'We can not have our children in danger.' Ashland council poised to stop speeders

Jarred Opatz, Ashland Times Gazette
·6 min read
A truck drives by a 25 mph sign on East Walnut Street, one of the many side streets in the city that Ashland council members mentioned has problems with speeders.
A truck drives by a 25 mph sign on East Walnut Street, one of the many side streets in the city that Ashland council members mentioned has problems with speeders.

ASHLAND - John Barker says many of his neighbors on Ohio Street are about ready to take matters into their own hands to deter speeders.

"I've had guys coming out holding a brick, saying 'I'll stop them. I'll put their side window out.' " Baker said. "It's that bad at times."

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John Barker
John Barker

Barker and his Ohio Street neighbors aren't the only ones concerned about speeding on the city's streets.

"It seems to be a universal complaint around the city that people are driving too fast," Mayor Matt Miller said at Tuesday's City Council meeting, where all of the council members described it as a serious problem and listened as Barker asked them to try to find ways to solve it.

"I just hate to see someone getting killed before we do something," said Barker, who described instances of vehicles' side mirrors being knocked off and other vehicle damage due to speeders.

Mayor Matt MIller (left to right), Ashland City Council members Steve Workman, Jason Chio, Dennis MIller, Angela Woodward and Dan Lawson listen during Tuesday's meeting to resident John Barker talk about speeding problems on his street, Ohio Street.
Mayor Matt MIller (left to right), Ashland City Council members Steve Workman, Jason Chio, Dennis MIller, Angela Woodward and Dan Lawson listen during Tuesday's meeting to resident John Barker talk about speeding problems on his street, Ohio Street.

Some of the speeding issues council members described include:

  • Dennis Miller said Liberty Street, which has the Kroc Center's new water park, has a lot of kids in the area, is a narrow drive with vehicles on one side of the street and people driving 50-60 mph. "There was an accident there over the weekend — no fatalities," Miller said, "but our time is running down on that. It could very easily happen."

  • Dan Lawson said there's a day care near his home that has been at great risk a number of times with people speeding down Mifflin Avenue. "There are parents dropping off kids and even school buses to pick up kids that they have to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting them because of the excessive speed people are doing on Mifflin," Lawson said. "And there's a section there that has been reduced to 25 (mph), but they are still getting up to speeds of 45 (mph) and 50 (mph) in a 25 mph speed zone."

  • Angela Woodward said she has received complaints of excessive speeding on Troy Road and Virginia Avenue. "I have grandchildren who live on Troy Road so it obviously concerns me," she said. "I do know there are some things being talked about so hopefully we will have some solutions in the near future."

Mayor Miller: Newly paved streets seeing accelerated speed

Miller said he noticed accelerated speeds on Liberty and Walnut streets after they received smooth pavement as part of the city's repaving of streets the past several years.

"That's one of the downsides of having smooth pavement," Miller said. "They can speed up because they no longer have to dodge the potholes."

Even though it hasn't seen a spike in traffic accidents, Miller said the city is trying to be proactive to avoid that.

"We have been talking with the police chief about how we can be more proactive and quite honestly in this instance being more proactive means writing more traffic citations," Miller said. "We always shy away from doing that, focusing their efforts on bigger matters, but this is becoming a big matter."

Routinely, the Ashland Police Division receives complaints about speeders, but Chief David Lay said there seems to have been an influx of them the past several months.

Lay said the police department is trying to provide a presence as best it can where the complaints are coming from, which includes placing a traffic enforcement sign in those areas to let drivers know how fast they are driving and let the department know what times most of the speeding takes place.

"We did have a staff meeting recently to develop a plan to get it our more," Lay said about the department's traffic enforcement sign. "Now we have one sergeant moving it, but are going to give him help and have a regular rotation."

Because it runs by a battery that has to be recharged and is out of use during that time, Lay said, the department is considering a solar power traffic enforcement sign that would keep it in constant use.

While Miller said the city has a great police force, it's relatively small with 29 officers for the size of Ashland, which is around 20,000, and spends more than 60% of its time on emergency calls.

To try to help the Police Division with controlling speeding, Miller said, the city has spoken with the Ashland County Sheriff's Office and State Highway Patrol, which is allowed to pull over speeders in the city limits and does from time to time, to figure out if they can help by focusing on different streets during certain time frames or certain weeks.

Ohio Street has had problems with speeders, according to a resident who spoke about the issue at Tuesday's Ashland City Council meeting. This stop sign at Cottage Street and one at the other end of the street at Masters Avenue are the only stop signs on the seven-block street.
Ohio Street has had problems with speeders, according to a resident who spoke about the issue at Tuesday's Ashland City Council meeting. This stop sign at Cottage Street and one at the other end of the street at Masters Avenue are the only stop signs on the seven-block street.

Adding a stop sign on Ohio Street one proposed solution

Adding a stop sign could be one solution for Ohio Street, Barker said. While the seven-block Ohio Street has five 35 mph speed limit signs it only has stop signs at the ends of the street at Cottage Street and Masters Avenue.

"I have lived for 30-plus years on Ohio Street and a number of years back the four-way stop got taken out at Wick (Avenue) and Ohio Street," Barker said. "Either Wick or Monroe (Street) has to break the traffic line because it's just a straight shot from Cottage Street all the way to Masters and it's crazy."

Council President Steve Workman told Barker that he's heard other people say a stop sign is needed at the Wick-Ohio intersection, where the street curves.

Ohio Street in the city has five 35 mph signs.
Ohio Street in the city has five 35 mph signs.

Other solutions offered by council are directed at residents, including:

  • Simply obeying the speed limits and not speeding up to placate someone on your bumper, Miller said.

  • Get the word out, Miller added. "Tell your neighbor, your friend, people at your church or job and just encourage everyone to obey the speed limits," he said.

Residents doing their part is the best solution to solving this problem, council members agreed. And if that doesn't work, they also agreed more drastic steps will need to be taken.

"No one wants to see four-way stops at every intersection, but if we can't get this under control to avoid damage to people's vehicles — we can't put cops at every corner — then we will have to put stop signs at every corner," Councilman Jason Chio said. "We won't have a choice. We can not turn this into the wild, wild West.

"We have to get this under control," Chio added. "We can not have our children in danger."

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: City of Ashland receiving more complaints about speeding than usual