General News

Speed concerns in town brought up at Council meeting

July 30, 2020   ·   0 Comments

Written By PAULA BROWN

Concerns addressing speeding problems in Shelburne were brought up during the council inquiries portion of Town Council’s Monday (July 27) meeting.

“Recently I’ve had some community members reach out with concerns about speeding,” said Coun. Lindsay Wegener. “What can we do to reduce the speeding in town?” 

The question was turned over to Jim Moss, Director of Development and Operations for the Town of Shelburne, who said the best mitigation for speeding is through police enforcement. 

“When you hit people in the wallets that is when they start to listen,” said Moss. 

The use of speed bumps or stop signs, which are meant to be used as a safety device rather than traffic control, were brought up during the inquiry. Moss says that speed bumps are not generally used due to winter control issues. 

“They are used in more low traffic areas, parking lots, backs lanes, high pedestrian traffic area,” said Moss. “If you start to put them on main roads that have speed, our two major road speeds are 40 mph and 50, you could do some serious damage to a vehicle or a commercial truck.” 

Shelburne has three speed signs that flash and alert drivers who are driving over the speed limit. The signs also keep track of the speeds and traffic volume, which can inform police of speeding in specific areas in town.

“Enforcement is definitely the way to go with it,” said Moss. 

Mayor Wade Mills said that he and Deputy Mayor Steve Anderson will bring up the various concerns that council has heard relating to speeding to the police board during the next meeting.

Shelburne Police Services (SPS) in June reported four incidents of high speed driving and stunt driving in the town. These incidents occurred on June 2, June 19, June 20, and June 25 and lead to charges of stunt driving resulting in the impounding of the vehicles and suspension of the licenses. 

Coun. Walter Benotto said that he will be asking for a fourth speed sign this year to add to the current ones as he says three doesn’t adequately cover the roads with the growth of the town. 

“With the alternate routes through town when traffic is heavy it just makes sense that we have them in place,” said Benotto. “I know they don’t deter the speeders at the time, but they do give the police information as to where the best places are to patrol.” 



         

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