Oklahoma City lights up stop signs for safety

Oklahoma City first deployed the stop signs several months ago at SE 59 and Cemetery Road to alert drivers to a new stop sign location, and have since moved that first pair to NW 122 and the Broadway Extension. Another pair has been installed at Joe Carter Drive and Sheridan Avenue in Bricktown.

“They seem to be fairly well-received so far,” city traffic engineer Stuart Chai said.

The lighted stop signs cost about 10 times more than a standard sign, which usually costs about $125 or so, Chai said. The lights are affixed to the perimeter of the sign and flash to catch drivers' attention.

The intersection at NW 122 and Broadway has had stop signs for a while, but the city decided to deploy the signs there after moving them from Cemetery because of the number of problems at that intersection.

“We were getting complaints that people were just plain missing them or running stop signs,” Chai said.

Eventually, they'll most likely be moved to a place where the city is installing a stop sign for the first time.

Brand new stop signs can be problematic because of the number of drivers who may have regularly passed the intersection for years. They can blow right through a new stop sign because it never occurred to them to look for one.

“Those are the ones whose attention we have to capture for awhile so they can adjust,” Chai said.