A new Leland St. perk at taxpayer expense: deceptive Do Not Enter signs

Montgomery County government continues, for dark and mysterious reasons, to bend over backwards to please its wealthy patron(s) on Leland Street in Bethesda. Take these two new signs with false messages, for example. When making the right turn from Woodmont Avenue onto Leland, a driver is now confronted with two signs stating, "Do Not Enter." In much smaller type, the hours during which turns are prohibited are detailed, but that information is overshadowed by the universally-familiar "Do Not Enter" symbol and words. This is a violation of signage best practices, and could potentially cause an accident.

I watched several drivers making the turn slam on their brakes upon seeing the Do Not Enter signs. Even I instinctively braked for a second the first time I encountered them. The signs give you the impression that you are going the wrong way, sure to create confusion. In truth, you are going the right way, on a public street whose residents and the County would like to make private - at taxpayer expense. It appears that the County is trying to yet again unofficially close the street by fooling a percentage of drivers into thinking they are going into a one-way street.

The resulting confusion could cause accidents. In fact, the first car I observed encountering the signs immediately braked, and ultimately backed up and turned back onto Woodmont - even though he was making the turn during the legal hours! This is an abuse of the system and taxpayer money for political and patronage reasons. It is not a Do Not Enter at all; it is a restricted turn, and a Do Not Enter symbol should not be used for another purpose.

According to the United States Sign Council Best Practices Manual, a sign of this type requires 4-5 seconds of reaction time on a driver's part. During that time, he or she might be distracted from a pedestrian trying to cross here, for example.

Once again, the rules are being bent by the County, in order to honor an apparently-secret agreement between County politicians and one or more residents of Leland Street. The scandal began when it was exposed that the County had closed the street without the required public notice and public meeting. Caught in a firestorm of backlash from taxpaying drivers, road-closure advocates on the County Council Roger Berliner and Hans Riemer quickly backpedaled, portraying themselves as unwitting tools in the closure.

After the street was reopened to traffic, an electronic sign and personal police trap were dispatched rapidly and at taxpayer expense. Other streets and neighborhoods in the County have sought many of these same solutions, but have had to wait weeks, months or years for action.