MOUNT VERNON — The reduced speed limit on East High Street has been in effect for about a month and a half, a little more than halfway through its 90-day trial, which ends Dec. 4. It was implemented by Mount Vernon City Council because of concerns of some residents of the neighborhood that pedestrians, and especially school children, were at risk because of the 35 mile per hour speed limit in the area. That portion of East High Street is a school zone related to East Elementary School.
There was a short “cooling in” period to give motorists a chance to get used to the lowered speed limit of 25 mph, according to Mount Vernon Police Chief Mike Merrilees. After that period, speeding tickets have been issued.
Merrilees said between Aug. 25 and Oct. 23 a total of 49 citations were issued by the Mount Vernon Police Department. Of those, 42 were for speed.
“We’ve had some people who suggested the police department pushed this through,” Merrilees added. “They say it’s a speed trap. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. The police department doesn’t make the laws. We enforce them. That’s the speed limit there and we enforce it.”
Mount Vernon Safety-Service Director Dave Glass said the city is keeping tabs on the situation.
“We’ve been monitoring the numbers a little bit,” Glass said. “It looks like the majority of the people are obeying the thing. I’ve been getting some calls now and then and I get them from both sides. It’s going to wind up being a (city) council call. And it sounds like a real close one.”
Glass said City Council would have to act on permenantly lowering the speed limit by its fourth week of November. If the issue was not acted upon by that time the 90-day trial period would run out before city council had its first December meeting. At that point the speed limit would revert to 35 mph.
