September 28, 1998
To:Toronto Community Council
From:A. Koropeski, Director, Transportation Services District 1, Works and Emergency
Services
Subject:The intersection of Dorothy Street and Hiltz Avenue - Impact of all-way "Stop"sign
control on traffic operation. (East Toronto)
Purpose:
To respond to a request by the former City of Toronto Council, this report is to inform the
members of the Toronto Community Council of the impact of all-way "Stop" sign control at
the intersection of Dorothy Street and Hiltz Avenue, which was installed last fall.
Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:
Not Applicable.
Recommendation:
That this report be received for information.
Background:
The former City of Toronto Council at its meeting of September 22, 1997 in considering
Clause 65 in City Services Committee Report No. 11, approved the installation of northbound
and southbound "Stop" signs on Hiltz Avenue at Dorothy Street (creating all-way "Stop" sign
control) and requested, among other things, that the Commissioner of City Works Services
report back to Council after a period of six months on the operation of the all-way "Stop" sign
control.
Comments:
The northbound and southbound "Stop" signs on Hiltz Avenue at Dorothy Street were
installed on November 20, 1997. Transportation Services staff have monitored this location
and undertaken traffic surveys at and in the vicinity of the Dorothy/Hiltz intersection over the
past eight months to determine what the operational impact of installing all-way "Stop" sign
control has been.
A review of the Toronto Police Service collision data records has provided no useful data as
no information is currently available from December 31, 1997 to the present date. However,
for the 3 year period from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 1997, no collisions had been
reported at this intersection.
An 8-hour stop sign compliance study conducted on February 23, 1998 during both the
morning and afternoon peak and off peak periods, recorded a total of 615 vehicles at the
intersection of Dorothy Street and Hiltz Avenue of which 29 vehicles (4.7%) came to a
complete stop, 530 vehicles (86.2%) made "rolling stops" and 56 vehicles (4.1%) travelled
through the intersection at a moderate rate of speed without slowing down. The directional
split was as follows:
DirectionTotalComplied Made ADrove
With StopRolling Stop Through
Northbound417 vehicles 20 365 32
Southbound166 vehicles 9 139 18
Westbound 32 vehicles 0 26 6
The percentage incidence of non-compliance observed at this intersection (rolling stop + drive
through) is comparable to similar occurrences observed at other all-way stop intersections in
the Toronto Community Council area. It has been our experience that signage enhancements
such as the installation of larger AStop@ signs, AStop Ahead@ signs and either
pole-mounted or overhead red flashing beacons, generally do not significantly improve
compliance as the problem is not related to motorists not seeing the AStop@signs but rather
that motorists deliberately choose to ignore them.
Twenty-four hour speed and volume data was collected over a five day period from May 8-12,
1998 on Hiltz Avenue north and south of Dorothy Street. An average of 1,185 vehicles daily
were recorded travelling on Hiltz Avenue south of Dorothy Street of which about 280 (24%)
travelled at a rate of speed at or below 40 km/h, 490 (41%) travelled at a rate of speed
between 41-50 km/h, and 415 (35%) travelled at a rate of speed greater than 50 km/h. Of
particular concern were the incidents of Atop end@ speeding between 60-80 km/h which
increased the 85th percentile speed (the rate of speed at which 85% of the vehicles recorded
travel at or below) to about 56 km/h. A similar speed profile was confirmed north of Dorothy
Street, however, the traffic volume was somewhat less, averaging about 810 vehicles a day.
There has been no appreciable change in the mid-block speed profile or in the traffic volume
on either section of Hiltz Avenue since the installation of the northbound/southbound
AStop@ signs at Dorothy Street. This is not unexpected at mid-block locations as AStop@
signs generally impact on speed in the immediate vicinity of the intersection where they are
installed and the momentary delay created in travel time is insufficient to deter traffic from
using the street. There is expectation that all-way AStop@ sign control will improve safety at
the intersection but when motorists fail to comply with the compulsory stop regulation, as is
the case at the Dorothy/Hiltz intersection, other road users, particularly pedestrians and
cyclists are given a false sense of security.
I note that neither section of Hiltz Avenue north or south of Dorothy Street satisfies the
primary installation criteria for speed humps. Specifically, public transit service
(Greenwood-31 bus) operates on Hiltz Avenue south of Dorothy Street and the volume of
traffic north of Dorothy Street is under the recommended minimum of 1,000 vehicles daily.
Alternatively, Transportation Services staff would be pleased to assist residents in developing
a traffic calming plan using other measures which might impact on the operational speed of
traffic.
As residents also are concerned about traffic volume on Hiltz Avenue and our surveys confirm
that moderately higher traffic volume occurs southbound during the morning peak period and
northbound during the afternoon peak period, consideration could be given to:
- prohibiting right turns from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., Monday to Friday from southbound
Greenwood Avenue onto westbound Dorothy Street; and
- prohibiting left turns from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday to Friday from eastbound
Queen Street East onto northbound Hiltz Avenue.
These regulations would reduce cut-through trips between Greenwood Avenue and Queen
Street East by way of Dorothy Street and Hiltz Avenue. With the reduction in traffic volume,
the frequency of speeding would also be reduced.
Staff would be pleased to discuss these suggestions further with Councillors Tom Jakobek and
Sandra Bussin at their convenience.
Contact Name and Telephone Number:
David G. Dignard, 392-7771
Director
DGD/dd
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