Village Works to Get Motorists to Slow Down
Officials in the Village of Lancaster are teaming up with community members, who say speed is an issue along the downtown central business district. As YNN's Kate McGowan explains, the village is now exploring ways to slow motorists down.
The downtown area in the Village of Lancaster draws many. Those out window shopping, and others simply enjoying a summer stroll.
"I like to get out to walk when it's nice," said a passerby.
But with increased pedestrian traffic, village officials said the speed limit along Central Avenue poses a danger.
"You get a lot of people just crossing roads, half hazardly and we certainly want to protect against that," said village trustee, Edward Marki.
"It makes me nervous. I mean because I do enjoy walking, the village is very nice. There's so many nice places to go, and things to do but you're nervous because you don't know if you'll get hit by a car because the people don't even pay attention," a Lancaster resident said.
The village is now working with businesses and community members to create a safer environment.
Trustee, Edward Marki said the village ran into some road blocks, after it requested that the speed limit of 30 mph. be reduced.
"We were told by Albany that we can't change the speed under 30 mph. We weren't really given a reason for that, which is too bad," he said.
Marki says he will fight that answer from Albany, and push for a speed limit of 15 to 20 mph.
In the mean time, he said a committee has been created to brainstorm safety ideas. One, he said, includes adding flashing lights to the street.
All ideas will be presented at a board meeting in the coming weeks.
"We've got a lot of plans but plan number one is to keep our residents safe but also bring them down here. So if we create the environment that draws them here, it's also our responsibilities as representatives to keep them safe as well."
For now, pedestrian yield cross walks run across Central Avenue, which some said helps, but isn't the best solution.
"Even with the yield signs for the pedestrian crossing, a lot of people don't even pay attention to them. They just wiz right by and you have to stand there and wait," a village resident said.