Village of Plandome Mayor M. Lloyd Williams and trustees discussed potential changes to stop signs around the village with Nassau County police officer Kristin Rhine during a work session on Monday.
Rhine said four village intersections currently have stop signs that are not legally enforceable because the stop sign and the painted line on the road are not together.
Rhine said stop signs at Westgate Boulevard and Brookside Drive, Rockwood Road and Woodedge Road, Valley Road and Westgate Boulevard and Oakwood lane at Park Woods Road are too far from the painted line and could be overturned in court.
“These lines are about 20 feet away from the stop signs,” Rhine said. “I can enforce that stop sign, but they’re going to come back in court and say, ‘I stopped at the line,’ or vice versa. It doesn’t make sense.”
Trustee Andy Bartels said some homeowners did not want stop signs on their property, and therefore the village had adjusted the sign to be on government-owned property. The sign on Westgate Boulevard at Brookside Drive is multiple feet away from the line, which is where Rhine said she believes the village wants drivers to stop.
“The only way I could write the stop sign ticket is at that stop sign, but it seems by the intention of the line that it’s the line you want to enforce,” Rhine said. “The line is in the right spot, but the stop sign is not.”
At Rockwood Road and Woodedge Road, Rhine said the sign needs to be moved about 10 feet but would stay on the same property.
While the signage on Stonytown Road at North Drive is correct, Rhine said she has gotten into an accident at that intersection while trying to pull over a driver. Under the stop sign is a secondary yield sign, urging drivers to yield to oncoming traffic merging from North Drive to Stonytown Road that does not stop.
Trustee Donald Richardson said he has avoided near-accidents at that intersection with people not stopping at the sign or not yielding to oncoming traffic.
Rhine said a stop sign on North Drive at the same intersection would not help traffic flow because it is at the bottom of a hill and weather elements could cause cars to unintentionally run the stop sign.
Trustees discussed adding a stop sign to Stonytown Road in the opposite direction, but the property belongs to Plandome Manor and Rhine said she has already pitched the idea to Plandome Manor Mayor Barbara Donno.
Rhine did suggest the village consider adding a curb cut to the rightside curb connecting North Drive and Stonytown Road to reduce tire blowouts from cars turning onto Stonytown Road.
