THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, July 12, 2019 Page 7 SPEED LIMIT | from page 5 25 mph request. “My opinion is we’re still going to get cars slowing down dramatically by posting the true speed limit on these streets and adopting her [consultant’s] recommendations for where we are going to lower the speed limit down to 30 from 35 and signage, education and traffic enforcement,” Cicolini said. “I really feel confident that this is going to better the town without doing a blanket 25 mph.” Crabtree said there are already efforts underway to improve traffic safety for pedestrians and drivers. “I think the most effective way we’re going to be able to do this is putting signs up that say what speed you’re going and putting in fog lines and actually designing the roadways more narrowly to make people instinctively drive at a lower speed limit,” Crabtree said. “And then if we redid a study after that’s been in effect for a while, we may be able to get to a lower speed.” Interim Police Chief Ronald Giorgetti said his department is getting more aggressive in cracking down on speeding. “Since the last time we met and you raised your concerns regarding pedestrian safety and speeding, we have almost a 200 percent increase to date on citations issued to residents and motorists passing through this town,” Giorgetti said. “We have additional parking enforcement out there to address some of the concerns within the neighborhoods when it comes to parking, especially close intersections, bus stops, crosswalks, things of that nature. We kind of took the focus away from the Route 1 corridor and the shopping plazas and more toward the residential streets. So, we are out there on a daily basis, trying to address your concerns, educate the public, and to be visible to get the motorists who are travelCLARIFYING THE CONFUSION: Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree at a public meeting on a traffic engineering study for special speed regulations attempts to explain why Saugus can’t lower its speed limit to 25 mph on major roads. ing through the town on a daily basis and to be aware that at any time they can be stopped just as they could in any other community. And we’ll continue to work on that and we will continue to address their complaints.” Precinct 4 Town Meeting Member Albert J. DiNardo said he has noticed greater police enforcement efforts in his neighborhood. “I’m glad that we finally have the study and that we can begin to make smart decisions for the entire town,” DiNardo said. “My only concern about 25 mph – that would be great in a perfect world. Coming out of Lynn on Walnut Street, I have driven 25 or 30 miles per hour. People try to go around you, try to run you off the road. I did as an experiment 30 mph. So, 25 could be great, but it could also be a problem, too. Let’s leave it to the professionals,” he said. Crabtree noted that something has evidently changed in the last few months, “because we received a lot of calls from residents that are now being issued tickets, parking and speeding that aren’t very happy … but I think this is the double-edged sword of the politics and whatnot to this. When you start making changes, it affects people in different ways, so we are receiving complaints on parking, and especially speeding tickets, because they have a major effect on people’s insurance. But that’s part of the education process and the change in culture and behavior.” Crabtree continues to call for public feedback on the traffic safety issue, which he considers much larger than the speeding issue. He has extended the public feedback period for several weeks and ordered the consultant’s report be posted on the town website. At Monday night’s hearing, Jim Tozza, an avid bicyclist, complained that police need to do something about cars blowing through the stop sign at the intersection of Winter and Central Streets. “They don’t stop at that stop sign over there – at that corner. I don’t know why. They don’t like the stop sign or something. Something has to be done at that corner because I almost got hit tonight coming here,” Tozza said. Visit Our Newly Expanded Facility. 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