Increase Safety, Reduce The Speed Limit on Ridge Road (Stevensville, MI)

Ridge Road in Stevensville, MI is a one mile residential road used by thousands of pedestrians and motorists as a source of connection, exercise, and leisure. The road has historically been 25 MPH, helping protect the pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists that use it each day.

In 2019, the speed limit was increased to 40 MPH (a 60% increase), significantly increasing the normal speed of traffic as well as the outliers traveling in excess of 50+ MPH. This has increased the danger and risk of accidents for all that use the road, including motorists.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), raising speed limits leads to more deaths. People often drive faster than the speed limit, and if the limit is raised they will go faster still. Research shows that when speed limits are raised, speeds go up, as do fatal crashes. (https://www.iihs.org/topics/speed)

An article in Forbes, written by Tonya Mohn who covers road safety and consumer travel, evaluated the recent studies of the IIHS and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and highlighted how increased speeds increase probability of death in pedestrian/vehicle accidents. "Speeding has been a factor in more than a quarter of U.S. crash deaths for more than 30 years, it noted, and even small increases in vehicle speed can have fatal results. A pedestrian struck by a vehicle at 25 mph has a 25 % risk of sustaining a serious or fatal injury, and the risk jumps to 50 % at 33 mph and 75 % at 41 mph, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety."
(https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2018/08/31/lowering-speed-limits-even-a-little-means-less-speeding-and-safer-streets/#5eb0425d25e0)

These recent studies also show that lowering the speed limit did reduce speeding. "Results: The speed limit reduction was associated with a 0.3% reduction in mean speeds (p=0.065), and reductions of 2.9%, 8.5%, and 29.3% in the odds of vehicles exceeding 25 mph, 30 mph, and 35 mph, respectively. All these reductions were statistically significant."
(https://www.iihs.org/topics/bibliography/ref/2168)

In an age of distracted driving, where we need to pass laws on what not to do while driving, why would we target residential area speed limit increases? Ridge Road is narrow, lacks sidewalks and adequate shoulders, and becomes congested throughout the summer months with parked vehicles, pedestrians, and restaurant and bakery traffic. These are normally great things to see in a residential area and what traditionally made Ridge Road a safe and fun road to live nearby.

Why Ridge Road was targeted for an increase in speed is unknown, but it is evident that pedestrian and cyclist usage was not properly considered in the environmental analysis when deciding on the increased speed limit.

As a resident who lives on Ridge Road, I experience and witness the impact daily, which led me to create a simple video to promote the necessary change that needs to take place to protect those on Ridge Road. Please help us in supporting the change to lower the speed limit to a maximum of 30 MPH on Ridge Road. Sure sidewalks, wider roads, and shoulders would be nice, but simply reestablishing a lower speed limit will instantly make an impact in providing a safer environment on Ridge.

As support is given, we will take this petition to Lincoln Charter Township to request that the Berrien County Road Department evaluate our request and lower the speed limit.

Other great resources for additional information:
• IIHS (updated Feb 2020): https://www.iihs.org/topics/speed
• AAA Impact of Speed & Safety: https://aaafoundation.org/impact-speed-pedestrians-risk-severe-injury-death/
• Berrien County Road Department: http://www.bcroad.org/1423/Speed-Limits