Cut through traffic is certainly frustrating. It is a massive problem on my street too. But such signs that restrict use of streets only to residents are actually illegal and unenforceable. The city knows that and knows as well that anyone pulled over for such a "violation" can sue, and will win. They did this up near Wright's Pond and even parked empty cruisers as a deterrent. On the one hand it was comical to those of us who know the law. On the other, it showed a real lack of respect for the law for the government to try to intimidate people by placing illegal signs and making a phony show of force. The practice also undermines the value of properly placed signs, causes drivers to question the legitimacy of and ignore traffic signs more generally (especially "do not enter" signs), and ultimately makes city streets more dangerous.

It also raises all sorts of questions about just how the police would enforce, assuming they chose too, questions which have come to fore of our national consciousness over the past few weeks. Just how would an officer know who was and who wasn't a resident, after all? On what basis would a decision to stop someone be made? That in turn inevitably leads to questions regarding profiling. If the city tried to enforce these illegal signs, it would quickly be bankrupted by the lawsuits that would follow.