At a special-called meeting Jan. 11, the Rollingwood City Council held a public hearing on the possibility of changing the speed limit from 30 miles per hour to a citywide speed limit of 25 miles per hour.
After hearing many public comments against a citywide speed limit decrease and asking that a new traffic study be done on the area to prove a speed reduction is needed, the council met again at a regular City Council meeting Jan. 18 to approve other measures to slow traffic. The council anticipates measures such as adding radar signs will encourage slower driving on Rollingwood Drive between Wallis Drive and Ridgewood Drive, especially in front of Rollingwood Park, where the Western Hills Little League games take place.
Chief of Police Dayne Pryor said Rollingwood police had issued 11 citations on this section of Rollingwood Drive, with the average violation of 41 miles per hour, in the past two years.
"To me 11 citations in 24 months does not seem like a problem," Alderwoman Sara Hutson said. "I think we do need more education—and not just for drivers."
Hutson said that she had seen just as many walkers as drivers disobeying traffic laws while she was driving along Rollingwood, such as people walking down the center of the street.
Alderman John Hinton said that just because there were only 11 citations does not mean there's not a problem.
A report that Alderman Barry Bones cited, which can be found at www.walkinginfo.org, said that if a pedestrian were hit by a vehicle traveling at 30 miles per hour, there was a 45 percent death rate, and if a pedestrian were hit at 40 mph, the death rate increased to 85 percent.
The council voted to increase police presence along Rollingwood Drive, to ask the city engineer to review a 2001 study of Rollingwood traffic and make a preliminary presentation, and to get cost estimates to update the study and get cost estimates on street tables, similar to speed bumps, only more gradual.
The council will also add radar signs on either end of the roadway to alert drivers of their speed limits.
The council may still vote to reduce the speed limit, but reducing the speed limit had been dropped from January's agenda, so the council was not allowed to vote on it. Some council members, however, would prefer giving the new measures some time to take effect before making a decision.
"I think if we're changing up the patrol schedule, we need to give that some time to see if it works," Hutson said.
Hinton also said he was in favor of doing a study before making a decision.
"I'm torn on this because I think [most] people are against lowering the speed limits," he said. "Numerous people said we need to do a study. I [originally]said I was against [a new study], but I'm afraid someone will get hurt on Rollingwood Drive, so I am for a study now."
