Motorists who travel through the intersection of Furniss Avenue and Church Street might have noticed a major difference when they approached what was once a four-way stop this week.

Because many drivers passing through the area ignored the stop signs, they have been replaced with a traffic signal.

The signs were replaced, Selma Chief of Police William T. Riley said, after residents of the area complained about drivers running the signs and creating a dangerous situation for motorists and pedestrians.

“We originally had a four-way stop there, and then we went to the blinking lights,” he said. “Over a period of time in getting with our traffic people, we felt it was time now that we move over to the regular traffic light.”

A number of people, Riley said, appealed to the department to do something to slow these divers down.

“There were concerns from the neighbors of people running the stop sign,” he said. “That was something we had heard,” he said. “People would come through the light and one group might stop and the other might not. We decided to just make it a regular light.”

If the light does not end the problems, Riley said they might have to assign an officer to that area as well if the violations continue.

“Right now, we are going to monitor it with the regular traffic signal and hopefully, that will get people to obey the laws and stop,” he said. “If we see that we need to do some on-hand traffic observation, we’ll do that. We’re hoping people will obey the signal, but if we do, we’ll have some heavier traffic enforcement in the area.”