The fight to regulate speeding
A resident of a local community speaks out about speeding in his neighborhood and calls for more speed bumps at the Royal Palm Beach council meeting.
ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. — Many people speed, but one citizen in particular is tired of it. He claims that people recklessly speed in his neighborhood and decided to speak out about it at a local council meeting on February 20.
Seth Konigsberg is a local citizen that attended the meeting with a concern. Near his home on Sparrow Drive he said that many drivers go over the posted speed limit.
Konigsberg is concerned about “the outrageous amount of speeding.” He said that this concern is shared by at least one other resident of the neighborhood.
Since speeding is a concern in neighborhoods, as the safety of residents are placed at risk, this topic caught the attention of the board members, engineer and the police captain in attendance. They began questioning Konigsberg about his concern, and asked for suggestions on how to fix the potentially harmful situation.
“Just the other day I heard two cars going up and down Sparrow as if they were up in Daytona,” said Konigsberg.
There are temporary signs on the road that display the speed that a driver is going, but that doesn’t make a difference in Konigsberg’s opinion. He is concerned about the safety of the people in his neighborhood, especially children. According to Konigsberg, he has seen kids nearly hit by cars who were driving too fast.
In Jan. 2018 there was a study conducted by the city to look at speeding and determine how prevalent the issue truly is. It was determined that people were indeed speeding, and to help the problem, signs to display a driver’s speed were installed.
The signs were installed under the recommendation of the engineer that conducted the study at the time.
Police captain of district nine of Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO), Ulrich K. Naujoks claimed that there has been police present on the road to catch drivers speeding over the last two weeks.
Konigsberg did not believe this, as he said that he did not see any police monitoring speeders. “Nothing is done,” he said.
“In the two and a half years I have been here it has gotten worse,” said Konigsberg who moved to Florida back then.
Konigsberg said that he thinks installing speed bumps on other streets in the village has helped to reduce the speed of drivers.
The village initiated the study that was organized about two years ago.
The village did not conduct a vote of the citizens at the time of the original study meaning that the citizens were not involved in the decision to use signs that display speed over speed bumps.
In order for Konigsberg to pursue speed bumps being installed, a petition must be completed. 33 percent of residents who live on or near that street must sign the petition. Once the petition is complete, then a vote can be conducted. The vote requires 50 percent of residents plus one to vote yes for speed bumps to be installed.
“People do speed there,” said Mayor Pinto. “I travel that road sometimes.”
However, permanent signs notifying drivers of their speed may be a better option.
The signs that currently stand are not permanently displayed and the upgrade is well within the village’s budget. To install permanent signage would be less than $5,000, which is less expensive than installing speed bumps or having more police on duty to watch for speeding drivers.
Andros Isle, a gated community less than five miles away from the village meeting hall, installed cameras that catch people speeding and residents who are caught, receive fines, according to WFLX news.
