By David Fenker
david@nmpaper.com
WABASH COUNTY, Ind. – The Wabash County commissioners are considering extending a 30 mph speed limit east of Somerset on Old Slocum Trail to discourage speeding and increase safety.
Roger Hornaday, who lives on Old Slocum Trail, discussed the issue with the commissioners after County Highway Superintendent John Martin presented a petition regarding the speed limit extension.
The limit currently ends at 1763 W. Old Slocum Trail. The proposed extension ends at 859 W. Old Slocum Trail.
“They’re concerned about the speed of traffic with several small children in the area,” Martin said.
Hornaday elaborated on those concerns.
“People think it’s a drag strip,” Hornaday said. “They see that straight stretch of road, and they think they can go 80 mph.”
Hornaday said that there are 10 houses in the stretch of road covered by the extension, eight of which have small children “at one time or another.”
He said that his daughter has nearly been hit by a speeding car while walking with her twin children, and that a neighboring family ended its evening bike rides due to dangerous traffic.
“Some of those people come off of 13, they hit bottom when they come down the hill in Mount Vernon,” he said. “They’re going so fast, they bottom out, throw sparks and are still accelerating all the way down the road.”
Additionally, Hornaday said, there are two school bus stops in the area, and two garbage trucks use driveways in the area to turn around.
“It’s been a real problem,” he said. “I’ve lived there since 1988, and we used to be able to ride bicycles as a family down the road, safely. Nobody respects people – pedestrians – or slow-moving vehicles on the road, and they won’t slow down and move over. We’re just trying to get traffic to slow down on this road.
“If this doesn’t work,” he continued, “then we’re going to submit another petition for a four-way stop in Mount Vernon, to get traffic to stop.”
Sheriff Bob Land, who said that he also lives in the area, supported the extension of the speed limit.
“It is a problem,” Land said. “I think it should be extended out, farther east. There is a lot of traffic, especially on weekends, and we do have many, many children in that area.”
The commissioners took the petition under advisement, and chairman Brian Haupert said that Martin would do further research before the matter went to county attorney Steve Downs, who would write up the change to the county’s sign ordinance should a change be recommended.
The commissioners also: