Bright lights, no cities: Blinking stop signs going up at intersections on rural highways

by John Horton / Plain Dealer Reporter
June 2, 2009

A few rural intersections seem a bit flashier these days.

Blinking-light stop signs now stand at seven locations in Geauga, Lorain and Medina counties, with more than half going up within the past year. The Ohio Department of Transportation installed the attention-getting markers to highlight troublesome crossroads. around the edge of the signs -- which cost $1,350 each -- can be spotted from more than a half-mile away in daylight, and from roughly two miles in darkness.

"If you're out at night, oh, boy, they're eye-catching," Geauga Sheriff Dan McClelland said. "There's no missing them."

And that's the whole point.

ODOT placed the BlinkerSigns at intersections where motorists seem to have difficulty spotting the traditional stop signs. Such an oversight can be deadly, particularly at rural state routes where traffic clips along at higher speeds.

A 2003 study by the Texas Transportation Institute showed that a flashing stop sign reduced intersection "blow-throughs" by more than half.

The signs can make things quieter, too.

The sound of squealing tires and crunching steel pretty much stopped after ODOT put up blinking signs where Ohio 86 crosses U.S. 6 in Geauga's Montville Township, said Virginia Lambert, who works at K&L Auto Sales at one corner of the intersection.

"It seems a lot safer," Lambert said.

The lights operate on solar power, drawing energy from a panel angled above the sign. On a stop sign, eight LED lights flash in unison 59 times a minute to alert oncoming motorists, according to the manufacturer, Wisconsin-based Traffic & Parking Control Co.

The signs cost far more than the going rate for a nonglowing marker, but less than what it runs to put up red flashers, according to the company. Any traffic sign can be modified to operate as a flasher.

BlinkerSigns made their debut six years ago, and there are now about 10,000 in operation in 35 states, said Jason Kugel, the company's product manager. The majority can be found in rural areas, but some urban centers -- including New York, Dallas and Houston -- use them.

ODOT's first twinkling stop sign in Northeast Ohio popped up in October 2005 where Smith Road crosses Ohio 301 on the border of Lorain and Medina counties.

Don't expect to see too many more pop up locally. Overuse of the signs -- which still qualify as somewhat of a novelty given the small sampling -- could dim their effectiveness, according to Faye Callahan and Brian Stacy, ODOT public information officers.

"We're not going to put them everywhere," Stacy said, "but we'll put them where they can be a help."