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UNMARKED INTERSECTIONS LIKELY TO REMAIN PART OF RURAL DRIVING
Thursday, August 4th, 2005 -- 10:07 am
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
Clark County recorded its 2nd traffic fatality of the year over the weekend, and it happened at an unmarked intersection. While there is no accurate count, anyone that’s driven down the area back roads knows there are many unmarked intersections.
Neillsville Attorney Tom Harnish is the Education Director of the Wisconsin Towns Association. Harnisch says municipalities are not required to put stop signs at intersections – in fact, they may face more legal consequences if they do.
"When they do mark intersections, often with stop or yield signs, then they are to keep those signs up. If they don't keep those signs up, they're subject to liability," Harnisch says.
"So, it's an strange law. If you do nothing, there's very little liablity on the part of municipalities, but once they put the signs up and they come down, they'd be actually more liable then if they didn't have them."
Concerns over cost and traffic also leave many towns leaders to leave intersections unmarked.
Drivers of rural roads need to know that, just because there are no signs, laws still apply. For instance, the speed limit on an unmarked back road is 55 mph. Even the unmarked intersections themselves are governed by right-of-way rules.
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