SAUGUS — A speed analysis has concluded that the town should pump the brakes on lowering the speed limit.
The Engineering Corp., an Andover-based transportation, engineering and surveying firm, completed a study on six major roads and determined that people feel comfortable driving at or around the established speed limits.
“MassDOT assumes that most motorists will select a safe speed that they feel comfortable traveling on a road,” said Elizabeth Oltman, project manager for The Engineering Corp.
To determine that speed, the firm measures the speed that 85 percent of motorists travel at or below during the day. The data is collected through travel trial runs and radar speed collection. In all areas studied by the firm, the 85th percentile speeds were recorded to be at or above the posted speed limit.
“This leads me to believe, in my judgment, that your current regulatory speeds are appropriate for these roadways,” said Oltman.
An exception to this is Central Street, which has eight speed regulations over its 2.5-mile length, ranging from 20-35 miles per hour. The firm recommended the limit be changed to 30 miles per hour along the length of Central Street, with the exception of maintaining the existing 20 and 25 miles per hour zones surrounding the town center.
As an alternative, the town could adopt a 25-miles-per-hour speed limit for thickly settled areas throughout town, but the existing regulatory speed limits that the town has already set for the main roads would govern.
Neighbors who attended Monday night’s meeting were unhappy with the results.
“We should advertise ‘go to Saugus, you can drive faster there,'” said resident Bob Davis, who was frustrated that the report didn’t support a reduction to 25 miles per hour town-wide.
Davis is one of the residents behind Citizens for a Safer Saugus. Road safety has held a special place in his heart since his daughter-in-law, Laurie Davis, was struck by a drunk driver in 2018.
“You can say (the problem is) drunk drivers and distracted drivers — you can’t change their driving habits,” said Davis. “But you’ve got to do something. We’ve done nothing and people are getting killed.”
The Board of Selectmen, the traffic commissioners of the town, voted to lower the speed limit on Lincoln Avenue, Essex Street, Main Street and Central Street to 25 miles per hour during a series of meetings earlier this year, but the state denied the request.
In a letter to selectmen, district highway director Paul Stedman wrote that “revising the existing speed zones as requested on Lincoln Avenue, Main Street, and Essex Street would not conform to the current speed regulations.”
For MassDOT to consider modifying these regulations, the town would have to submit proper documentation and data for roadways under their jurisdiction that supported the change.
“I know a lot of times people don’t want to hear this — it doesn’t get said enough — but a lot of our fatals and different accidents we’ve had, based on the investigations from the law enforcement and state and local police, haven’t been associated with speed,” said Town Manager Scott Crabtree.
A lot of the accidents in recent years have been related to distracted driving, alcohol and drug use, age, and medical conditions, said Crabtree.
There have been almost 700 crashes on Water Street, Central Street, Main Street, Hamilton Street, Essex Street, and Lincoln Avenue in the past five years, according to crash data on file with the Saugus Police Department. About 35 of those crashes were directly related to speed, according to the reports for the six roads used in the speed limit analysis.
Most of the crashes have been on Lincoln Avenue, which had 226, and Main Street, which had 219. On all six streets, the number of crashes at least doubled from 2015 to 2016. Lincoln Avenue had 20 crashes in 2015 and 58 in 2016. That number rose to 63 in 2017 and dropped to 55 in 2018. There have been 14 so far in 2019.
“Many of the rear-end and ‘following too closely’ crashes could be attributed to driver frustration as a result of the driver not being able to travel at their desired speed due to a slow-traveling vehicle in front of them,” according to TEC’s report.
Interim Police Chief Ronald Giorgetti said the Police Department has taken its focus away from Route 1 and the shopping plazas and more toward the town’s residential streets.
“We have had almost a 200 percent increase to date on citations issued to residents and motorists passing through this town,” he said.
The next step is for the town to post accurate speed limit signs, make crossings more visible, and look into narrowing the road and taking other measures that encourage drivers to slow down, said Crabtree.
