Babylon Town looks to slow down traffic along residential streets; Bellone kicks off program

Eagle Scout Joshua Diamond talks to the press about his project to have the Town address the problem of traffic and speeding.

by Carolyn James

The loud roar of a speeding motorcycle drowned out the words of Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone as he held a press conference in North Babylon last week. The subject: speeding.

Specifically, speeding on residential streets throughout the Town, which has become a major problem for joggers, walkers, mothers pushing baby carriages, children playing and other drivers who say it is time that something is done to alleviate the problem.

"I see people who go right pass stop signs and don’t even slow down," said Theresa Raso, a resident and member of the North Babylon High School PTA. "Our high school is on Deer Park Avenue and the kids come out and have to walk across the street to get to the library and it is dangerous."

Babylon Town Councilman Steve Bellone talks to the Tomalski girls about the problem of speeding on their street. To his left is Councilman Wayne Horsley.

The issue is not new, and both the Town and the Suffolk County police have taken measures in the past to get people to reduce their speeds while driving, especially when they come off of major roads and highways and go through residential areas.

But the press conference last week was the result of a letter Bellone received from a Boy Scout, Joshua Diamond, who, as part of a citizenship project, had to get involved in a community issue.

"We were talking about what he should do and the subject of cars that speed and pass school buses when their lights are flashing came up," said Diamond’s mother, Susan. "So Joshua thought that was a good thing to become involved in helping to resolve."

Joshua wrote a letter to Bellone outlining the problem as he saw it and asking that the town take some more aggressive action. "I am concerned about the shortage of stop signs in my neighborhood and the cars that constantly cut in front and around school buses," he wrote. "This is extremely dangerous as it could cause a car accident or a student to be hit by one of these cars."

Bellone said that Joshua’s letter is representative of many of the letters and phone calls that come into his office at Town Hall every week.  Traffic, he said, is one of the major concerns that people raise with him as he walks through the Town, or meets people at events or Bally’s gym in Copiague where he regularly works out.

"Sometimes people just forget how fast they are going once they leave a major roadway and go into a residential neighborhood," said Bellone who kicked off a traffic safety program in the Town. "So we are taking steps today to educate them about this problem."

As part of the program, the town is putting up large blue and yellow signs as people come off the highways and major roads that say simply, SLOW DOWN. In addition, the town is purchasing a speed monitor, which alerts drivers to the speed they are doing as they pass.

Statistics provided by the Suffolk County Police Department show that the police issued 3,847 tickets for speeding in 1999, 3,154 in 2000 and 2,070 in 2001.

Currently, the First Precinct has one monitor that is placed near schools and other sensitive locations throughout the town on a rotating basis.

S.C. Police Officer Faso, who runs the program for the precinct said that drivers get the chance to read their speed on the monitor and then slow down. "It’s really about educating drivers," he said.

In many instances the monitors are backed up by police who are stationed about a quarter of a mile away from the monitors.

"This (the monitor) will help to educate the driver and hopefully get them to slow down," said First Precinct Inspector James Rhodes. "If they don’t then we will educate them in another way," he added, indicating that tickets will be given out to drivers who ignore the monitors.

That was good news to another resident, Mark Tomalski who attended the press conference with his three young daughters.

"Truck drivers come down our street and run right through stop signs," said Cristen Tomkalski. "Our friends can’t even play in the street."

"I won’t even let my kids play in our front yard," said her father. "Maybe they should add a camera on those monitors and take a picture of the license plates of the drivers who are going so fast and then send them a ticket in the mail."

Bellone said the Town would continue to apply pressure and to raise the public’s consciousness about the risks of speeding.

"The First Precinct has been wonderful in terms of their response," said Bellone. "But the police can’t be everywhere, so we are hoping that drivers become more aware and slow down."