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Residents press board over Beeler Road noise and safety; police outline traffic details and data
Summary
Residents urged the town to increase enforcement on Beeler/Wheeler Road amid reports of late‑night honking, speeding and unsafe driver behavior. The police chief said officers conducted 12 traffic details in four weeks and shared pre/post speed-hump traffic study data that shows reduced speeds but noted photos alone do not permit citations.
Residents told the Orchard Park Town Board on Aug. 20 that persistent late‑night vehicle noise, honking and alleged reckless driving on Wheeler/Beeler Road have become untenable, and they urged a stronger and more visible police response.
One resident described repeated horn use and drivers "lay[ing] on the horn" overnight and asked for solutions at the next meeting. The police chief responded that in the last four weeks the department ran 12 traffic details on Beeler Road totaling nearly 10 hours and that officers made one stop during those details. The chief cautioned that New York State law requires officers to observe violations to issue traffic citations and that photographs alone are insufficient to support a ticket.
Board members discussed prior traffic studies and the effect of installed speed humps. One council member referred to earlier automated counts that, when the road was studied, suggested a hypothetical figure of "5,000 cars a day" in the baseline analysis; the chief said the department ran pre‑ and post‑speed‑hump reports and that the data show decreased vehicle speeds after the traffic calming measures. The board acknowledged trade‑offs, noting that some enforcement details are cut short to answer emergency calls and that commercial truck traffic was not captured in the automated traffic-study data.
Panelists urged residents not to put themselves at risk when documenting incidents (for example, by confronting drivers) and suggested the town will continue traffic details, consider better camera placements and review earlier independent traffic-study findings about lowering the speed limit (which previously did not meet threshold criteria for a permanent lower limit). Residents requested solutions be reported at the next regular meeting.
