The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

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February 3, 2010

Our view: If it's a school, slow down

If it is a question of speed anywhere around a school, the only real choice drivers have is to slow down.

Whitfield County Schools has formally asked the state Department of Transportation to designate the portion of Ga. Highway 201 between Sonya Drive and Reed Road as a school zone with a lowered speed limit, likely 45 mph or 35 mph.

The move to have the speed limit lowered on that stretch of 201 is in response to an accident last September in which one of the district’s bus drivers was injured.

New Hope Middle and New Hope Elementary are off of New Hope Road, which connects with 201. School traffic often backs up onto the highway. The stretch of 201 before the turn onto New Hope Road is 45 mph, and the stretch of road shortly after it is 45 mph, but the portion officials are concerned about is 55 mph and in a curve.

Varnell City Administrator Mark Gibson told The Daily Citizen last month that city leaders have already been working with DOT officials to lower the speed limit there since the September crash.

“I would be the first to tell you I’m not a traffic engineer, but I would think that would not be the safest thing to do, to have a speed limit go from 45 to 55 in a curve,” Gibson said.

We would agree with his assessment under any circumstances, but the fact that this stretch of road is around a school only heightens that concern.

Designating the speed limit for any road is a tricky business because you have to balance safety against the need for a smooth flow of traffic that allows drivers to get to where they are going in a reasonable amount of time.

But when you factor in nearby schools and regular use by parents dropping off and picking up their children, safety becomes the priority and any inconvenience that drivers experience as a result has to be accepted.

The Daily Citizen

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