Story:
For the past 3 years I’ve lived on an intersection with a two-way stop. Most people are unaware it’s two-way, so nearly every day I see a sketchy situation involving not only cars, but bicycles, pedestrians, dogs, babies, etc. One day I wondered if I, just one dude, could do something about the problem, so I went to the City of Long Beach website and emailed their traffic department to request a “Cross Traffic Does Not Stop” sign. Three months later, I got a reply from an intern asking me to call to discuss the situation. I called him, explained the problem and he said they would do some research. A month later, I got an email saying the sign was approved. Three months after that (last week) the sign was installed. Instantly the intersection became sane — no more brake squealing, people squealing, fighting, me looking out the window tensely as a bicyclist with earbuds in rolls through the stop without looking.
Lesson: sometimes you have to be that guy who calls the city to let them know there’s a problem, and sometimes they even fix it.
