MILWAUKEE — Village trustees in Whitefish Bay are set to meet on Monday night, and one of the things they will discuss and possibly take action on is reducing the speed limit on a portion of Lake Drive between School Road and Silver Spring Drive.
The village's Public Works Committee recommended reducing the speed in that area from 30 mph to 25 MPH as a way to increase safety.
"We see a lot of traffic here and most people are driving a bit too fast," said Mark Flagg, who lives in Whitefish Bay and works as a dogwalker.
He said speeding drivers are common on Lake Drive near Klode Park.
"We live right off Santa Monica and that's 25 mph and unless the police are parked there, people go zooming along there at 45 and 50 (mph)," said Flagg.
He said increased enforcement would be one way to stop the dangerous driving in the area.
The Village of Whitefish Bay's public works committee has been hosting public meetings to discuss the speed reduction. According to public records of public comments shared during a July 25th meeting, neighbors spoke out both in favor in against the speed reduction. A couple of those who were against the speed reduction also thought that enforcement of the current speed limit would be more beneficial.
TMJ4's Ryan Jenkins asked Robert Schneider, a professor of Urban Planning for UW-Milwaukee, how he would respond to those neighbors.
"Part of what can make a speed limit reduction even more effective is enforcement and engineering type treatments that change the roadway designs so that they're more supportive of a slower speed limit," said Schneider. "However, just the sign itself can indicate what is expected out of drivers."
Schneider points to research when saying speed limit changes can have big impacts.
"What we've seen from research, recently in the last five years from Boston and Seattle, is that simply lowering the speed limit will have some effect on driver behavior," said Schneider.
Research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that when Boston lowered the default speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph, drivers were 29.3% less likely to driver faster than 35 mph and were 8.5% less likely to speed over 30 mph.
In Seattle, IIHS research found that speed limit reduction was associated with a 17.2% reduction in odds that a crash would result in injury.
"If we have a decrease in speed limit, we have a reduction in the expected risk for crashes and injuries," said Schneider.
Flagg said whether the speed limit remains 30 mph or is reduced to 25 mph, he hopes people are held accountable for their driving behavior.
"I think they should pretty much leave it alone and just patrol it more often and maybe be a bit more liberal with the tickets," said Flagg.
The village's meeting to discuss this speed limit reduction is at 6:00 p.m. on August 7th.
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