OPINION — My daughter is disabled and drives a disability scooter on Bloomington Drive. Speeding, distracted and aggressive drivers have her reconsidering whether or not to continue trying to drive.

There are no sidewalks and no crosswalks. Children attempting to get to school have no safe zones to get to their bus. Many elderly people simply consider it too risky to get exercise by walking. Most neighbors have no idea why the speed limit was increased to 30 mph and find it too high for safe pedestrian use.

A speed test was done on Bloomington Drive where it was shown that speeding over 41 mph is less than 1%. But, more than 50% of drivers speed over the 30 mph limit.

I spoke with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the conditions on Bloomington Drive. Their recommendations would be to limit the speed limit to 20 mph. The conditions of Bloomington Drive make the 30 mph speed limit outside of reasonable safety guidelines. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now recommending all streets serving residential communities implement a 20 mph speed limit. Speaking on behalf of disabled and vulnerable persons, this is a sensible recommendation.

While I am an advocate for my neighborhood, there have been letters to the editor requesting speed limit reductions for other residential neighborhoods. Salt Lake City is implementing a residential speed limit reduction plan. States are recognizing the isolation speeding in neighborhoods is causing. Walkability scores of neighborhoods are becoming a factor in home values.

According to St. George City Ordinance 10-SA-2 H: A traditional neighborhood district is designed to be pedestrian-oriented. To accomplish this goal, street pattern and design are used to reduce vehicle travel speeds and encourage pedestrian activity.

This goal is not being satisfied on Bloomington Drive, surrounding neighborhoods, and residential areas with speed limits over 25 mph. Speeding at best is unnerving and at worst, hazardous. Therefore, I am requesting that St. George City officials create and implement a plan for residential speed reduction to 25 or below and use traffic/speed management techniques for the benefit of everyone using our residential streets.

Submitted by ANGELA NEILSON, St. George.

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