#MiddletownRI Town Councilor Peter Connerton said more needs to be done to make upper East Main Road safer, a plan seconded by his colleagues. With that in mind, the state will look at a proposal to lower the speed limit in the area to 25 mph.
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CONTACT: Matt Sheley at (401) 842-6543 or msheley@middletownri.com
TOWN COUNCIL ASKS STATE TO LOOK AT SPEED LIMIT
ON UPPER EAST MAIN ROAD
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. (MAY 28, 2024) – Middletown isn’t giving up on making East Main Road safer.
After reluctancy to ask the state to implement a “road diet” on the northern section of the heavily travelled thoroughfare, Town Councilor Peter Connerton recently put forward a new suggestion — to lower the speed limit to 25 mph.
Under the idea, Connerton asked town staff to follow up with the State Traffic Commission (STC) about reducing the speed limit from 35 mph on East Main Road north of the intersection with Aquidneck Avenue, a proposal supported unanimously by the rest of the council.
The STC agreed late last week, saying in a memo to the town the idea will be on the board’s June 5 agenda.
“While we couldn’t come to consensus on the road diet, after that didn’t pass, it still weighed on my mind thinking about it, what we could do,” Connerton said, addressing his colleagues at a recent meeting. “I thought about out at Quaker Hill (in Portsmouth) and how they reduced the speed coming into a business district and maybe it’s something to try with this.”
Other council members agreed, saying it was obviously an issue that sparked a lot of interest in the community and if reasonable solution was available, Middletown should seek it. Councilor Dennis Turano was not in attendance.
Moving forward, Connerton said it was his understanding that Middletown Police were in the process of coordinating with their counterparts in Portsmouth to place more emphasis on speeding in both communities.
Reflecting on an anti-speeding campaign undertaken by former Chief Dennis Seale in Portsmouth years ago, council President Paul M. Rodrigues said he has no doubt that lowering the speed limit would help.
“I’m glad you’re taking action on this…” Rodrigues said. “I think the real issue is like anything else we talk about, we can put ordinances in place, but those ordinances come down to enforcement.”
“When you drove through Portsmouth back then, you went slow, especially when you got to Quaker Hill. Do I think if it’s made 25 (mph), people will go 25 (mph)? Right now, if it’s 35, they know they can get away with 40, 45 mph.”
Councilor Emily Tessier complimented Connerton and pondered asking for a larger-scale study of speed limits in Middletown. She also noted without altering the way the roads in Middletown are designed and used long term, it will be difficult to create a lasting change.
“We definitely need to do something about East Main Road…” said Tessier, who helped create the town’s Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee and an outspoken advocate for alternative transportation.
“We can change the speed limits however much we want and reduce them, but it does come down partially to enforcement, but we can’t rely on hoping individuals will change their behavior when this is a systemic problem of people speeding…When it looks like a highway, people are going to go highway speeds.”
While it might not seem like lowering the speed limit 10 mph would have a big effect, traffic experts disagree.
In a groundbreaking 2018 study, the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety reported that lowering speeds on roads had a noteworthy impact on cutting the number of fatal accidents.
Focused in Boston, the study showed that by lowering the speeds on city streets from 30 to 25 mph, there was a significant positive change.
The study indicated the findings were key because as motorists continue push speed limits, they also boost the risks of crashes and injuries.
Prior studies show that a pedestrian hit by a vehicle going 25 mph has a one in four chance of sustained a serious or fatal injury. That injury risk increases to 50 percent at 33 mph and 75 percent at 41 mph.
Document Link: https://mdl.town/EMR