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Letter to the editor

Everyone speeds on Main St.

That's what Safety Harbor found in tests. The recommendation: Raise the speed limit.

By EILEEN SCHULTE, Times Staff Writer
Published November 2, 2007

SAFETY HARBOR - After surviving the rodeo that is McMullen-Booth Road, turning onto Main Street is kind of like flying off the bucking bronco and landing on a soft mat.

It is quiet. Only two lanes, the street is lined with trees and houses.

You cruise up a hill and then down the hill.

Ahhh, the tranquility.

You're on emotional cruise control, forgetting your worries if only for a few seconds.

But beware: this street plays with your senses. Lost in the moment, perhaps you forget to take your foot off the gas. Or maybe your shoe is poised just inches above the brake pedal.

But before you snap out of it and realize you should actually press down on the pedal, you see flashing lights in the rear view and know you've been busted.

So many Safety Harbor residents have been ticketed for exceeding the 25 mile per hour speed limit they are asking the City Commission to raise it, at least in the western portion outside the city's core that carries 10,000 vehicles per day.

In response, the engineering department performed some tests.

Staff members placed bags over the speed limit signs on Main Street between 12th Avenue and McMullen-Booth Road for several days in October to determine how fast vehicles were moving, allowing drivers to go as fast as they wanted, within reason.

They also watched how fast traffic moved when the signs weren't hidden.

Here's what they found: On Oct. 25, with no speed limit enforced, 91.1 percent of vehicles traveled faster than 25 mph, while 85 percent moved at a speed of less than 38.62 mph.

On Oct. 18, with the 25 mph speed limit enforced, 91.3 percent of drivers exceeded the speed limit, while 85 percent traveled at a speed of less than 38.08 mph.

Translation: Almost everyone speeds down Main Street.

However, most didn't go faster than 38 mph.

So the staff recommended the commission consider raising the speed limit to 30 mph.

"I think it's reasonable," said Doug Ritchie, who has owned the Safety Harbor Motel on Main Street for 10 years.

He said half the people he watches all day long drive between 30 and 35 mph anyway.

Ritchie's neighbor across the street, Fabian Bloom, said the suggested 30 mph speed limit is a good compromise.

"If you raise it to 35," he said, "people will go 45."

Eileen Schulte can be reached at schulte@sptimes.com or 727 445-4153.

[Last modified November 1, 2007, 23:00:20]