GREENFIELD — Two weeks after a three-vehicle crash hospitalized five people, city officials are planning to install two flashing stop signs at the four-way intersection of Country Club Road and Silver Street.

At a meeting last week, members of the Public Safety Commission voted to draft a letter to the Department of Public Works requesting a Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) traffic analysis of the intersection after they mulled over new ways to mitigate speeding in the area. To install any traffic control signs or lights at an intersection, the commission needs approval from MassDOT, which must first conduct a traffic study of the area.

Commission Chair David Moscaritolo, who lives on Country Club Road, said he has noticed drag racing from the start of Country Club Road to the Interstate 91 overpass. He added that at times, he has pulled over to the side of the road on Silver Street, being “horrified” that a driver might “slam into him” while driving from Country Club Road.

“Several times, I’ve seen cars drive up to each other neck-to-neck … in a lot of cases they start zooming their engines and they’re getting ready to drag race,” Moscaritolo said. “People are speeding and it’s a long street, so when someone’s driving down there, they don’t even see the stop sign at the end of the road.”

Addressing the commission, Police Chief Todd Dodge said that after the Aug. 23 crash, he sent an email to Public Works Director Marlo Warner II and Mayor Ginny Desorgher requesting flashing stop signs. He said the city previously used similar signs on Wells Street to mitigate speeding — an upgrade that he said has proven effective.

“We had a lot of really bad accidents at Wells and we haven’t had one since that sign’s been up,” Dodge said.

Dodge added that in the event that the signs are not effective, the city might consider creating a four-way stop at the intersection of Vernon and Silver streets and Country Club Road. There are currently stop signs on Vernon Street and Country Club Road turning onto Silver Street, but none on Silver Street itself.

“Anything we can do, we’ll do it. I don’t know what the long-term is. I know it wouldn’t be favorable to many to put a four-way stop there; people don’t like being stopped or slowed,” Dodge said.

Commissioner Ed Jarvis, on the other hand, said he does not believe anything will slow traffic in the area except for the installation of traffic lights at the intersection. Jarvis said he does not want to “wait until someone gets killed” before investing in traffic lights, an infrastructure upgrade that Dodge noted would likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“My take wasn’t well-received 20 years ago and it probably won’t be well-received now,” Jarvis said. “Nothing slows down traffic from Federal Street to Conway Street at all. We had an intersection of Allen and Conway Street that took someone getting killed before they put a light in. … We have a bunch of kids walking those streets and nothing slows down traffic.”

Dodge, noting that the intersection of Silver and Conway streets is similarly dangerous, said he is not opposed to installing stop lights at both intersections if it saves lives. Moscaritolo agreed with Jarvis and Dodge, arguing that installing a four-way stop light, although likely to be unpopular, will be the only effective measure to make the intersection safe.

“Everyone complains about lights, but they wouldn’t complain if it was their mother or father or daughter or sister that was in the accident,” Moscaritolo said. “It’s a good start, but I think it has to go further than just the stop signs.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.