Town officials respond to girl’s petition

Police chief said crosswalk and bumps on Gray Way are possible

Jordan, a Piney Ridge Elementary School third-grader, began collecting signatures last week in her Hawk Ridge Farm neighborhood to encourage the mayor and council to install speed humps on Harlan Lane and a crosswalk and speed bumps on Gray Way to slow traffic and make the streets safer.

Williams dispatched one of his officers to conduct a speed survey on Friday.

He told the council a speed bump and crosswalk would make sense at the linear trail crossing on Gray Way, but is not sure about placing speed bumps or humps on Harlan Lane.

An officer, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Friday, recorded the speeds of 39 cars in his unmarked car parked on Gray Way, Williams said.

The officer found an average speed of 27.15 mph on the 25 mph road, he said. One car was recorded driving at 39 mph, he added.

After talking to Jordan and her mother Rebecca Pearl, Williams found that the girl was more concerned with speeding during the afternoon when school lets out.

The officer completed another speed survey in Pearl’s driveway and recorded 51 cars traveling an average speed of 26.41 mph, he said. One driver who was talking on his or her cell phone was travelling at 41 mph, he said.

‘‘One of the biggest challenges we face in the Hawk Ridge Farm area is the driver’s perception of the road environment and that they are travelling at a safe speed,” he said. ‘‘Unfortunately all drivers, not only in our community, but state wide, have a tendency to overestimate their driving skills and underestimate the chances of them being involved in a motor vehicle collision.”

It is up to the mayor and council to define what is a speeding problem and if there is one, what they should do about it, said Town Manager Matt Candland

Williams noted that 43 percent of the drivers on the second day were travelling at or below the posted speed limit. Officers also break speeds down into drivers travelling 10 mph and more and also 15 mph and more, he said.

Enforcing a ticket for someone travelling less than 10 mph is difficult, he said.

‘‘Unfortunately, even the courts view the enforcement effort to be somewhat abusive when you start writing traffic citations for less than 10 miles over the speed limit,” he said.

Council President Jeannie Nichols said that speeding could increase on other streets if the town installs speed bumps, because drivers tend to take other roads to avoid the bumps.