A Need For Common Sense

To the Editor:

I am responding to James P. Walsh’s letter found last week in the Letter Hive titled “Advocate for Safety.” An interesting letter in that one person would expend so much of his energy to lower the speed limit from 25 to 20 mph on Key Rock Road. (A road that traverses north/south, essentially helping to connect Redding to Route 302). The purpose of Mr Walsh’s letter last week, as you may remember, was an endorsement for himself to be elected November 8 for a position on the Police Board of Commissions, which I highly discourage for the following reasons:

First, in Mr Walsh’s letter he explains that out of 10,000 vehicles tracked on Key Rock Road, the 85th percentile of speed was 43 mph. I believe the facts are presented in a misleading fashion because it appears traffic was only tracked in one direction, which would be the southbound cars traveling from Route 302 turning on to Key Rock Road, which is straight, paved, through a swamp, with no houses. (My sympathy to any commuters who try to drive 20 mph or who have gotten a ticket because of Mr Walsh’s overzealous behavior and begging for police patrol.)

Traveling north on Key Rock Road, the speed limit was not tracked by our police department, and I am willing to bet that because of poor road conditions as well as hills and curves, the average speed traveling north is significantly less than 43 mph. Therefore, the data presented by Mr Walsh was given in a misleading fashion and fails to present accurate information.

Secondly, I remember the inconvenience and safety hazard of the speed bumps (or “speed calming devises”) on Key Rock Road last summer. This was a great inconvenience to a smooth, steady pace, plus a mechanical hindrance on one’s car which I might add are already challenged by the poor road conditions of Newtown. Most important, these speed bumps posed a safety concern as one came to a crawl or almost stop which, when traveling northbound, increased one’s risk of a tail-end collision as the hill and turn makes for a blind spot. (Speed calming devices were not installed this summer.)

After watching the town put in and take out speed bumps and watching the police department play with speed traps, new speed signs, speed monitoring devices, traffic assessment studies, my assessment is all the exerted effort in the name of safety has been nothing but a waste of taxpayers’ money and a great inconvenience to the public. This seems to just be an overzealous person who wants to micromanage and control the drivers of Newtown who travel by his street.

As a citizen and voter of Newtown, I encourage my fellow Newtowners to exercise their common sense and vote No with respect to James P. Walsh’s IPN candidacy for the Board of Police Commissioners.

John Peeling

Poverty Hollow Road, Newtown                            September 2, 2011