FLORENCE: Residents upset over speeders; demand action

A group of residents from Fifth Street showed up to voice concerns over people speeding on the street.

By Amy Batista, Special Writer
   FLORENCE — A group of residents from Fifth Street showed up to voice concerns over people speeding on the street during the Township Council meeting on Nov. 6.
   Resident Sharon Cipriano presented the council with a signed petition by the residents of East Fifth Street.
   ”It concerns our concerns over the consistent no compliance of the 25-mph speed limit and some concerns we have specifically,” Ms. Cipriano said.
   Assistant Municipal Administrator Thomas A. Sahol noted the council was “aware of the concerns raised in the past.”
   ”After one of our last calls, maybe a month and a half ago, from a resident on East Fifth Street, I sat down with the Police Department Traffic Safety Unit to take a look at some of the ideas,” Mr. Sahol said.
   According to Mr. Sahol, a speed trailer was put on the street a few times.
   Resident David Carriger asked for hard data. He wanted to know how many times in a 24-hour period, people break the speed limit.
   ”It’s nice to flash a sign that you are doing 35 (mph),” Mr. Carriger said.
   But he said the problem was registering how many times it has been tripped in a 24-hour period. That, he said, would give a “true indication of the problem.”
   Mr. Sahol passed out a diagram done by the Police Department to discuss some stripping detail and signage.
   According to Mr. Sahol, the diagram was forwarded to the township engineer to review and make sure it was “consistent with traffic safety standards.”
   Basically, the space between hash marks painted at the top of the hill get narrower further down the hill where a vehicle’s speed starts to peak, Mr. Sahol said.
   ”It actually gives people the impression they are increasing their speed,” he explained.
   This is used in a lot of different places, Mr. Sahol said.
   ”It works on the person’s perception, and it tries to slow them, basically,” Mr. Sahol said, adding it creates an “uncomfortable feeling.”
   The diagram also featured lane restrictions that “make people feel confined,” Mr. Sahol said.
   He explained, “When you confine somebody to a smaller lane, again, they feel as though they need to slow down.”
   These are some of the recommendations made by the Police Department.
   According to Mr. Sahol, additional crosswalks are being considered to “give that additional break.”
   He stressed that police do enforce the speed limit.
   ”You may not see it there constantly, but there is enforcement,” he said.
   But Mr. Carriger insisted drivers “blatantly” abuse the speed limit.
   ”I’ve lived on the block for 12 years now, and it’s a bigger problem than I can tell you,” Mr. Carriger said. “It’s not an all-time thing, but . . . still, when it happens, it’s gregarious in the way people just blatantly abuse the speed limit.”
   He asked, “Why can’t Pine Street and Cedar Street be boxed in with stop signs?”
   According to Mr. Carriger, there are stop signs along Pine Street as traffic nears Fifth and Cedar streets.
   ”Why not just reverse them?” Mr. Carriger said. “So when you come down the hill, you’re stopped at Cedar. You’re stopped at Pine where there’s activity with children, you have a school zone there, and then you can continue on. That ensures the traffic coming up the hill stops twice, comes down and stops twice.”
   According to Mr. Carriger, the council would not have to add stops signs, but rather rearrange them.
   ”If it’s good enough for Third, Second, the entire length of the road, why isn’t it good enough in that area?” Mr. Carriger asked.
   Second, Third, and Fourth Streets on the east end are not designated as through streets, but they are on the west end, according to Mr. Sahol.
   ”When you have a long road like this, it seems the easiest way to break up the traffic is with stops,” Mr. Carriger said, adding that was done for Hamilton and Normand roads.
   Mr. Sahol noted Hamilton and Normand are “stop streets,” and Fifth Street is a through street.
   ”Through streets are streets that you have to stop as you approach,” Mr. Sahol said, adding he didn’t know how many four-way stops would be allowed by the state.
   ”This is Florence, not Trenton; we can do what we want,” said resident Vincent Cipriano, who has lived on the street for 25 years.
   ”I’m going to get into a fight one day soon, I’m sure,” Mr. Cipriano said, adding he has seven grandchildren and gets the finger from people all the time who fly down the street around 40 and 50 mph.
   ”Something needs to be done, whether it’s a hump, bump or lump — something — it’s not good,” Mr. Cipriano said, adding there have been two accidents in the last three months, one of which involved a policeman.
   Township Administrator Richard Brook suggested having the Police Department evaluate the idea and meet with Mr. Carriger with police coming back with formal recommendations to the council.
   ”I think it is very reasonable to ask the Police Department to take a look at it and, if necessary, ask the traffic engineer to take a look at it, and if there is a reason why we can’t do it legally, then we would tell the residents,” Mr. Brook said. “I think, in my opinion, it is a fair request to take a look at.”
   According to Mr. Brook, he is a “believer” in four-way stops and that “it controls traffic better.”
   He said, “It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s two or four. You just stop, make sure nobody gets hit and nobody gets hurt. I think, in my opinion, that four-way stops work out extremely well.”
   The state doesn’t approve many four-way stops, however, since it does not like to stop or slow traffic on straightaways, Mr. Brook said.
   Council President Jerry Sandusky expressed concern over the many children in the area.
   ”I think the most important thing we have to realize is there are a lot of children in that area going to school in the morning and coming home in the afternoon,” Mr. Sandusky said.
   The council decided Mr. Carriger and Mr. Cipriano would represent residents of Fifth Street in future discussions of the problem.