City aims to slow down fast traffic

We’ve all had this experience: On a sunny afternoon, you walk up to one of the public cross walks around campus. Not the protected cross walks at traffic lights, but the ones in the middle of the road with the big yellow signs.
After a quick glance on both sides, you step out in the street. Then out of nowhere you hear the screeching of tires and the smell of burnt rubber.
You almost were ran over.
There are a few students who would like to see drivers slow down.
“I do feel endangered while crossing the street sometimes,” said Matt Scott, a senior accounting major. “Safety should always come first.”
A new city ordinance, ordinance O-0608-023, which passed in the City Council on Tuesday, Sept 12, allows for the installation of speed bumps on city streets. The ordinance was passed after a previous council had passed an ordinance outlawing speed breakers.  “We’ve been being bombarded with speeding vehicles in all areas of the city,” said Ken Morgan, member of the Milledgeville City Council. “We only have so many police officers, and with that in mind, we’ve got to have something else to aid in speed control’ and this is the option that the city is taking.”
Morgan said the ordinance was passed mainly for residential areas, but that it pertained to all city streets and that it would be useful in slowing down traffic and aiding in pedestrian safety.
Ken Vance, also a member of the Milledgeville City Council and director of GCSU Public Safety, said he thinks that speed bumps are a good option for the city.
“I think in places it is a viable option. In traffic control devices you want options,” Vance said. “This [ordinance] gave us the ability to use speed breakers as a traffic control option and set up the process where-by you can go about getting speed breakers in certain areas.”
Milledgeville residents, including students, now have the option to petition the council to have speed bumps installed to help aid in safety. Clarke and Wilkinson Streets are the only two streets that fall under the ordinance that affect the university because they are the only two streets around the university that are maintained by the city. Hancock and Montgomery Streets belong to the Georgia Department of Transportation.
“Those two major arteries that directly affect the college, it can’t be done on those because they are on the State Highway System,” Vance said.
Before any action is taken, though, the city will thoroughly investigate.
“You have to look at what’s causing the problem. Is it a safety issue, is it a speed issue or is it a combination of speed and safety? You have to look at the totality of the picture,” Vance said.
Also, if the city does not see the problem with a petitioned street, then it can reject a petition for a speed bump.
“We would go back and look at problem areas,” Morgan said. “If you’ve got everything in place –  that is, speed control minus a speed breaker – then the city may opt not do it.”
Students have mixed emotions about having speed bumps installed in the city.
“They don’t need speed bumps,” said Lashonta Atkinson, a senior English major. “The lights stop you and that’s enough.”
Ashley Harp, a senior pre-mass communication major, has no problem with the installation of speed bumps.
“Where I live, we have a lot of them,” Harp said. “So I think it’s okay.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 22 2006. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry