Burrillville wants state to reconsider Route 102 speed limit

BURRILLVILLE — Town officials are asking the state Traffic Commission to consider lowering the speed limit on Route 102 (Broncos Highway) in the wake of a four-car crash last month that killed 39-yearold Burrillville Firefighter Ryan J. Ferris.

Town Council President John Pacheco said at a meeting Wednesday that he received several phone calls and emails in the days following the accident from town residents concerned about the current speed limit on Route 102, which can range between 35 mph in school zones during certain times of the day and 40 mph on longer stretches of the roadway.

Ferris, a Harrisville firefighter, died at a hospital after his car was struck from behind and became pinned under a box truck at the intersection of Broncos Highway and Route 107 (East Avenue) on March 13.

Pacheco and Councilman Dennis Anderson say a uniform speed limit of 35 mph might help reduce speeding on a road that has had a long history of accidents, many of them fatal.

“The problem is the way the speed limit goes up and down, especially near the entrance to Broncos Crossing (a strip plaza near the intersection of Route 102 and East Avenue),” said Pachecho.

Six years ago, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) completed a safety improvement project on Route 102, a state highway that saw a string of serious accidents that year, including a crash that killed two teenagers.

The project included Route 102 (Broncos Highway) in Burrillville and parts of Route 146 in North Smithfield and Providence, although the brunt of the work was safety improvements in Burrillville, which included repaving, rumble strips and new striping and signage.

The work was done a year after the DOT released the results of a road safety assessment conducted along the entire corridor of Route 102. While police say the series of accidents that year were all the result of operator error, the DOT agreed to do an audit of Route 102 to find ways to make it safer.

The assessment recommended increasing the space between opposing travel lanes, reducing road shoulder widths, and updating existing traffic signals to include advanced dilemma zone detection systems, and rumble strips in the center median and the shoulder to provide distracted drivers with a wake-up call should they divert from their travel lane.

The state Traffic Commission, however, did not reduce speed limits, which had been recommended by Burrillville Police Chief Stephen J. Lynch.

The council at is meeting Wednesday agreed to make another request to the Traffic Commission to consider not only lowering the speed limit to 35 mph, but address the lack of lighting in some areas.

Last year, Town Councilman Stephen N. Rawson broached the subject of speeding on Burrillville town roads, particularly Spring Lake Road, Sherman Farm Road, Wallum Lake Road, as well as Broncos Highway.

Rawson says that in addition to police enforcement, the town needs to consider other ways of curbing speeding. While a police car on a street is an effective deterrent, he said, it is only a short-lived one because once police move on, speeding is likely to resume.

“If there’s anything more we can do we would be remiss if we didn’t at least look at it,” said Rawson, who’s motion to have the administration and Police Department find new ways to address speeding and aggressive driving was unanimously approved by the council.

Some of those measure could include applying road design and engineering measures to obtain appropriate speeds; setting speed limits that are safe and reasonable; applying enforcement efforts and appropriate technology that effectively target crash-producing speeders and deter speeding; and marketing communication and educational messages that focus on high-risk drivers.

Rawson says some states are combating speeding and aggressive driving in several ways, including increased data-driven enforcement, technological advances, and public information and education programs that focus on the dangers of aggressive driving, provide tips for safe driving or publicize upcoming enforcement programs.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Councilman Donald Fox said there are other factors to consider besides speeding.

“We need to be cognizant of the fact that a lot of these accidents are because people are driving distracted,” he said. “We can do all we can to reduce speed limits and so forth, but the fact of the matter is that people are looking at their phones while they’re driving, It’s not just a speed-related problem.”

Lynch echoed the same sentiments to the council last year during a discussion on speeding.

“Add in the elements of impaired and distracted driving and it’s a never-ending battle,” he said.

Lynch said the Police Department partners with the state Department of Transportation for overtime enforcement details and has created a list of “hot spot” areas for enforcement.