Alderman calls for citywide speed limit of 25 mph
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Lawmakers could move to reduce the citywide speed limit from 30 to 25 mph.
Kingston Common Council Majority Leader Reynolds Scott-Childress said the proposal goes along with efforts by Alderwoman Andrea Shaut, D-Ward 9, to create a policy that would incorporate engineering, education and enforcement into the city’s approach to dealing with traffic issues.
“We’ve got to do a combination of developing a comprehensive approach to traffic issues in the city,” ScottChildress, D-Ward 3, said Monday evening. “So speed limit is one of those. Letting people know what the speed limit is is another one.”
Scott-Childress said stop signs and traffic humps are not the only way to deal with traffic issues. Changing the speed limit throughout the city would affect Kingston as a whole instead of just putting a stop sign in front of a person’s house or a yield sign in front of someone else’s, he said.
Scott-Childress has introduced a Common Council resolution to seek state approval to reduce the citywide speed limit to 25 mph. The resolution is to be discussed by the council’s Public Safety/General Government Committee when it meets at 6:30 p.m. on July 24 at City Hall, 420 Broadway.
Scott-Childress said bad driving is one of the topics that generates the most complaints that council members receive. He also said there is a research that shows a huge difference between crash impacts at 25 mph and 30 mph.
The alderman also said there are several entrances to the city that lack any speed limit signs. If the limit were reduced, it would give the city a chance to put up signs letting people know what the limit is and also would allow the city to re-emphasize responsible driving, he said.
If the committee adopt the proposed resolution to seek to lower the speed limit, it would go to the full council for consideration in August.
Scott-Childress said he was proposing the speed limit reduction now rather than as part of the comprehensive approach to traffic issues because the change needs state approval. He said the city would need its state representatives to move the matter forward during the 2020 legislative session.