Letters

As Southampton Village and points eastward have grown since I purchased my home almost 25 years ago, an ever-increasing volume of traffic has been added as part of the equation. Since County Road 39 isn’t equipped to handle all the “pass-through” traffic and is often very congested, many routine daily visitors have found shortcuts through once-quiet village neighborhoods.

Unfortunately, for residents on these streets, vehicles travel at speeds well beyond the posted limits, which not only poses a threat to residents and pedestrians but also creates incredibly loud road noise. This is especially true on Prospect Street, Halsey Street and Moses Lane.

In addition, the speed limit on these residential streets is 30 mph, vs. the 25 mph on Hill Street — which makes no sense, given that Hill Street is the main thoroughfare into the village center. Regardless, the speed limits are not followed, as I can attest through many conversations with homeowners on my street and with iPhone videos I have recorded myself during morning and evening “rush hour.”

Perhaps something can be done to at least slow down the traffic on these and other neighborhood village streets plagued with this problem?

Just a few suggestions I hope might be considered:

1) Install speed bumps on highly trafficked residential side streets at strategic locations. I once suggested this but was told it couldn’t be done due to a hindrance for snowplows in the winter. Funny, but this doesn’t seem to be an issue in Sag Harbor or several other East End villages who have added speed bumps to side streets.

Believe it or not, there are even portable speed bump systems that could be put down and adjusted as required in anticipation of snowstorms. A low cost solution that at the very least provides notice to drivers that a speeding issue exists. If cost is an issue, I’m very confident that funds could be raised by the residents on these streets for their purchase.

2) Install an automated speed limit enforcement system on village streets to issue violations via license plate ID. These systems exist in many communities (I’ve received such tickets myself) and would be a stark wakeup call for frequent visitors who disregard village quality-of-life issues since they likely don’t live here.

While this is a more expensive solution, it would likely pay for itself through ticketing revenue and relieve our police department of this monitoring activity.

Bottom line, something must be done to protect the safety of village residents and protect what’s left of the Southampton Village quality of life for those residents who choose to live here for more than just a few months in the summer.

John Gregory

Southampton Village