Mingo police monitor speeders; speed humps last resort
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MINGO JUNCTION -- A request for the Mingo Junction Village Council to install additional speed humps highlighted the most recent discussion about local speeding concerns the council has been infrequently deliberating how to handle.
That request, discussed during the council's Sept. 12 regular session, referenced West Boulevard, a road in Mingo's East View area that terminates in a cul-de-sac. Discussions during the regular session, and during the council's safety committee meeting beforehand, revealed a hesitancy to install speed humps -- referred to generally as "speed bumps" -- to address speeders on the street.
Speed humps are a slippery slope for the council, with increased requests coming since three humps were installed in 2022. Safety committee chair and Councilwoman Jodilynn Fitzgerald said Sept. 12 that speed humps should be a last resort for the village. Speed humps and their maintenance carry costs with them, she said, and the humps can be a hindrance for the village's snowplows, forcing workers to avoid them.
"We don't want to have speed bumps on every street in this village, but speeding is a big problem in the village on every street," Fitzgerald said Friday. "We just really need people to slow down and obey the speed limits and posted signs, but we don't want to be known as a city full of speed bumps."
Speed humps saw success in spring 2022, after November 2021 discussions resulted in the installation of two speed humps on Longview Avenue, a street that sits near the southern entry road for Hills Elementary and Indian Creek Middle schools. Consideration for the humps followed a closure of Wilson Avenue, which Fitzgerald said caused traffic to bypass Wilson using Longview.
Following a large number of complaints, Fitzgerald said, safety committee members surveyed the area and spoke with residents about possible solutions. In response, the two speed humps were installed at strategic points on the hilly stretch of Longview where motorists descending the hills might not see pedestrians.
Originally, the humps were portable, but they were replaced with asphalt humps after the portable material kept sliding. Fitzgerald said response from residents to the asphalt speed humps and corresponding warning signage have been overwhelmingly positive.
Additionally, Fitzgerald said, a separate speed hump was added in early fall 2022 at a high-risk area that posed a threat to pedestrians in the 100 block of Eleanor Street.
West Boulevard is different from the other two examples, in that the former is not a through street. Since West Boulevard ends in a cul-de-sac, the individuals speeding are likely to be residents of the street itself. Typically, Fitzgerald said, speed humps are meant to deter motorists from using residential streets and direct them to main traffic arteries.
The safety committee -- comprised of council members Fitzgerald, Mark Baker and Michael Herrick, along with Police Chief Willie McKenzie III and Fire and EMS Chief Brandon Montgomery -- decided Sept. 12 that the solution for West Boulevard moving forward would be to have increased police monitoring on the street.
McKenzie said the department has been conducting traffic enforcement on West Boulevard during the past month but has not seen any speeding violations. Several of the street's residents he spoke with reported that the speeding is at various times throughout the day. However, McKenzie said his department is shorthanded and is unable to monitor the street during all parts of the day, though he said, "We get up there as much as we can."
"I'm not for (potential) speed bumps on West Boulevard, but I'm not against it," said McKenzie, "for the simple fact that I don't live there, and I'm not there 24/7 to be able to see how fast individuals are actually traveling down that roadway. So, residents have the right to request what they feel is possible for the safety of their neighborhood."
McKenzie said more residents have been requesting speed humps since Longview's were installed. However, he said humps cannot be installed everywhere, pointing at the hazard they can be for village snowplows and vice versa.
Montgomery agreed that speed humps can harm snowplows, which need to be raised to avoid the humps. Also, he said, humps can slow EMS and fire response times as the vehicles are forced to slow down to pass over them. However, he added that humps are necessary in certain areas such as playgrounds and high-risk locations with hills and blind turns.
For now, McKenzie said, the best solution is to continue monitoring West Boulevard and "to let people know to slow down, or you will be ticketed."
Police presence alone hopefully has made a difference, McKenzie said, with some residents reporting that people have slowed down after seeing police on the street. McKenzie said the department attempts to conduct traffic enforcement in all areas but has focused on streets with the most complaints: McLister Avenue, St. Clair Avenue and Union Street, to name a few. Also, McKenzie said he has knocked on the doors of residents directly to ask them to slow down.
McKenzie said the department has performed 76 traffic stops for speeding so far this year. Most traffic stops occur within the village, as opposed to on state Route 7, McKenzie said. Speed limits vary, with McLister Avenue, the village's main thoroughfare, having a 35 mph speed limit, while residential streets have a 25 mph limit and Route 7 has a 55 mph limit. Speeding rates depend on the day, but the average is between 10 and 12 mph above the limit.
McKenzie said a speeding ticket can cost an individual around $150, considering additional court fees, and can add two-to-four points to one's driving record, depending on the rate of speed. In Ohio, 12 or more points can result in a license suspension.
"We have a lot of elderly people here as well as children who are out playing," McKenzie said. "We just ask everyone to have respect, take accountability and follow the clearly posted speed limit. We have a really nice village here with a lot of good people, and we want to keep it that way."
Fitzgerald said, "We would really hope that everybody, for the safety of children starting back at school, pets and people out on the road, would slow down and be respectful with how fast (they) drive through people's neighborhoods."