Town-wide 25MPH Speed Limit Proposed; To Be Decided At Town Meeting

 CHATHAM – If town meeting agrees, the statutory speed limit for driving in “thickly settled” areas around Chatham will be reduced from 30 to 25 mph. That would apply not only to areas with “thickly settled” traffic signs, but also to all other areas that meet that legal definition — and that’s most parts of town.

 By state law, a thickly settled area is any place where houses or business buildings are spaced 200 feet apart or less for a distance of at least a quarter mile. Some such areas have signs, but most do not. The state sets the default speed limit for these areas at 30 mph, but state law allows the limit to be lowered to 25 mph by vote of town meeting.

 The town’s traffic safety committee was asked to weigh in on the proposal, but determined that the scope and size of the project meant it was best reviewed by the select board.

 “Twenty-five is slow,” but on very congested streets it is likely to be a popular change, board member Jeffrey Dykens said.

Board member Dean Nicastro said while the lower speed limit is appropriate in some places, “I wonder if instead of having 25 all over town, that we select out those streets where something higher than 25 presents a potential for danger and hazard, and focus on asking town meeting to approve those.”

 Complying with the existing 30 mph zones is sometimes challenging in places, board Chair Michael Schell said. “If you’re not thinking about it, getting down to 30 requires a bit of concentration,” he said. As for further reducing the speed limit, “I don’t have a problem with telling people they’ve got to drive 25 mph in those locations where thickly settled means there are kids, there are dogs, there are people walking, running, whatever,” he said. 

 Lowering the speed limit may be warranted, but it’s not a cure-all, board member Shareen Davis said. “I’m not sure that that’s going to solve the problem with what’s happening with people’s driving behaviors,” she said. 

 Deputy Police Chief Lou Malzone said officers would be able to issue citations for speeding in these zones, as they are currently empowered to do. The thickly settled designation does not apply to Route 28, which is a state road. In rural areas that are not thickly settled by definition, the default speed limit is 40 mph, he said, but most of Chatham would be subject to the new lower speed.

 “It’s been a long time since I went to driving school,” Nicastro said to Malzone. The current law appears to mean that drivers can go 30 mph in very congested residential areas, he said. “So you can drive 30 mph, technically, on School Street?”

 Malzone said that while the statute provides for that speed limit, officers can issue citations for people who drive above a speed that is reasonable for their surroundings. As for drafting up a list of thickly settled neighborhoods in Chatham, “it would probably be easier to come up with roadways that aren’t thickly settled,” he said.

 State officials encourage communities to adopt town-wide speed limits to reduce driver confusion, but Nicastro said he favors creating a list of streets that would be subject to the new speed limit. If doing so isn’t feasible, “I think we’ll hear a lot of complaints from a lot of people once it goes into effect,” he said. “But let the townspeople decide.”

 The select board voted unanimously to direct the town manager to prepare an article for the spring town meeting that would adopt the new speed limit and change existing 30 mph signs to 25 mph in thickly settled areas.