A request to lower the speed limit on Stoneleigh Drive has been tabled to the next meeting of the Highway Safety Committee, and a traffic counter will be placed on the road.
A group of residents led by Trista Kort requested that the speed limit be lowered from 35 miles per hour to 25 mph. The request was discussed at the Sept. 19 Safety Committee meeting.
Residents wrote in the letter that drivers “typically” speed up and down the street while their children are walking to and from the bus stop or waiting for the bus.
Due to the lack of a sidewalk, residents and their children are forced to walk on the road or on the curb area, the five residents who wrote the letter said. A large section of the road is protected by a guardrail, leaving residents no place to walk but in the road.
The five residents said the alleged speeders were neighborhood residents, delivery vehicles and lawn care service companies. They said Kort had reported the incidents to Derry Police.
Derry Police Capt. Vern Thomas responded for Chief Ed Garone, who was out of town. Thomas wrote that 35 mph seems a little fast for the area as the road is only 3/10 of a mile long and ends in a cul-de-sac.
Thomas recommended that the speed limit be lowered to 30 mph and posted only at the entrance coming in from Warner Hill Road. Thomas said he did not recommend anything lower than 30 mph, noting that the road is lightly traveled and there is room for people to step onto the curb to avoid traffic.
“Due to the light traffic, vehicles have plenty of room to avoid a pedestrian even if they don’t step on to the curb,” Thomas wrote.
Highway Director Alan Cote recommended a neighborhood solution. “I drove out there and I noticed that there were only 10 houses on the road,” he said. “Five people signed the petition. How about asking the other five to slow down?”
Cote recommended a drop to 30 mph and said, “Some of it is common sense. I don’t believe people are going that fast.”
Fire Chief George Klauber said a fast driver might be someone who drove into the cul-de-sac by mistake “and now they just want to get out.”
The committee agreed to table the issue to the next meeting, giving Cote time to set up the traffic counter and to bring back more data.
