Community Corner

Speeding Concerns Prompt New Signs

Both residents and police are putting up signs to get residents to follow local speed limits.

Drive along Penn Road between Wynnewood and Montgomery Avenue and you will see a clear message – slow down.

New signs that have been popping up around town implore drivers to "give us a brake" and ease up on the gas, especially in residential areas home to school children. While the signs on Penn Road are small and low to the ground, others seen around town depict large photos of children, which some consider to be a danger on their own.

Township Commissioner Philip Rosenzweig of Ward 6 said at the Board of Commissioners committee meeting on Sept. 15 that he felt some of the signs posed more danger to the driver than the protection they offered. If they make the driver swerve because he or she thinks that it's a real child, the sign could pose a traffic hazard, Rosenzweig said.

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Commissioner Cheryl Gelber disagreed. "I think that's the point," Gelber said in regard to thinking the signs are real children. "If people would observe the speed limits it would eliminate the need for the signs," she said.

Superintendent of Police Michael McGrath said that he thinks the signs are also relatively harmless, and that they are allowed under local laws.

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The township is also considering adding more 35 MPH traffic signs along Haverford Road from Argyle Road to County Line Road in Wynnewood. The road is already designated at that speed limit in other places, but police think that adding signs would help to regulate the speed along the road and establish consistency.

"This is a housekeeping issue and the action is needed to support the 35 MPH speed limit signs which are already posted," an agenda item under the Board of Commissioners Police Committee actions reads for the upcoming Sept. 22 meeting.

"The summary encapsulates what we're trying to do here," said McGrath. "We want to make the speed limit consistent for the entire length of the road."

If passed, the township will advertise that the ordinance is being considered and conduct a final vote on the matter at their next meeting. Public comment will be taken on all agenda items at the meeting on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in the second floor board room of the Township Administrative Building.


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