Deciding Issue - 27 East

Letters

Southampton Press / Opinion / Letters / 2396411
Sep 22, 2025

Deciding Issue

After the howls of protest over trucks and speeding vehicles on Southampton Town residential roads, including mine, I emailed Highway Superintendent Charles McArdle on what it would take to get speed humps to discourage this noxious stream. After all, such impediments are relatively quick to install and are self-enforcing thereafter. Maybe each neighborhood would need to wait in line for funding?

No — Mr. McArdle was quick to reply. Southampton Town will not install such remedies, in order to avoid liability exposure.

What about the humps already in place in Sagaponack and North Haven? Those villages, he replied back, have chosen to incur the liability (from road users who flout cautionary signs).

I think Southampton Town should choose this as well, to provide relief now to what is admittedly part of a probably irresolvable traffic problem.

And I think many Southampton voters would agree, and would like to hear candidates for the Town Council vow as much. In fact, for some of us, it would be a deciding issue.

Tim Ferguson

Water Mill