The in basket: Glenda Wagoner, who concedes that she’s the kind of driver who has generated complaints about how she passes (though she says it’s always in a legal manner), thinks there is an explanation of danger on the two-lane stretches of Highway 305 that can be reduced without reducing the speed limit.
The state has dropped that limit from 55 to 50 mph between Poulsbo and Bainbridge Island.
Even before the announcement of that impending change, she was on the line to me saying there should be more 55 mph signs on 305, because a lot of drivers won’t go higher that 50 or even less. They miss the only sign coming out of Poulsbo southbound raising the limit and keep at the speed they were going while in Poulsbo, she contends.
That creates unsafe passing by drivers who know the speed limit and get anxious behind those who stay way below it, she said.
Put up more 55 mph signs, she said in her first call. Don’t lower the speed limit, she said in her second.
The out basket: Well, says Steve Bennett, traffic operations engineer for the Olympic Region of state highways, more signs she’ll get. But they’ll say 50 mph.
“We plan on placing four new speed limit signs on the corridor next month,” he said.
“As far as the speed limit goes,” he said, “our speed studies did indicate that 50 mph was the appropriate speed limit for the highway given current levels of congestion.
“In terms of collisions, the major cause of collisions on the corridor is rear-end type accidents, and generally those are caused by inattention on the part of the trailing driver.”
While we’re on the question of visibility on 305, I’ve got one thing that’s been bugging me since the Olhava development went in. Why when coming off of Highway 3 Northbound were the right turn signals located where they are? They’re so far up and to the right as you’re sitting at the line as to be hard to see if you are looking, and since people making right turns are looking to the left for traffic, the signals are almost useless. It seems to me that a signal directly across the intersection set against the hill would make more sense, and would also be more visible to traffic exiting the highway.