‘Vigilante’ stop signs on Seattle’s Capitol Hill attract city’s attention

The stop signs on 14th Avenue East and East John Street in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood didn’t look right to Dante Morelli.

The poles weren’t square, but U-shaped like the ones someone might buy at Home Depot. The signs weren’t reflective either, and Morelli said he couldn’t find any documentation of the stop signs on the Seattle Department of Transportation website.

Turns out, several stop signs along John Street were installed without SDOT’s permission, and the department has removed them. SDOT doesn’t know who installed them, spokesperson Mariam Ali said.

Morelli’s Reddit post grabbed the attention of social media users and SDOT alike. The post garnered more than 250 comments.

“The installation of unauthorized stop signs indicates a desire from some in the community to have additional traffic control at this location,” Ali said. “We’ll collect data to understand if stop signs might be a good option at this intersection … Our goal is to keep the road safe and working well for all travelers.”

The “vigilante” stop signs, as deemed by some Redditors, were welcomed by some for slowing down drivers.

Still, “if they stay up for at least a few days, and demonstrate that slowing cars down a bit doesn’t hurt anyone, hopefully it’ll make it easier for the city to install them for real,” one Redditor wrote.

And SDOT assumes the installer had good intentions, Ali said.

Ali said one accident happened at the intersection in the last year, in June when a driver going southbound failed to yield and crashed into another driver going eastbound.

But, setting up those signs without authorization is illegal. They can “create confusion and may inadvertently increase the likelihood of collisions” because unauthorized stop signs are rarely up to city standards such as having the appropriate height or advance warning, Ali said.

If people want SDOT to review an intersection or make changes like installing a stop sign, they may email 684-ROAD@seattle.gov with requests.

Correction: The photo attached to the previous version of the story had incorrectly identified the location of the signs.