Several Toddy Hill Road area residents who have been attending Police Commission meetings since mid-2017 in seeking better control over vehicular speeding on that north-south town road linking Sandy Hook to Botsford, are now asking the commission to fine tune some recent speed-control improvements made there by the town. The Police Commission is the local Traffic Authority.

The town recently installed two solar-powered speed displays on Toddy Hill Road, which respectively display the travel speeds of motorists traveling southward and northward on the roadway, which is often used by commuters as a shortcut between the two sections of town.

The device that displays southbound travel speeds is positioned on the right road shoulder, just north of the Toddy Hill Road intersection with Deerfield Drive. The electronic display indicating northbound travel speeds is on the right road shoulder, north of the southern intersection of Toddy Hill Road and Clearview Drive. The two displays are installed at the opposite ends of a long, relatively level straightaway where speeding is most likely to occur.

The displays are intended to deter speeding. The street has a 30-mph speed limit. Coupled with the use of speed displays, police have greatly heightened their enforcement of Toddy Hill Road traffic violations.

In response to the residents’ longstanding complaints about traffic safety, the town last year had a traffic engineering firm perform a $5,000 traffic study on Toddy Hill Road to determine what steps are needed to improve travel safety. That study determined the best locations for the two speed displays, among other safety improvements.

At a January 7 Police Commission meeting, Carolyn Sepe of Toddy Hill Road thanked Police Commission members for their efforts at Toddy Hill Road speed control.

However, “They still do speed,” she said. Thus, Ms Sepe asked that the town install several new speed-limit signs for northbound traffic. Police Chief James Viadero responded that the town plans to install such signage.

In the past, before the two permanent solar-powered speed displays were installed, the police department had used a large, brilliant portable speed display for northbound traffic, positioned on the right road shoulder just north of Toddy Hill Road’s intersection with Pilgrim Lane.

Pete Sepe of Toddy Hill Road observed that what formerly had been a problem with southbound speeding motorists has now transformed into a problem with northbound speeding motorists.

Police Commission Chairman Joel Faxon said that the commission seeks to be responsive to public concerns about traffic safety and thus has focused much attention on the Toddy Hill Road speeding issue. In the past, Mr Faxon has said that speeding is a widespread problem locally and the police department has many areas to monitor for speeding.

Chief Viadero said that although police spend much time on traffic enforcement at Toddy Hill Road, “We can’t stop every car from speeding.” The chief said that he will not set regular hours for police to do traffic enforcement on Toddy Hill Road but will instead conduct enforcement there at various times of day.

Mr Faxon told Mr Sepe that the residents’ request that a stop sign be installed on Toddy Hill Road to slow down traffic there will not occur. “A stop sign will not happen,” Mr Faxon stressed. Traffic engineers employ stop signs to control the flow of traffic through intersections, not to control traffic speed.

Mr Sepe again stressed the current traffic control setup on Toddy Hill Road is effective for controlling southbound traffic, but not northbound traffic. “It works in one direction, but not the other,” he said.

“We’re giving Toddy Hill Road much attention,” Chief Viadero stressed.

“The location of that northbound [speed display] sign is not working,” Mr Sepe commented.

Chief Viadero said that if the town had funds available, it would install many more solar-powered speed display signs. Solar-powered signs are used instead of conventional electric signs because such devices are generally less costly.