By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Concerned Mona parents still believe a permanent method
of controlling traffic should be found
by Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
A few Mona parents attended the town council meeting
to tell council members they still wanted something done to
protect children as they walked to and from school.
The parents are still concerned that a four-way stop
was reduced to a two-way stop at the intersection of 100
North and 200 East.
Doni Carlton, representing the Parent Advisory Council
at Mona Elementary, and parents Toni and Shirley Mitchell,
were the most vocal in requesting that the four-way stop be
restored or that an alternative method of protecting
children be found.
"I talked with Doug Bassett, safety engineer for UDOT
(Utah Department of Transportation), and he denied
everything you said he said, Rick (Schnurr, council
member)," said Toni Mitchell. "I feel like I've been lied
to."
Mitchell said Bassett (not the same man who lives in
Mona) stated he did not have anything to do with
communities, unless a state or federal road passed through
them as a major street. Mitchell said Bassett said he
managed the safety design of traffic flow patterns for state
and interstate systems.
"Did Mr. Bassett deny saying the four-way stop was
over-kill?" asked Schnurr. "He gave us, as a community, free
advice. He did give me a list of experts we could
consult."
Experts come with a hefty price tag and it would be a
great expense to the small community to pay for such
advice.
Schnurr said the council was trying to get help to see
if sidewalks could be constructed, if safety school zones
and crossing guards could be installed, or what other
additions might come through grants.
Carlton said the school parent advisory council would
conduct a safety program at the school. "We'll do our
best."
Nevertheless, she said, parents still thought a
permanent method of controlling traffic should be found. A
crossing guard and school zones ere needed.
"Payson has school zones," Mitchell said.
While the parents who were present were not pleased
that the four way stop had been reduced to a two-ways top,
Mayor Bryce Lynn said, others were pleased that two of the
signs were removed.
"We've (as a council) taken a lot of flack over the
four-way stop," he said. Many of the places he has gone, he
said, he has had to deal with citizens of the community who
have been upset that there was a four-way stop.
Schnurr said Bassett did tell him that the four-way
stop was not the best way to control traffic. That could
best be done by monitoring traffic and ticketing offenders
of the speed limit.
Schnurr said he would be either in the office of
Bassett the first thing on Wednesday morning or, at the very
least, would make certain he talked, personally, to
Bassett.
"You have made traffic so much worse. I teach my kids
to be afraid of cars," said Shirley Mitchell.
She said she had moved back to Mona, where she grew
up, from Alpine because she wanted to live where there was
less congestion and traffic. When she and her family moved
into their home, there was traffic control at the
intersection.
After one year of having a four-way stop, she said,
the council removed two of the signs. However, if the town
would not restore the four-way stop, they could have a
school zone installed.
One little child, who had severe vision problems, was
walking down the street and was endangered by the speeding
and heavy traffic.
"I pick my children up after school," said
Schnurr.
"You've got to teach kids," said Quentin Kay. He has
lived, with his family, on Mona's Main Street which is part
of the old US 91. The street has always had a great deal of
traffic so the best thing to do is teach children to have
respect for that traffic.
Parents are responsible for teaching even young
children to watch for traffic.
Toni Mitchell stated that he was offended by the
attitude of the council and thought he had been lied to. "It
is obvious that this council does not want to help
children."
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