Where is the line drawn on installing speed bumps in Dade County?
Commissioners for the City of Trenton decided to hold off voting for the addition of a speed bump on Barton Avenue after Mayor Alex Case said the commission should consider when enough is enough.
Case said that a line needs to be drawn as to when to approve the addition of a speed bump and when to say ‘no’. Case said that the commission receives calls about adding speed bumps frequently.
“What’s the criteria where people are going to want us to stop [putting in speed bumps]?,” Case said. “When do we tell somebody [who asks for a speed bump] ‘no’’,” Case said.
Streets Commissioner Monda Wooten said a complaint regarding a single speeding vehicle that often drives through Barton Avenue is how the discussion to add a speed bump there got started.
“They have asked me several times,” Wooten said. “They were threatening – ‘if y’all don’t do it, my husband is going to do it.’”
“If the whole street came to us to do that, it’d be a different story,” Case said. “Same thing with our $12,000 power bill. We’d love to have streetlights everywhere but when do we stop?”
“We don’t want anyone to get hurt though,” Police Commissioner Kirk Forshee said. “But, people speed on every street.”
“We’d have to have some data before we present that,” Case said.
Wooten then suggested that officers keep a close eye on the individual who frequently speeds on that road. The individual’s identity is known to the commissioners.
“We can’t do hearsay for an officer to go do that,” Case said.
Wooten said that maybe a camera can be used by the concerned citizen to obtain evidence of the person’s speeding.
Case said that maybe the use of remote speed radars on the street would help.
“I’ll tell her that we’re going to beef up the patrols,” Wooten said.
“If this continues, we’re going to have to develop a criteria for this,” Case said.