November 24, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Should speed limits be posted on county roads?
During Thursday night’s committee of the whole meeting of the county commission, County Mayor Tim Stribling said he had received a request from a citizen for the county to post a 25 mile per hour speed limit on Tramel Branch Road in the 1st district and that he had informed both commissioners there by email.
Under state law, the speed limit on any county road is 55 miles per hour unless the county designates a reduced speed limit posting.
The law states that “The legislative body of any county, except the legislative bodies of any counties having a commission form of government, has the power to prescribe such lower speed limits as it may deem appropriate on any road being maintained by the county and shall erect appropriate signs and traffic signals. In those counties having a commission form of government, the board of commissioners has the power prescribed in this section”.
County Mayor Stribling said while posted speed limits could be a deterrent to speeding, enforcement is difficult.
The sheriff gets a lot of calls and you as commissioners get a lot of phone calls from people requesting speed limits to be posted on their road. Some roads are posted and some are not. If its not posted then the speed limit is 55 miles per hour. There are roads that do need a reduction in speed and you can set speed limits but who is going to monitor it? The sheriff’s department does not have the manpower to monitor every county road and we don’t have radar in every county patrol car,” he said.
The county commission may discuss the issue further during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the downstairs courtroom of the courthouse.