Dearborn Heights has started rolling out the first wave of 250 solar-powered flashing stop signs, kicking things off today at Annapolis and Pardee, the intersection where 12-year-old Joey Smith was hit and killed in 2022. City officials say the new signs will be installed across residential streets, with top priority going to roads near schools and parks. For families and neighbors who have pushed for changes since the crash, the glowing red octagons feel like a long-overdue safety upgrade.
Crews spent today at Annapolis and Pardee, putting in four illuminated stop signs around Pardee Elementary and holding a noon kickoff event, as reported by WXYZ. The outlet noted that the sign installation is considered the second phase of a broader neighborhood safety push that followed a period of heightened enforcement by the police department.
According to MLive, the city has already received about 50 of the planned 250 signs and expects crews to keep installing them daily, with a full rollout targeted over the next several weeks. The signs are solar-powered and ringed with LED lights, and manufacturers estimate they will last roughly five to ten years, or about 100,000 hours, under typical conditions.
Mayor Mo Baydoun and city staff say most of the effort is being covered by competitive safety funds. The Michigan "Safe Streets for All" grant will pay for roughly 80 percent of the project, while the city is putting up the required local share from its major and local roads funds, officials said in a city news release and to WXYZ.
How the Flashing Stop Signs Are Rolling Out
The new stop signs are designed to grab a driver’s attention at four-way stops and school crossings. They run on solar power and use LED lights around the border to flash either when daylight is low or when activated by motion, according to city officials. MLive reports that installing the units will remain a city priority for the next few months as crews move through neighborhood after neighborhood.
Neighbors Want More Than Lights
Since Joey Smith’s death, parents and residents have been calling for a mix of street design changes and tougher enforcement, and community groups have organized memorials and rides to keep attention on the intersection, as reported by CBS News Detroit. City leaders say the flashing stop signs are only one piece of a greater effort that also includes planned speed humps, a pedestrian crossing near a high school, and ongoing reviews of crash data. They are inviting residents to public workshops to help shape what comes next, according to ClickOnDetroit.
Officials also plan to keep an eye on how often drivers actually stop and how crash patterns change, using that information to decide whether more physical changes, such as reconfigured pavement or additional traffic calming devices, are needed, the city said in a release. For now, the flashing signs serve as a very visible, grant-funded attempt to slow drivers in school zones and along streets near parks while Dearborn Heights figures out what else it will take to curb dangerous driving.
