My Speed Limits 15mph

With all the speeding in the back neighborhoods, could we lower the speed limits from 25 to 15? That way when people do their average of 10 over, it would only be 25 and reckless would be 35 instead of 45.

Thoughts?

 

Sounds good to me. I am always stunned at how fast the locals go tearing down Village Drive... would love to see it slowed down.

Speed "humps" would work wonders.

 

How about additional $200 fine sign for speeding ? I have seen those in some communities around VA. That usually gets my attention .

 

Is the road cleared by VDOT? If so, having speed humps installed MAY cause then to no longer clear that road.

 

FWIW - I used to be on the HOA board of a small community within Ashburn Farm. We had a narrow, cut-through street on which people used to speed incessantly. As prez of the HOA I asked the LC Sheriff's office about getting cops out there to radar and watch for people disregarding the 4-way stop (which they did for a little bit). They also put out road strips to count the number of cars and the speed at which they were going. Unfortunately they did that action in the middle of the summer over a weekend when they didn't have the morning and evening work traffic. They determined there was nothing they could do because our results didn't mean much (basically). So I fought with LC to get speed bumps or speed humps. Both, according to LC in 2005, are not allowed in LC because they damage emergency response vehicles and hamper emergency response time. So I fought with LC and VDOT to lower the speed limit to 15. 100% non-starter. I fought some more to get the street a one-way. Same deal. I leaned on Lori Walters (the area rep) to do something for us (since rumor had it she got a similar road in a nearby neighborhood changed to one-way). She did NOTHING. The only thing I could get done was get a "Children Playing" sign on our street. That was it. It didn't matter to anybody, it seemed, that several children had almost been hit by speeding cars or that it was absurd to have to wait several minutes to back out of our own driveway so that all the traffic could pass. The entire situation just sucked. So after our child was almost hit by 2 cars at the same moment we put our house on the market and moved to a cul-de-sac - where children can play safely (albeit in the road). I'd say that experience has been better (for the most part) until a neighbor decided to call the police on us and another neighbor because our children rode their motorized vehicles in the cul-de-sac...

Good luck with attempting to get 15 mph. I always travel way below the speed limit on the neighborhood streets because I've been there and I know.

 

How about a reasonable speed limit?

I'm opposed to unreasonable speed limits -- any speed limit that is way below the safe speed for a road. 25 mph is amply fair, maybe even 30 is safe. 15 mph is just a speed trap, as has been clearly documented in this thread. There's always a pretext to pull you over and fine you, because almost everyone (even those FOR a 15 mph speed limit) would almost certainly exceed that speed on a regular basis.

How about a police sign with a "your speed is..." value? I think most people are willing to honor a reasonable speed limit and would be helped in that by greater awareness. Also, if we can pull it off, a higher fine (additional $200) for speeding is a possibility. These address the real issues without making criminals out of safe drivers.

 

Re: How about a reasonable speed limit?

Exactly my point. After a few people get pulled over, all these streets will be seen as speed traps and people will go really slow, just like we do at every other speed trap that we know of.

 

Anyone know the lowest enforceable speed limit?

Not sure if 15mph is enforceable if 25mph is the recommended for residential streets.

Studies would have to be done to properly lower it to 15mph. It can't just be changed overnight.

Also, I don't get the children playing in the street part. I know there's not much empty land between houses, but this doesn't make it OK for kids to be playing on the street.

 

Sorry - I'll go back to lurking.

 

People speeding down residential streets do not make it safe for children to play in their own driveway or front yard either. Many streets are full of young children who like to ride their "bikes" in the driveway or along the sidewalk. We cannot confine them to the back yard or always to the paths to play.

 

Is it normal for speeders to end up in people's driveways and sidewalks?

 

If you did 15 mph down the street you'd be rear-ended by a jogger.

 

Thanks for the smile! Where do you find this stuff???

 

There will always be speeders.

Unless someone finds a way to make each car and driver drive safely and properly people will have to take some actions to keep their kids safe.

And I mean watching your kids and keeping them in a "safe" play area.

 

I usually find it by accident. Google is a strange and wonderful place.