Decatur Now Sounds More Optimistic About Getting Speed Limits Reduced
Decatur Metro | June 4, 2015 | 4:16 pm
This is quite a rollercoaster of red tape, stalled/restarted efforts, and bureaucratic hurdle jumping. Let’s recap.
Back in January we reported that the Decatur Citizen Survey showed that a majority of residents were interested in reducing the speed limit inside the city. We then were told by the city that the plan was still alive inside city hall, though it hadn’t seem to have seen .
Then in February, Decatur Heights neighbors took to the podium at City Hall and reinvigorated the conversation, asking the city commission take action on a 2011 25 mph residential speed zone petition for the entire Decatur Heights neighborhood. At that meeting, Asst. City Manager David Junger told the commission that it had been difficult to move the process forward, due in part to staff changes at the Georgia Department of Transportation.
Now the AJC is reporting that after a recent meeting with the state’s Department of Transportation, Mr. Junger is “encouraged about eventually getting city speed limits reduced”.
“Our next step is compiling a spread sheet of those roads eligible for 25 mph,” Junger said.
Eligibility would include streets with limited visibility and large numbers of children. Junger pointed out that Decatur streets have a “hodgepodge” of limits, but speeding tickets can’t be written until a driver is at least 11 mph over the limit (areas with unstated limits are 30 mph). Junger said the city wants more speed limits with a “residential” designation, meaning tickets can be issued at a single mile over the speed limit.
25 mph is still too fast for many streets. 15 or 20 mph is much better.
I agree. Check out this chart showing the difference in fatalities between 20 and 40 MPH:
http://twitter.com/jllord/status/606157718634627073/photo/1
What about Scott? The one to watch…
Appreciate the props.
Scott has been treacherous since we moved to Decatur 37 years ago. Kids (and adults) walk down that speedway less than 2 feet from cars travelling 50 miles an hour. Even when there’s a school hours limit, They are speeding until they reach the flashing lights. Aside from the recent tragedy, there have been many near misses. If someone had been on the wrong stretch of sidewalk at the wrong time,….
School is out. The 25 mph lights are still flashing at the times when school begins and ends. Do we still do 25? Are thy still ticketing? I called the police to ask, and was just told “the lights shouldn’t be flashing” and they will check on it. Next day and they are still flashing.
Didn’t they flash for years after the old Westchester closed? I’d be surprised, but impressed, if they were shut off just for the summer.
Please. Fix. Scott.
“….tickets can be issued at a single mile over the speed limit..”
Can’t wait for the complaints on here about getting tickets for going 2 miles over the speed limit, from the same people that want 15 mph limits. After all, as we all know, the city needs money! 15 mph? Just put your kid in a padded room and be done with it.
“Just put your kid in a padded room and be done with it.” That is a ridiculous statement. Slowing cars down is about making the built environment safer for all people regardless of age. Streets should be safe for people on foot, on bikes, in cars, etc. All of Decatur is fairly dense (at least by American standards) and dense areas should have slow traffic.
Look both ways, and don’t play in the road. Fixed.
to all those who want to reduce the speed limit around town so as to have safer roads for everyone, bicyclists,
pedestrians etc,,,, let’s also be sure those same pedestrians observe safety as well… pedestrians also cross the streets anywhere they wish and sometimes while texting or on the phone-paying no attention to traffic,,, bicyclists rarely stop for stop signs and traffic lights… reducing the speed limits only affects car traffic,,,also what about other drivers who open their car doors into oncoming traffic – really dangerous no matter what speed the car is doing… joggers in the middle of the roads instead on on the sidewalks is also dangerous… just because pedestrians have the right of way does not mean they don’t have to pay attention and be sure drivers see them..
so get real….speed reduction is not always the answer….
Nobody is saying that reduced vehicle speeds will eliminate dangerous behavior by pedestrians and cyclists. Reducing vehicle speeds will reduce the frequency and fatality of speed-related accidents. If some reckless pedestrian or cyclist winds up benefiting, then we’ll all just have to live it.
I agree 15mph is too slow. I think the idle of a car could possibly make it go 15. I really don’t think it is reasonable to have to ride your brakes through a neighborhood.
However, people going 30+ on a residential street and rolling through stop signs is dangerous.
North Decatur Rd. is 2nd behind Scott. We’ve lived on N. Decatur Rd. for about 5 years now. Within 200m of our house, there’s been close to 1 death per year since 2010.
The most recent major accident wasn’t fatal, but it did involve a speeding cement truck flipping on top of a car and crushing it. Fortunately, the lady lived.
N. Decatur is 35mph, but the average speed is 50mph with people often hitting 60mph. Needs to be lowered to 30mph with more aggressive enforcement.
Do like little 5 points on Oakdale Road NE did. Change the signal lights to all way flashing red lights but put them at every intersection.
In the 5 years we’ve lived here, I’ve gotten 5 tickets from the Decatur police: (1) turning right on a light that had literally just turned red; (2) not updating my drivers license within 30 days (it had been 60); (3) having a head light out; (4) rolling through a stop sign with no one else in sight; and (5) being late registering my car by 12 days.
I can’t wait until the Decatur police can ticket me for going 1 mile over the speed limit.
In other words, you habitually scoff at the law and then get huffy about paying the consequences.
Glad to know the police are ticketing stop sign rollers. I often find a driver never even saw me when they rolled through it because 1.) they were only looking for other oncoming cars 2.) they were on their cell 3.) there was something obstructing the view (i.e. tree or bush, telephone pole) to see me without a complete stop.
Please stop at the sign. It’s not meant to be a suggestion based on circumstance.
I’m disappointed this process is STILL DRAGGING ON….why is it so hard to change the speed limits when the community and the local gov’t have mutually agreed it is a good idea? Red tape, indeed!
Walrus – my daughter and I were almost hit by an out of control car on Sycamore Drive nearly two years ago. We were not “playing in the road” – we were on a lawn, close the front door of a house. The car took out a fence, mailbox and flew into the yard. There is very little room for error on our densly packed residential streets. I don’t want someone else to have to get hurt to prove this point sufficiently for the skeptics.
Agree 1000% that Scott Blvd, N Decatur and many other local road need attention too. Traffic calming, signage…
Just because the police will be able to ticket you for going 1 mph over doesn’t mean they’re going to do it. The problem now is that you have to be going 45 mph on Candler, S. Columbia, Claremont to get a ticket, due to the anti-speed-trap law.