Any driver that has been behind the wheel long enough knows the fear of creeping out of a driveway or alley into an intersection with poor visibility.

“I know there are certain intersections where they do have a stop sign, but there are trees or something in the way where you really have to edge out to see where the traffic is coming from,” said Raquel Brown, senior speech-language pathology major.

The responsibility of deciding where a stop sign should be placed falls in the hands of City Engineer Joel Maurer.

The factors that go into determining stop sign locations are varied.

“Some of it is based on accident history, some of it is sight blockage of the driver, things like trees in the way of the eye-line,” Maurer said. Maurer said if an intersection has a rise in the number of reported accidents it might receive a new stop sign.

“Generally over three accidents a year we look into four-way stops and other measures,” Maurer said.

Intersections such as Blackhawk Drive and Ridge Road have a two-way stop that worries some residents.

“Honestly I think there should be a four-way stop, because I have come to a lot of close calls at that intersection alone,” said Ana Cuevas, senior sociology major. “It gets dangerous because not everyone stops completely.”

The issue is not always an issue of fault, but can be due to an area changing over time.

“As the traffic patterns evolves because of housing, four-way stops may be implemented,” Maurer said.

Citizen input as well as input from the DeKalb Police is also taken into account when deciding sign placement. Citizen requests do not hold an enormous amount of sway.

“They can file a request for traffic studies, but there are national guidelines that are followed,” Maurer said. “You can’t just want one and get one.”

The need to adhere to national guidelines is not lost on residents.

“I understand why they make it a little difficult, just so anybody who has a problem with it can’t just go and get it fixed,” Brown said. “I think they should have a way where if a certain number of people tell them about a certain intersection, then they should do something about it.”

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