Step into any municipal board meeting on the South Fork, whether it be East Hampton Village, Sag Harbor Village, Sagaponack Village, or East Hampton Town, and residents are requesting speed bumps to slow drivers down.
However, East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo told the town board Tuesday that the data show we have less of a speeding problem, and more of a volume problem. “The speed signs we put out do not give us data that the New York State Department of Transportation has deemed problematic,” Chief Sarlo said. “The sign data tell us we have a very safe community in general.” He was referring to the now somewhat ubiquitous illuminated and flashing speed signs that tell drivers what the speed limit is versus how fast they are traveling. The police can pull the data from those signs to learn the average speed of a given stretch of road.
Nonetheless, he said, he was in support of lowering the speed limit on a number of roads from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour, as was done in 2005 on secondary streets in East Hampton Village.
“I don’t see a downside when looking at 30 mile-per-hour zones being reduced. Creating increased reaction time for drivers, allowing better sight lines and reaction time for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as safer entrance and egress from blind driveways, parking along roadways without shoulders, and other factors will be improved conditions resulting from lowering speed limits,” he wrote in an email.
The East Hampton Town Board, however, does not have the authority to simply make changes to speed limits. The first step, which it began to work on at Tuesday’s meeting, is to agree on a set of criteria that would help identify roads where the limit should be lowered. Next, it would determine which roadways meet those criteria. Then, it would have to seek permission from the New York State Department of Transportation. Finally, a public hearing would have to be held before town code could be amended.
Two roads in Wainscott, Main Street and Wainscott Stone Road, are part of a list of 11 roads that the town has already been given the power to reduce limits on. Residents of Wainscott came to the meeting to voice their support for doing so. Michael Hansen said it was at least a good first step. “It’s going to take a lot of enforcement. That’s a back road that folks take all year long,” he said, referring to Wainscott Stone Road, “not just in the summer. Now that there’s fewer cars, they’re driving faster.”
Another group of roads that Chief Sarlo advised the board to consider were those that were multijurisdictional. For example, some secondary streets start in East Hampton Village with a limit of 25 m.p.h. but continue outside village boundaries, in the town, with a 30 m.p.h. limit. Making the entire street 25 m.p.h. might make more sense.
Last, the board was advised to consider reducing speed limits on roads that have substandard paving, or no shoulders, like Gerard Drive in Springs.
Councilman Tom Flight voiced support and suggested including roads where young people gather, like those near recreation areas or playing fields. “Speed is the major determinant in injuries caused in a crash,” he said. Councilman David Lys mentioned adding roads near places of worship, or in historical districts. “People will never stop attempting to go faster than the speed limit,” said Councilwoman Cate Rogers, who suggested adding roads that are either particularly windy or hilly to the list of criteria to explore.
“We’ll go back and make some changes,” said Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez. “We would like to get this implemented this year, or at least go to the D.O.T. this year.” She mentioned that Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. would only be in office until the end of December, and that he had been relied upon for his connections in the D.O.T. “I’d like to do this while he’s in office.”
Chief Sarlo spoke from what sounded like wearying experience. “These measures aren’t going to solve the volume problem, and regardless of how many hours we spend trying to write tickets, or sitting in problem areas, there’s going to be people who speed. There’s going to be cars with loud mufflers and oversized tires. It’s going to sound and look like we haven’t fixed all the problems. We’re never going to fix all the problems. The idea is to make it better and keep improving things for the community.”
