Fletcher Road Speed Study

[Henry]

The following study was given to me by Chris Santee and is from the Presentation to the Selectboard from The Franklin County Sheriff's Department - Based on this, Chris Santee made the motion to reduce the speed limit from 99 Fletcher Road to the Fletcher Town Line - The Selectboard Members agreed and the speed limit will be changed - A number of Fletcher Road Residents are resenting this change and have been told that in order to get this recinded they must get a petition signed by the voters of Fairfax to have this put on a ballot - Below is the study - I scanned this into a PDF File and this is the best I am capable of doing, so you have to click on each individual page to see what it says:

Speed Limit Study Page

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/fxtown/fltrs0001.pdf

Speed Limit Study Page Continued

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/fxtown/fltrs0002.pdf

Map Of The Area Where The Study Was Done

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/fxtown/fltrs0009.pdf

May 5th to May 11th study Page 1

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/fxtown/fltrs0008.pdf

May 5th to May 11th study Page 2

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/fxtown/fltrs0007.pdf

May 5th to May 11th study Page 3

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/fxtown/fltrs0006.pdf

May 5th to May 11th study Page 1

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/fxtown/fltrs0010.pdf

May 5th to May 11th study Page 5

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/fxtown/fltrs0011.pdf

May 5th to May 11th study Page 6

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/fxtown/fltrs0012.pdf

Page 11

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/fxtown/fltrs0013.pdf

[fletchtb]

I am not a resident of Fairfax, so I understand my opinion carries no weight in this discussion. As a resident of Fletcher, I am a daily user of this road and am impacted by the Fairfax select board's decision.

From looking at the report it appears that 85% of the users of the road travel at or below the speed limit. It appears that 15 people in 100 drive 55mph or more. The report also seems to indicate that the 85th percentile is on the high end for considering a speed limit reduction, but that there are other circumstances to consider. The report mentions that the line of sight to get onto Fletcher Rd from Swamp Rd is less than desireable.

The report states that 7 accidents occurred in the Study area between 2007 and 2011 (5 years). There were less than 1.5 accidents per year in the area. There is no indication as to how many of those accidents were related to speed. The previous post on the subject mentions a texting and driving accident and another where the driver fell asleep.

It appears that the Fairfax Select Board has decided to impact 85% of drivers for the sake of the 15% who speed. Do people believe this 15% of drivers will drop their speed by 10 mph following this sign change?

I imagine my signature on a petition is of no use in this situation, since I am not a Fairfax voter, but I would be willing to help gather signatures if a Fairfax resident would like to start a position.

[rod anode]

i can tell you that one of those accidents was me and it wasnt speed it was icey roads in between swamp and wilkins road,there is no sun that gets into that area in the winter to melt the snow and the bonehead turning onto speadson hollow road didnt make the turn so half of his truck was still in my lane and the guy that was coming out from wilkins rd couldnt move too fast so it was either t-bone the one or rear end the other i tried to ditch it but i kept going straight with the wheels turned

[Vtsharon]

As a civil engineer I can say I am surprised and disappointed if this is what the Selectboard used as their reasoning for changing the speed limit. The study provides little information and no conclusions or recommendations. There wasn't any assessment of the accidents (location, cause) that provides any supporting evidence that the speed limit was the cause. If I were to guess, with the exception of the data collection (which they didn't describe collection methods), the amount of time to write this up must have taken less than an hour. Also not sure who the "engineer" was since all that was noted was the Northwest Planning Commission. A good traffic engineer would have provided documentation on the data collection process, analysis of the data collected including accidents, identify potential areas of concern (safety) and would make recommendations.
The Selectboard should rescind their vote and if they truly believe there is a problem on Fletcher road they should spend some money ($10K or less) on a real engineering study.

[mkr]

Tonight is the night the Selectboard is going to let me speak about the Fletcher Road speed Limit.  Please come on down for 7pm to the Town Clerk's office to support that we do not change the speed limit.