In Reversal, L.A. Now Uses Stop Signs to Cut Speeding

It never hurts to have a celebrity endorsement when you’re trying to sell something new.

That’s certainly the case in the Hollywood Hills--where actor Jason Priestley’s name has helped residents persuade city traffic planners to use stop signs to control speeders in the neighborhood.

Their success signals a new policy that is expected to help crack down on speeders all across Los Angeles.

The decision to use Priestley’s name was purely accidental, say homeowners living along Canyon Drive, a gently sloping straightaway that connects Griffith Park with Franklin Avenue.

The former “Beverly Hills, 90210” heartthrob was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving Dec. 3 when his auto careened off a power pole, knocked over a row of trash cans and then smashed into a parked car on Canyon Drive.

Two months later, Los Angeles traffic engineers installed two sets of stop signs. Now they plan to place a third in the vicinity of Priestley’s crash.

That even one stop sign was erected to slow down motorists marks a change in a long-standing policy of the city’s Department of Transportation.

Traffic engineers have refused in the past to use stop signs as a speed control tool. Instead, they installed them only at intersections where cars were in danger of colliding.

But that policy quietly changed across the city late last fall when officials began accepting stop sign requests from homeowners plagued by speeders on residential streets.

Safety experts previously worried that too many stop signs sprinkled at corners where there is little danger of collisions would cause drivers to become scofflaws.

“It was felt for a long time that the more stop signs drivers encountered, the more they would eventually disregard and roll through,” said Brian Gallagher, the city transportation engineer for the Hollywood and Wilshire areas.

The city loosened its stop sign policy after deciding they are a good alternative to the more expensive speed humps--a commonly used method of slowing traffic that is not always feasible on hills.

The new rules also allow for stop signs to “discourage excessive through traffic” in residential neighborhoods. They are spelled out in a Transportation Department policy manual printed last month.

So far, officials haven’t been deluged by sign requests. Traffic planners say they plan to meet with homeowner groups to discuss stop sign options and explain the new procedures.

John Fisher, assistant general manager of the city Department of Transportation and architect of the new policy, said professional traffic planners across the country “are being asked to rethink their position” about stop sign usage.

“Just as the neighborhoods have community-based policing these days, they also have community-based traffic engineering,” Gallagher said. “We want to give back to the residents and make neighborhoods a nicer place to live.”

Officials note that the new city policy involves only residential streets. There are still tight controls on stop sign placement on secondary and arterial thoroughfares, Gallagher said.

Along Canyon Drive, residents began looking for ways to slow down speeders last summer after a motorist crashed into a retaining wall and was killed.

The June 19 accident prompted a petition drive that asked for five stop signs, creation of a no-passing zone and the lowering of the speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph.

Days after Priestley’s crash, residents decided to take advantage of the publicity. They halted their petition drive at 359 signatures and quickly handed them in to the city.

Priestley has blamed the crash on a deer, saying that he swerved his 1999 Porsche to avoid hitting it. But police said the 30-year-old actor showed signs of intoxication and was arrested on a felony driving under the influence charge because his passenger, Chad Cook, 27, suffered a broken right arm in the 12:30 a.m. mishap.

Priestley faces a Municipal Court appearance Tuesday to set the date for a preliminary hearing in the case, said a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

Canyon Drive residents say installation of the first two sets of stop signs last month has led to a dramatic slowdown of traffic.

“Some people were going 60 [mph] or 70 [mph] before,” said Cornelia Malter, a 10-year resident of the neighborhood whose classic 1983 Cadillac was destroyed last year when a speeding car plowed into it while it was parked across from her house.

Alexander Von Wechmar, a German television reporter who has lived on the street for 20 years and helped lead the petition drive, said “everybody was applauding” the day the stop signs went up. Six days later, police started enforcing them.

“The city got its money back on the cost of the signs that first day. The first hour alone they issued 12 tickets,” Von Wechmar said.

Residents are now debating with traffic engineers over where to put the third stop sign. But homeowners thank Priestley for unwittingly lending his support to their campaign.