Kudos to the Fort Myers City Council for voting to lower the speed limit to 25 mph on Fort Myers City streets! Lower speeds save lives and make our streets safer for all road users.
News-Press, Dec. 2, 2011
by Marisa Kendall
Drivers will have to slow down Monday
when Fort Myers lowers the speed limit on
city streets from 30 to 25 mph.
The new policy will mostly affect streets
downtown and in residential
neighborhoods. Speed limits on state and
county-owned roads such as U.S. 41,
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Palm
Beach Boulevard and Colonial Boulevard
will remain unchanged.
People are going too fast, Mayor Randy
Henderson said. The issue was first
brought to the city council’s attention
during a public hearing six months ago.
Several residents complained of drivers
speeding through their neighborhoods and
putting children and adult pedestrians in
danger.
“No one wants to have to live with the
nightmare of having struck a pedestrian,”
Henderson said.
The Fort Myers Police Department’s only
role in the policy change will be its
enforcement, Police Chief Doug Baker said.
Revenue generated from traffic tickets is
divided up among various city funds, such
as local schools. The small fraction that
goes back to the police department can
only be used to fund training programs, he
said.
For a month after the speed limit is
changed, police will issue warnings instead
of speeding tickets.
“We’ll make every effort to institute a
campaign educating drivers that the speed
limit has changed,” Baker said.
After the grace period ends, drivers caught
going 6 to 9 mph over the limit will be
charged $124 if they pay the ticket within
30 days. Fines increase incrementally,
ending with a $274 fine for drivers caught
going 20-29 mph over. A court
appearance is required of anyone caught
going 30 or more mph over the limit.
So far this year, the police department has
issued more than 1,900 speeding tickets,
spokeswoman Shelly Flynn said. That
number doesn’t include specially
designated tickets such as those incurred
in a school zone.
In October the Bonita Springs City Council
requested city staff research speeding and
decide whether to recommend lowering
speed limits from 30 to 25 mph. No
further action has been taken.
Lynn Anderson, 71, said she often see
drivers speeding through her neighborhood
near the intersection of Six Mile
Cypress/Ben C. Pratt and Daniels
parkways. The neighborhood is full of
children, and pedestrians walk in the street
because there are no sidewalks — but
drivers will still go 50 mph in a 30 mph
zone.
“It’s dangerous,” she said.
What idiots, as if we can't see the real reason is to stuff their coffers from fines precipitated by absurdly slow limits.
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