Lower speed limit proposal heads to Cape Coral City Council

Author: Adam Wright
Published: Updated:

CAPE CORAL, Fla.- A proposal to lower speed limits in neighborhoods is officially headed to City Council for consideration.

One councilman has been pushing for lower limits, but police say enforcing that change would be hard to do.

The debate over lowering the speed limit in around the city is picking up steam.

“It’s not the speed limit sign that’s gonna stop people, it’s the enforcement of the law that’s gonna stop them,” said resident Koren Bautista.

In 2014, Councilman Jim Burch proposed lowering the limit from 30 to 25 mph in residential neighborhoods, citing a concern for public safety.

The city spent thousands on a speed study. Wednesday, the findings of the study revealed that on six out of the eleven streets examined, most drivers were going faster than the 30 mph limit.

“I think the conclusions actually supported my case more than I thought they would,” said Burch.

However, Cape Coral Police Captain Mike Torregrossa told the board that with limited resources, the priority is on major roads which see more accidents. He says the department wouldn’t have the manpower to crack down on what he expects to be an increase in violators.

“My concern is if you lower the speed limits but we don’t have the resources in place, what we’re going to do is create an area where now you’re going to have offenders, but not the enforcement to affect those offenders and their driving behavior,” said Torregrossa.

The proposal will now head to City Council. WINK News is learning not every council member is on board with the idea yet.

“My objection to it has always been if you’ve got a 30 mph speed limit, and you drop it down to 25, it’s not going to slow down the people that are speeding anyway,” said councilman Rick Williams.

“The council will vet the whole thing, they’ll get the same powerpoint we got, they’ll have their discussion and we’ll all decide which way we want to go with it,” said Burch.

There’s a third option on the table for the council to consider. The speed limit could be lowered only in critical areas, like school zones and densely populated neighborhoods, instead of city-wide.

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