By David Menzies
An Ottawa resident apparently fed up with motorists cruising through his neighbourhood as a shortcut decided to slow things down by erecting fake stop signs at a key intersection. What’s more, the stop signs – and the corresponding white lines painted on the asphalt – have apparently been in place for about a year.
In fact, the official-looking stop signs would likely still be there today if it wasn’t for an alert crew of city workers who happened to notice the signage wasn’t set in concrete (which is how genuine Ottawa stop signs are erected.)
An investigation has since been launched, and the culprit could face a fine of up to $5,000 per infraction. Alas, officials aren’t getting any cooperation from the residents of the neighbourhood, all of whom are embracing the Sgt. Shultz mantra of, “I know nothing! I saw nothing!”
In the meantime, a city committee is now studying whether legitimate stop signs should indeed be in place at this intersection.
Granted, in this day and age of Mike Holmes and Debbie Travis, it’s quite trendy to be a do-it-yourselfer. But methinks erecting one’s own homemade traffic signage is a bit of a stretch.
I also ponder where the trend may evolve from here. For example, can’t find a place to park downtown? Then bring along your own parking meter and plunk it down exactly where you’d like to leave the car. Don’t want to walk all the way to the traffic lights to cross the street? There’s no better timesaver than erecting a makeshift crosswalk at the precise place you plan to cross.
Hopefully no one will take this too far, mind you. Erecting a few fake stop signs does no harm, really. But doing the Wile E. Coyote thing of painting a fake tunnel entrance upon a solid brick wall could very well result in a mishap or two.
