There's a big problem with traffic entering the Windham Mall, and it's not because of the design. It's because people are making assumptions about the intersection in the parking lot and I'm the one getting the glares and honks for it when driving in.

The Windham Mall parking lot is pretty big. You have the Hannaford Supermarket and Reny's anchor stores, Marshalls, Smitty's movie theater, and a bunch of smaller businesses in between that need a lot of space for parking. Things can get pretty busy in there and you have to be a defensive driver or you may get yourself into a fender bender.

The worst problem is at the intersection drivers come to as they turn off of Roosevelt Trail into the parking lot.

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Google Maps
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A lot of traffic is coming into the lot and lighter but steady traffic coming from the left, right, and straight ahead. I drive into this lot probably half a dozen times a week and at least once, someone will honk or glare at me when I do it because I don't stop at the intersection. Do you know why I don't? Because I don't have to.

I don't say that in a holier than thou way thinking I'm privileged. I say it because this is not a four-way stop like so many people seem to think. You can see in the photo above that there is no stop sign facing oncoming traffic.

But there are three stop signs for the other directions.

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Google Maps
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People coming from these three directions think they have the right of way after stopping, but they don't.

So you may ask yourself, "Why isn't there a stop sign for the traffic entering the mall parking lot?" When you think about it it makes perfect sense. The distance from the entrance to the intersection in the parking lot is a mere 200 feet. I actually measured it on Google Maps to be sure. If there were a stop sign for entering traffic, it would end up backing up onto Roosevelt Trail, and regular drivers know that traffic on that road is already bad enough.

So how do we stop those of us driving properly from getting flipped the bird here because we don't stop? The Maine Mall in South Portland has a very similar entrance on the Best Buy side and the same issue would happen here as well. To fix the confusion, the mall installed signs for all directions under the stop signs that read "Traffic entering lot has right of way."

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Google Maps
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Traffic at the Windham Mall entrance is about to get a lot crazier when the new Starbucks and Chipotle open in the former Pizza Hut location. All those people getting their fancy Grande Caffè Americano's are going to be exiting right near the intersection.

So a word of advice for the management of the Windham Mall. Spend a few hundred bucks and put up four signs like the Maine Mall did, so I can point to them when someone flips me off for driving properly.

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