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Chester County Press

Oxford Borough asked to boost efforts to slow down speeders on Third Street

08/13/2014 12:36PM ● By Lev

By Steven Hoffman

Staff Writer

Several property owners raised concerns about speeding in town at the Oxford Borough Council meeting on Monday night, including one businessman who said that he's worried that an innocent person might be hurt or killed trying to get out of the vehicle as motorists speed by.

Jack Baron, who owns businesses on North Third Street, implored Oxford officials to take steps to have the speed limit of 25 miles an hour enforced in that commercial area.

“I want safety in front of my stores,” he said. “Traffic doesn’t bother me. It’s the vehicles that are going twice or three times the speed limit that bother me.”

Despite the posted speed limit, motorists frequently exceed that by wide margins, especially during morning and evening rush hours and on weekends. Baron said that when motorists get a green light in the center of town, they will quickly pick up speed and are often going much faster than the posted limit by the time they reach his business a short distance away.

Municipal police departments in Pennsylvania are currently restricted from using radar to monitor how fast motorists are traveling. Baron said that bringing in the State Police to use radar in that area would be a good deterrent and could stop the speeding.

“I think we need the State Police in here to show a presence,” he said.

Baron added that he spent about two years working to get the speed limit in that area reduced to 25 miles an hour, but it doesn’t help if motorists know that the speed limits aren’t being enforced.

“I want that enforced,” he said.

The discussions about speeding on Mount Vernon Street also continued. Last month, several residents told council about their concerns about prevalent speeding on the street. The borough’s Local Traffic Advisory Committee is looking into the issue, including the possibility of installing speed humps to slow down motorists. For now, residents on the street are banding together to watch for speeders.

In other business at Monday night's meeting, borough council voted, at the suggestion of council member Randy Teel, to table the issue of parking permits in the borough until there is some sort of change with the parking situation in town. Council had been considering instituting parking permits in response to some complaints about parking in the business district. The idea to replace some metered parking spots with permit parking was briefly considered, but officials decided not to proceed at this point.

Oxford Borough Council will meet again on Monday, Aug. 18.