In efforts to improve traffic movement and safety, the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Ohio State Highway Patrol teamed up to put new traffic signs near Allen East School.
The new traffic signs are placed on Napoleon Road and State Route 309 on the far driver's side on both the north and south approaches on Napoleon Road. Between the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. motorists will not be allowed to turn left from Napoleon Road onto State Route 309, and will not be allowed to cross from State Route 309 onto Napoleon Road.
Post Commander from the Lima Post, Lieutenant David Brown says the new signs will hopefully help reduce accidents. "What we saw when we looked back at the traffic trend was that people were trying to go straight or turn left during rush hours of the school and they were backing up traffic what that did was make the drivers a little bit impatient so we started seeing some crashes due to people failing to yield or not taking that full time to look before they cross the intersection. What we did was look at where the majority of the traffic was going and we found that most traffic was trying to make a right turn anyway, so now we made it a little bit smoother for them. They are still required to stop at the stop sign to make sure no traffic is coming but that will help elevate some of the traffic buildup that occurs on Napoleon Road."
Lt. Brown says since 2010, fourteen crashes have occurred during the designated restricted hours.
