Village could move to reduce speed limit
The Village Board may cut the speed limit if increased enforcement and awareness don’t produce the desired results.
The Village Board might move to reduce the village speed limit if increased enforcement and awareness efforts don’t yield results.
During a video conference meeting of the board on Monday, village resident Dave Cook noted that drivers on Elm Street seem to be responding to an electronic sign that displays the speed of vehicles.
“We have a lowered speed limit on the street, we have signs ... on the street warning ‘Slow’ and ‘25 mph’ and an incredible speed radar sign that went up,” he said.
The village speed limit is 30 mph.
“Normally we will hear the engines rev of people that will speed down the streets,” Cook said. “... Now we start hearing the engines of the people who might speed down the street, and as soon as the lights on the [speed] sign light up, you can hear them rev down and they slow down.”
Village Mayor Bill Murphy said the radar-controlled sign has been borrowed from Ulster County for three weeks and will be placed in several locations in the village.
“We are looking into purchasing a couple of additional ones later this year ... [with the cost split by] the village and the town,” Murphy said, adding that he wants to discuss action “to possibly lower the speed limit all over the village to 25 miles an hour.”
Village resident Kayla Nadal said she’s troubled by drivers speeding between Market Street and the northbound Thruway toll booth.
“Ulster Avenue is like a race track from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and [drivers] tempt fate day after day to beat the red light,” she said.
Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra, whose department covers both the village and the town, said there is a significant crackdown planned on drivers who violate traffic rules.
“We do have an enforcement detail that’s coming up this week where we’re going to saturate with state troopers, deputy sheriffs and Saugerties police officers,” he said.
Sinagra said he recently posted himself near a known trouble spot.
“I sat out ... for an hour and a half, and I wrote six tickets for people running the stop sign there, and every one of them was a Saugerties resident,” he said.