The Carmel Town Board will consider lowering the speed limit to 15 mph in school zones on school- and town-owned roads as part of an effort to improve traffic safety near local schools.
The board voted Sept. 2 to schedule a public hearing for Wednesday, Oct. 7, on a proposed amendment to the town’s vehicle and traffic law. The hearing will be held at 7 p.m. at Carmel Town Hall, 60 McAlpin Ave., Mahopac.
The proposal is being spearheaded by Councilman Mike Lugo, who said he also wants the town to install solar-powered radar speed display signs near schools to alert motorists to their speed—technology used in neighboring Yorktown school zones to deter speeding.
“I would like to see, in front of school zones, a 15-mph speed limit during school hours,” Lugo said during the meeting. “I would like to see that in front of all of our schools, especially the elementary schools, to slow people down.”
Lugo said Town Board members routinely hear complaints from residents about speeding throughout Carmel, including on roads near schools.
“We get tons of complaints day in, day out, everybody up here, in regard to speeding, certain cars speeding on certain roads, especially our school roads,” he said.
Because the town can regulate only roads under its jurisdiction, the initial changes would primarily affect school zones on town-owned roads. Lugo identified Fulmar Road, Austin Road and Lakeview elementary schools as locations that could be covered by the town legislation.
Other schools are located along county roads and would require action by Putnam County. Lugo said changes along Baldwin Place Road and Fair Street — affecting the areas around Carmel High School and the Mahopac middle and high school campuses — would have to go through the county.
Councilman Rob Kearns suggested the town could follow up by sending a resolution to the Putnam County Legislature asking county officials to adopt similar school-zone speed limits on those roads.
“Maybe we could add to that by sending a resolution to the county legislators to ask them to adopt the speed limit on those schools as well,” Kearns said.
Lugo emphasized that the proposal is intended primarily to change driver behavior rather than increase the number of traffic citations issued.
“This isn’t to go ticket a million people,” he said. “We will enforce when we can enforce. It’s just to slow people down—especially on the school roads.”
In a Facebook post outlining the proposal before the meeting, Lugo said he wants 15 mph speed limits established near the town’s elementary, middle and high schools wherever legally permitted, accompanied by radar display signs showing motorists their speed.
“There is simply no reason to be flying through a school zone,” Lugo wrote. “This proposal isn’t about generating tickets or punishing drivers. It’s about changing driver behavior before something happens.”
Lugo said the combination of lower posted speeds, radar displays and enforcement, when necessary, could serve as a proactive safety measure.
“We shouldn’t have to wait for a child to be seriously injured before we decide that a road needs to be safer,” he wrote.
The Oct. 7 public hearing will give residents an opportunity to comment on the proposed amendment before the Town Board takes further action.
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