SPRINGFIELD — Delmons White issued a speed warning to the Effingham County Board of Commissioners.
White, a Democrat candidate for the District 5 commission seat currently held by Republican Phil Kieffer, told the board during its Aug. 16 meeting that vehicles are traveling too fast in his Old Augusta Road neighborhood.
“It’s mainly between the roundabout (at Fort Howard Road) and Chimney Road area,” White said. “I live in that area — right down in the middle of it — as you come up the hill down there at Abercorn Church. There is a great problem we have of trying to get out of our driveways and, previously, trying to get across the road to get to our mailbox.”
White said he and some other residents have moved their mailbox to the same side of the road as their homes after getting permission from the U.S. Postal Service.
“Yet we still have problems mainly with big trucks and all the cars that are utilizing the bypass — it was intended to be a bypass — to get to (Ga. Hwy 21) just north of the county line,” White said. “They are utilizing it in a reckless manner. There are people speeding through there and they are passing as they come down the hill by the church and come around that little curve, and come up the other hill. Near my house, they are beginning to pass on double-yellow lines and just racing through there.”
White, who submitted video of violators to the board, asked that the speed limit in the area be reduced from 55 mph to no more than 45. He called a recemt similar reduction on Blue Jay Road from McCall Road to Horsepen Road “a good thing.”
Board Chairman Wesley Corbitt welcomed White’s suggestion.
“It really is a good point when you think about it,” Corbitt said.
Corbitt said residents can have a difficult time accessing Old Augusta Road because it lacks deceleration lanes in key areas.
“I like the idea of 45 miles per hour because when it’s 55 people are going to go 65,” Corbitt continued. “If (the speed limit) is 45, they’ll probably go 50, 55, and it’ll be safer.”
Corbitt said he would discuss the matter with Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie.
