Fox Point Residents Share Growing Concerns on Stop Sign and Speed Violations

“It’s a near death or a near accident experience, now.”

That’s the way Bill Warner sums up his feelings about what he believes is a growing problem in Fox Point: drivers rolling through stop signs instead of coming to a complete stop.

“I’ve lived in Fox Point for over 30 years and in the last 2-3 years, I’ve noticed more people rolling through the stop signs,” said Warner, who also happens to be a village trustee. “They don’t have any respect for them at all. As a matter of fact, they remind me a lot of bicyclists. They roll through stop signs because they believe that they don’t have to come to a full stop.”

Warner, who was one of several local residents expressing similar sentiments at a recent Village Board meeting, says he typically witnesses the problem 2-3 times every week, especially along Santa Monica Boulevard.

“This morning, I was driving down Santa Monica Boulevard at the corner of Bradley Road and a gentleman who was talking on the cell phone rolled out into the intersection in front of me and suddenly realized that he was rolling through the stop sign,” said Warner. “He jammed on his brakes right in front of me causing me to have to jam on my brakes and then swerve to go around him. It upset me considerably.”

Tom Clark, who lives on Green Tree Road, agreed with Warner on the problem of drivers rolling through stop signs, particularly at the corner of Green Tree and Yates.

“The speed of the traffic is way in excess of 25 miles per hour and the police don’t patrol the street enough,” said Clark. “Since Pick ‘N Save arrived, the area on Port Washington Road and Green Tree Road has grown over the years. In 2005 or 2006, I and some of my neighbors wrote the village a letter saying we were concerned about the speed of traffic on Green Tree Road. We asked at that time if they would work with Glendale to put a stop sign at the corner of Green Tree and Seneca or come up with some other way to control the speeds.  The village was not receptive to that idea.”

However, if there is a growing problem with stop sign and speeding violations in Fox Point, a police department spokesman said he is not aware of it.

“We haven’t had any complaints about it here at the police department,” said Capt. Gerald Lamm. “As far as I know, no one has called the police department specifically (about rolling through stop signs).  I know someone on Regent Road had requested a speed trailer. But I haven’t had any citizens call me on any other speed or stop sign violations that I’m aware of. We do monitor the speed trailers but there’s been nothing out of the ordinary as far as high speeds or anything.”

Police Chief Tom Czaja was out of town and unavailable for comment. Warner said he plans to speak with Czaja when he gets back to Fox Point. Warner also pointed out that he was responsible for signs being placed at intersections saying, “Oncoming traffic does not stop.”

“The intersection that concerns me the most is Calumet at Santa Monica,” said Warner. “On the west side of Calumet, there are bushes so people have to stop at the stop sign but then roll slightly into the intersection to see around the bushes. I can understand that but it’s come to the point now that they just roll out and right into the intersection and roll right in front of your car.”

The penalty for rolling through a stop sign is $88.80 plus 3 points assessed on the driver’s license.

For his part, Clark says he hasn’t lost hope that the village will do something about a situation he believes has gotten markedly worse in the past few years.

“I think the village could address the situation,” said Clark. “It’s a long way from Port Washington Road to Yates where the first stop sign is.  Plus, it’s really hard to drive 25 miles per hour but they could work with Glendale to put a stop sign at Seneca and Green Tree. Or they could put a metal grate in the road or patrol the area more frequently.”