Friday, September 13, 2002
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Friday, September 13, 2002 |
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PTC residents "honk off" to council about stop signs, speed humps and lower speed limit on Golf View Drive By JOHN
MUNFORD Peachtree City residents upset with the new stop signs, enhanced speed humps and 20 miles-per-hour speed limit on Golf View Drive spoke their peace to the City Council Tuesday night. But some Golf View residents particularly those near the "Thrill Hill" section say they appreciate the changes since they now feel safe enough to walk on the street again. Golf View is not served by a cart path, so residents there must use the road to reach the path system. Council didn't take any action on the matter, but Mayor Steve Brown said council will consider "some changes" to Golf View at a later date. Councilman Steve Rapson suggested one change immediately, however: "Please stop honking your horns." The comment was directed at motorists who have "honked" their displeasure about the changes to Golf View as they travel on the road, disrupting peace in the neighborhood. As for further changes council might consider, councilman Dan Tennant didn't want to raise the audience's hopes too much. "We want to be fair to everybody," Tennant said. "That probably means everybody is going to be a little unhappy." Even some proponents of the recent changes to Golf View admitted they don't like the speed humps, either. But the changes have forced vehicles to slow down, making the neighborhood safer for the children, they added. "Now we don't hear squealing tires. Now all we hear is ... horns honking," said Golf View resident Kevin Ford. Opponents of the changes to Golf View argue that the city didn't meet its own statistical criteria for implementing the stop signs and speed humps. In a 45-minute presentation, Dr. John Henahan outlined these and other concerns of motorists who want the "illegal" stop signs and the speed humps removed. The speed humps are located on what is designated as a primary response route for local emergency vehicles, Henahan pointed out. The humps slow emergency response because those vehicles don't accelerate as quickly once over the humps, and they can lead to related lawsuits against the city, he said. The city originally installed "staggered" speed humps, which crossed only one lane of traffic at a time. That allowed emergency vehicles to "snake" around the impediments. But other motorists took to weaving around the humps, so council decided to extend them across the entire road. The humps might also be in violation of federal accessibility guidelines which specifically list roads as a public structure that must be useable for people with disabilities, Henahan said. Also, speed studies of Golf View Drive performed by the police department showed that 85 percent of the vehicle drove at or below the former speed limit of 30 mph, Henahan noted. A national traffic safety manual dictates that stop signs should not be used to slow traffic, Henahan said. The opposition group wants the city to remove any illegal signage, enact a moratorium on "vertical deflections" such as speed humps on primary emergency response routes and require large signs be posted in an area notifying motorists of possible traffic calming changes to a road. The group also wants any traffic calming measures to be totally paid for by the neighborhoods which request them including the repaving of those streets since the state is unlikely to fund them, Henahan said. "Please don't penalize the 97 percent of those who drive a reasonable speed to penalize the 3 percent who don't," Henahan urged council at the end of his presentation. Mike Byrd, a former Golf View resident, feels differently, however. "Maybe it's extreme, but if stop signs and speed bumps keep people from speeding, it's worth the price." Rapson noted that he uses Golf View as a cut-through every day, but only in the past few weeks has he noticed pedestrians on the street. "It is a residential neighborhood and they deserve the quality of life we have in any other neighborhood," Rapson said.
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