Frank Polinczynski lives with his girlfriend near the intersection of Foothill and Beverly Drive. He's only been there for a year, but he's already seen his fair share of accidents.
"We saw a pedestrian get hit over here," Polinczynski said. "And then multiple accidents here on the Beverly side."
Polinczynski's neighbor, Joel Vandeberg, also knows the dangers of the intersection firsthand. He started a petition for the stop sign after being in an accident himself.
"April 13, I was hit by a car working in my driveway," he said at the Aug. 10 City Council meeting. "There is over 4,000 cars a day that goes through that intersection ... most of those are 39 mph and it's a 35 mph zone."
Residents have complained to the city about this intersection before, asking for a four-way stop sign. Right now, there's only a two-way stop on Beverly Drive. The city's traffic study, however, concluded the intersection did not meet the criteria set up by the state for a four-way stop sign.
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In the past five years, there have been six accidents at this intersection, according to the city's study. Sam Hasenin, Vista's principal traffic engineer, said that's higher than what the city wanted but not out of the ordinary for that road class.
But under Vista's updated Traffic Calming Program, residents can petition the city for a stop sign as a tool to reduce speed, Hasenin said.
"And with the approval of the Traffic Commission and City Council, the resident can have the stop sign installed for the purpose of reducing speed," he said.
After his accident, Vandeberg circulated a petition and got 10 of his neighbors to sign. Polinczynski was one of the signees. He said if Vandeberg hadn't filed the petition, he would have sooner or later.
"I was glad someone brought this up to the City Council," Polinczynski said. "We've been hit almost several times by people traveling well above the speed limit, cresting that hill and us not having time to react. It was a welcomed opening to us."
The petition was approved by the Traffic Commission on July 7 and by the City Council on Aug. 10. The new signs will cost the city $150 and Vista said it will take three to four weeks for the signs to go up.
