By Adam Prudhomme
Staff Reporter
Residents of Bridge Street hoping to have the speed limit lowered from 50 kilometres per hour to 40 km/h may be out of luck.
Speaking at Tuesday’s town council last Tuesday, Greater Napanee Chief Administrative Officer Ray Callery said the Napanee OPP reported no real concern for the speed of motorists on that road. Council had asked Callery to speak with the OPP following a deputation made in August in which residents presented a petition calling for the speed to be dropped to 40 km/h.
“They responded to the municipal request fairly quickly,” Callery said of the OPP. “They did a number of surveys with a speed spy, which is a really small object that nobody really knows is there… They determined the average person drives what they believe is a safe speed without putting themselves in jeopardy.”
Callery said the device did report a handful of spikes in which vehicles were going 70 km/h, but they attributed those to emergency vehicles. The speed spy doesn’t record the make or model of the vehicles it measures; however, Callery says the officer in charge of the study was confident it was an emergency vehicle rushing to and from Lennox and Addington County General Hospital.
“The determination by the OPP was that the speed basically was reasonable on that area from their hidden camera,” said Callery.
The OPP, however, did not make a recommendation one way or the other as to what the posted speed limit should be for that area.
When speaking to the matter in August, mayor Gord Schermerhorn stated he was against the idea of lowering the speed limit because not only did the initial data suggest speed wasn’t a concern for Bridge Street, but also because it may cause residents from other side streets to inundate council with requests for a lower speed limits. Instead, council voted to look into purchasing two signs that measure a vehicle’s speed and flash it onto a big screen to serve as a reminder they are entering a lower speed zone. He also asked that the OPP monitor the area more closely.