Study targets speeding issues

Chapel Hill police and town officials are cracking down on speeding on Hillsborough Street.

According to a traffic study conducted by the town in the fall, less than 10 percent of all drivers on the street’s steep incline drive less than 25 mph — the posted speed limit.

“It’s an issue because of the downhill slope from top to bottom,” said Maj. Tony Oakley of the Chapel Hill Police Department. “You just about have to ride your brakes the whole way down, but most people don’t think to do that.”

Town officials monitored the speeds of Hillsborough Street drivers after several residents petitioned the Town Council to remedy the problem last January.

The traffic study tracked the speeds of drivers at three different locations on Hillsborough Street over a seven-day period.

According to the study, speeding is worst at the bottom of the hill between Bolinwood Drive and Airport Road, where average speeds exceeded 40 mph.

Upon completion of the study, town officials posted additional speed limit signs as well as a speed display mechanism.

The display, which was installed in December, will serve as a deterrent for speeding once it is activated in the next couple of weeks.

Kumar Neppalli, the town’s senior traffic engineer, said the speed display will simply flash the speed of cars as they pass. He said it will not be used to issue citations.

“Anything that you can put out there as a visible reminder to get people to slow down helps,” Oakley said.

University senior Graham Benson said he didn’t think the signs would fix the problem.

“I’ve seen the signs, but I don’t think they’re very effective,” he said. “I just can’t drive 25.”

The new signs are not traditional speed limit signs. Two signs read, “Drive 25. It’s the law,” with a graphic of a judge’s gavel. Another reads, “Slow down.”

University senior Eric Cochran agreed that the signs won’t fix the speeding problem.

“I don’t think the signs are effective because they don’t look like official speed limit signs,” he said.

Cochran said it’s too hard to drive the speed limit because of the large hill on the road.

“In order to go 25 on that road, you’d have to ride your brakes the whole way down, and that’s bad for them,” Cochran said.

Benson said he thinks police will have to issue a lot of citations in order for the problem to be resolved.

Oakley said police do patrol the area randomly to make their presence felt. Police also patrol the road when they receive complaints of speeders from residents.

“There is a very short sight distance for people backing out of their driveways, and because it parallels Airport Road, there is a lot of traffic on it,” Oakley said.

Chapel Hill police Chief Gregg Jarvies said police will continue to patrol the area and to issue citations to speeders.

“It’s an ongoing problem,” he said.

But he pointed out that the number of accidents on the road is relatively low because there aren’t many cross streets.

“It’s not as much the number of accidents,” Jarvies said. “It’s the potential for danger that’s there.”

 

Staff Writer Spencer Gipple contributed to this article.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.