South Street Residents Complain About High Speeds in Neighborhood

At a Traffic  Committee Meeting this past Fall, several South Street neighbors addressed the town about the high speeds from drivers in their neighborhood.

South Street resident Ed Fitzwilliam  stated that he has seen cars travelling at approximately 45-50 MPH in the 30 MPH speed zone.  South Street resident Fred Hiltz, who also lives on the 100 block of the neighborhood, said that speed and safety are factors as well as the fact that there are blind driveways, and curves.

Traffic  Committee  member Sgt. Steven Dearth presented the committee with the results of the Speed Study which took place last May –June which proved that the South Street area only had one car crash in recent years compared to 15 accidents ten years ago.

The rate of speed on South Street was studied for a seven day period.  It was tracked by a device that was installed on a pole at 256 South Street.  The data collected showed that 85 percent of the traffic  was travelling 37 MPH which the committee explained was  very close to the speed limit.

According to the Traffic Committee,  the total volume of cars for the seven day period was 32,453 vehicles.

As a result of the speed observation, Sgt. Dearth recommended that a yellow and black “Thickly Settled” sign be installed as an advisory sign (which means 30 MPH) on the straightaway near South Shore Country Club and prior to Forget Me Not Lane.    The committee also recommended a crosswalk sign after Lafayette Avenue.