Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Traffic Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents press Bridgeville council for traffic calming after near-misses and dash-cam incidents
Summary
Several residents urged the borough to act on cut-through speeding and stop-sign violations on neighborhood streets, asking for traffic calming measures, more enforcement and a traffic study; Police Chief Gary James described enforcement limitations tied to state law and time-distance devices.
Multiple residents used the council's public-comment period to press for action on dangerous cut-through driving, speed and stop-sign violations on residential streets.
Cody Phillips said the problem is daily in his neighborhood and described dash-cam and witness accounts of drivers running stop signs and nearly hitting pedestrians and pets. "They're cutting through the neighborhood just to avoid the bank and lessen intersection on their way to Chartiers... And with that comes all the dangerous driving," Phillips said. He asked for a firm commitment to traffic calming measures including speed bumps, painted lines and bump-outs.
Justin Thomas, who identified the Sarah Street area and other nearby blocks, reiterated calls for traffic calming and a speed reduction. "I also wanna firm commitment to traffic calming measures. That includes speed bumps," he said, and suggested the borough pursue engineering data to support requests to PennDOT.
Police Chief Gary James said officers conducted targeted enforcement in the area and reported June activity: "The Police department filed 33 separate, criminal charges, 43, traffic citations. We responded to 628 calls for service... On top of those, we conducted a 107 traffic safety watches... We issued, 33 traffic tickets, 32 verbal warnings." He said enforcement is constrained by device rules: "The minimum distance that we can use is 100 feet... Also, by vehicle code law because we are using time distance devices, not radar, we are required by law to give 10 miles over." Chief James encouraged residents to push state legislators to allow local radar use.
Council members and the manager suggested gathering engineering data and exploring alternatives to state control. Manager Joe Cox said the borough can run its own data through engineers before asking for a specific reduction or sign change. Council committed to discussing options with the police and exploring what state and local legal frameworks allow.
The discussion produced no formal motion to change signage or speed limits during the meeting; council asked staff to evaluate engineering options and enforcement strategies and to return with proposals.
