SP Police Department Hopes to Lower Speed Limit to 35mph in Some Areas

The Scotch Plains Police Department has requested that the county reduce the speed limit on portions of Martine Avenue and Raritan and Terrill roads.

Chief Brian Mahoney said this week that Traffic Sgt. Ernie Hernandez has been in talks with Union County to try and get them to lower the speed limit to 35 miles per hour to accommodate the increase in development that's occurred on those roads since the original speed limits were set in the 1960s.

"We have several areas where the speeds are up to 40 to 45 miles per hour," Mahoney said. "There's been a lot of development in the past 40 years."

The chief cited the schools, daycares and Evangel Church on Terrill Road; the expansion of the Southside Ball Field and county Vo-Tech schools on Raritan Road; and Union Catholic High School and Immaculate Heart of Mary Church on Martine Avenue among the developments that have increased the need for slower speeds in those areas.

"We feel like the county should address those areas by bringing them down to 35 miles per hour to bring them in line with the rest of the areas in the county," the chief said.

The police department has also requested that the county reduce the Martine Avenue extension to one lane on each side with a wide shoulder, instead of the two lanes currently in existence.

"It's really a very serious concern we've had for several years," Mahoney said. "We've had four fatalities on the extension in the last nine years alone. That's high for any roadway. … It's also very difficult for us to enforce anything out there because there's no turn-around."

The chief noted that he actually had his first police vehicle accident out on the extension and that they've had several other close incidents out there.

Since 2005, the township has had eight to 10 deer-related accidents on the extension; 18 injury crashes; two fatalities and 56 property damage crashes.

"Hopefully they'll cooperate," the chief said of the county.