[zcaveman]

I just received this in my CDD4 newsletter:

Reduction in speed limits in Sumter County by mid-January

The Sumter County passed an ordinance in July to make the speed limit on all Villages roads with Sumter County 20 mph, unless otherwise posted.

There will be signage postings around the periphery of the Villages advising motorist that 20 mph is the speed limit in the Sumter County portion of the Villages unless otherwise posted. Expect seeing such a sign posted on the South bound lane of Buena Vista Blvd. just as you enter Sumter County. Buena Vista and El Camino Real will remain posted at 35 mph in Sumter County. Remember at this time, on Morse Blvd, North of CR 466 the speed is 30 mph and South of CR 466 it is 35 mph.

In CDD1 speed limits on four roadways will be reduced from 25 mph to 20 mph. They are Palo Alto Avenue, Soledad Way, Narvarro Court, and Carrera Drive.

In CDD2 four roadways will be reduced from 30 mph to 15 mph. They are Merida Circle, Tamarindo Drive, Salido Avenue, and Zargoza Place.

In CDD3 remember that Oak Forest Drive will be reduced from 25 mph to 20 mph.

Remember Sumter County Sheriff's Deputies do give tickets for speeding

[Irishmen]

20 miles and hour is same as school zones where we moved down from.

[memason]

I suppose the change is to make it safer for cart drivers, but I have this overwhelming feeling that it will just generate income for Sumter county in speeding fines. 20mph is SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. TOO SLOW! I literally have to manually down shift my automatic transmission to stay at 20mph. Try going 10mph around Spanish Springs.

I'll bet you never see a police car going 20mph on any of these streets...

Just my opinion, but slow is not always safer.

[villages07]

I believe, but, can't vouch for sure...that major through roads like Canal, Bailey, O'Dell, St Charles, Belvedere, etc will remain 30mph.

The main purpose of this change is to make neighborhood streets a consistent 20mph. From Bridgeport/LS south, neighborhood streets are an unreasonable 15 mph; North of BLS they are 25 which is probably too fast. This inconsistency between neighborhoods is what needs to be fixed. Villas are and will remain 10.

[paulandjean]

Maybe we should start a discussion with the village higher ups, about changing the speed on the trails to 10 m.p.h. Seems this would please a lot of folks.

[Taj44]

Originally Posted by memason

I suppose the change is to make it safer for cart drivers, but I have this overwhelming feeling that it will just generate income for Sumter county in speeding fines. 20mph is SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. TOO SLOW! I literally have to manually down shift my automatic transmission to stay at 20mph. Try going 10mph around Spanish Springs.

I'll bet you never see a police car going 20mph on any of these streets...

Just my opinion, but slow is not always safer.

Good points. In fact, traffic engineering studies show that slow can be more unsafe.

[getdul981]

Originally Posted by Taj44

Good points. In fact, traffic engineering studies show that slow can be more unsafe.

Following that logic, standing still s deadly. The reason slow might be more unsafe is too many people believe the speed limits don't apply to them.

[rhredd1654]

Does this apply to the contractors as well, or only to Villagers and guests?

[memason]

Originally Posted by getdul981

Following that logic, standing still s deadly. The reason slow might be more unsafe is too many people believe the speed limits don't apply to them.

No, the reason too slow is unsafe is because people think they can talk on the phone, put on makeup, scratch their a**, pick their nose, eat, read the newspaper; just about anything while they're driving.

Just saying....

[getdul981]

Speed has nothing to do with people doing these activities.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Originally Posted by memason

No, the reason too slow is unsafe is because people think they can talk on the phone, put on makeup, scratch their a**, pick their nose, eat, read the newspaper; just about anything while they're driving.....

Thanks for the visual!!

And a couple you forgot -

.............'post on TOTV'............
.............'eat popcorn'.............

Bill

[Taj44]

Originally Posted by getdul981

Following that logic, standing still s deadly. The reason slow might be more unsafe is too many people believe the speed limits don't apply to them.

funny, not. If a speed limit is put in place that is lower than the 85th percentile speed (the speed at which 85% of the vehicles are traveling), you will have some vehicles that continue to go the higher speed because it feels right for the conditions; you'll have some that go the speed limit, because it is the speed limit; and you'll have some that do a little of both i.e. go faster if they think they won't get caught. This disparity in speeds has been documented as an accident hazard in itself. I don't know about Florida, but in NY the speed limits are set by NYS Traffic Engineers (which I used to be) in conjunction with the NYS police. Very definitive criteria must be met. The only criteria I see here is the interaction with golf carts, which frankly, is a unique issue in its own right. I'm not convinced that an area-wide 20mph speed limit is justified simply based on the presence of golf carts. They have their own lanes - the only potential conflict with vehicles seems to be at the gates, or if they get out in traffic and change lanes.

[Indydealmaker]

Originally Posted by getdul981

Following that logic, standing still s deadly. The reason slow might be more unsafe is too many people believe the speed limits don't apply to them.

[rubicon]

This new speed limit may create a reason for more of us to walk. Just don't walk over 20 mph you may get a ticket. It seems the police around here are obsessed with the number 20. Thankfully its not 10

[Loveithere]

I still say speed don't kill, stupidity kills. Thousands of jets in the sky at any given moment going the speed of sound (?) and they do not collide.