Street at its intersection with Walnut Street. They expressed safety concerns, noting the large number of children living in the neighborhood and the proximity to Judge Haynes Elementary School.
After a discussion and some research into cost, council decided it would be best to replace all of the yield signs instead of just a few.
“The most important reason is it’s always a safety issue,” said Mayor Randy Geesaman. “I just felt like, what was the purpose of having yield signs. We’ve actually had discussions with our own insurance carrier, and they said anything that you could do that would upgrade and put safety first (would help).”
There was a concentration of yield signs in the area near Judge Haynes, with 12 on Alexander Street, 10 on Grand Street and six on Williams Street. Shank Street on the southwest side of Portland followed Alexander for the most such signs with 11, and North, Race and Vine streets had eight apiece.
Others with multiple intersections that had yield signs included Bridge, Garfield, Hayes, Helen, Lewis, Nine, Ninth, Noble, Penn, Reed, Second and Tenth streets, and Hawkins, Glassford and Detroit avenues. Most of them had been in place since 1979.
Portland Police Chief Nathan Springer said the intersections with yield signs had been sites of some accidents and noted that taking a little bit more time to look both ways can make all the difference.
“There’s always that thing (where people say) ‘I did not see the car’ because it’s a yield sign you’re not coming to a complete stop,” he said. “Any time you come to a complete stop it just adds a few more seconds of paying attention.”
Old yield signs are now being stored in the “sign room” at Portland’s street department garage. Those that are still in good enough shape to be used will be offered for sale to other nearby municipalities, street department superintendent Ryan Myers said, while others will be scrapped for about 60 cents a pound.
Council members Bill Gibson, Judy Aker, Michael Brewster, Kent McClung, Don Gillespie, Mark Hedges and Robinette approved an ordinance change deleting all yield signs on the books at its Nov. 3 meeting, but rescinded it the same night. They decided it would be better to change all of the signs before amending the ordinance.
They plan on passing the ordinance again at their next meeting.