Ask the Edmonds Cop: Rules about U-turns and the Edmonds fountain

Edmonds police Sgt. Shane Hawley answers your public safety questions. This week: Rules about U-turns and the 5th and Main fountain intersection.

  1. Thank you for posing the question regarding the 5th and Main St. intersection at the fountain! I want to broadcast this over a loud speaker at the intersection. Not only do I appreciate Sgt. Hawley answering the questions but also thank YOU for mentioning the pedestrian traffic not paying any attention to what traffic is doing. That would be my question for “Ask the Edmonds Cop”; what are the laws for pedestrians in a business district like downtown Edmonds? Thanks again for your wonderful service (Edmonds Police and My Edmonds News:-)

  2. Motorists have been treating the fountain intersection as a round-about long before the one at Five Corners was installed, which I why I usually avoid it. IT’S A FOUR WAY STOP!!!!

  3. Too many cars treat the Stop as a yield. Also stop in crosswalk rather than stop line. More enforcement would be OK by me.

  4. I still say that if that many people are treating it as a round-about, then it’s inadequately marked. I grew up around here and I was 40 before I realized it wasn’t one. Should people expect a circular intersection with a round object in the middle to be a 4-way stop? Perhaps legally, but it’s not very intuitive.

    1. There are standard, red stop signs prominently displayed at each corner. I don’t know how much clearer the city can make it.

  5. Having grown up in England, where roundabouts are used on about every single intersection, we were taught that the point of a roundabout was to keep traffic moving, Even in small towns and villages. No, we did not have stop signs, we just moved slowly into the circle, giving way to traffic already on the roundabout, Of course we would NEVER put a pedestrian crosswalk at the circle either. If people need to cross, there would be a pedestrian crossing with orange blinking lights (and beeps going – for the blind) further down each road…But never on the traffic circle,

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Real first and last names — as well as city of residence — are required for all commenters.
This is so we can verify your identity before approving your comment.

By commenting here you agree to abide by our Code of Conduct. Please read our code at the bottom of this page before commenting.