OK, tell the truth: How many times have you run the stoplight?
This fall’s liveliest controversy in John Day was the debate over whether to restore the town’s (and the county’s) only traffic signal to service.
A contractor working at the intersection of Main Street and Canyon Boulevard accidentally severed the electric lines to the stoplight on July 30. The intersection was converted into a temporary four-way stop until the contractor could repair the lines and connect the new, improved traffic signal.
As it turned out, a lot of locals decided they liked the four-way stop better. So ODOT hit pause on the traffic signal replacement project to study traffic safety at the intersection and allow time to gather public comments.
At a town hall on Nov. 14, ODOT revealed the results of its traffic study: In a single week in October, motorists blasted through the stop signs at Grant County’s busiest intersection a whopping 58 times!
Public sentiment at the meeting was pretty much united behind the idea of restoring a stoplight, and last Monday, Nov. 18, ODOT flipped the switch.
I can proudly say I am not one of the scofflaws who ran the four-way stop. But, to my shame, I nearly ran the stoplight the first day it came back on!
I drive through that intersection twice a day on my way to and from the Eagle office, so you’d think I would know what to do when I get there. But last Monday, after three and a half months of negotiating a four-way stop at Main and Canyon, I didn’t even register the fact that the traffic light was back on. I pulled up at the intersection, came to a complete stop, looked both ways, and then proceeded to cross the intersection — even though the light was red!
I caught myself just in time, crossed Main when the light turned green and cussed myself all the way to the office.
But hey, I can’t be the only one, can I?
So ‘fess up: How many of you have done the same thing?
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Bennett Hall is the editor of the Blue Mountain Eagle.
