Route 19 is known as Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon, where the speed limit is 35 mph. However, one ticketed driver on Sunday clocked in at 71 mph, Fisher said.
Violators are local drivers as well as those commuting from the South Hills into the city, he said.
“A lot of times our violators are people that live in the actual neighborhoods,” he said, “and they're just familiar with the streets so they get a little too comfortable.
Update April 15, 2015 6:46 PM Mt. Lebanon joins federal crackdown on speeding
35 comments:
The cops would have a field day if they ever patrolled Cedar Blvd. the intersection of Cedar and Mayview is a complete disaster, with the worn crosswalk, no signage, cars turning left and right, passing on the double-yellow median, chunks of the road/litter/debris/potholes galore, overhead wires hanging down into the road, joggers crossing Mayfair w/ no crosswalk, narrow sidewalks, etc. but no, the corn cops will continue to ignore this area until a fatality occurs, which will be soon, mark my unfortunate words.
Do you mean Mayfair, 6:32 PM? It IS bad there.
Elaine
If you're doing 71 in a 35 mph zone and get caught, your license should be suspended. That's called reckless driving. I wonder where on 19 that happened.
Nick M.
I guess hitting a deer at 71 mph could be fatal, so it's best to clear the streets for speed racers.
Robb Hollow Road is a 25 MPH speed limit and NO ONE even comes close to that! It's a nice windy road that is used for a local race track...
This is what the 2012 Mt Lebanon Police Mission Review said about traffic:
9. Traffic congestion - our community purports to be a “safe walking community." Current volumes of vehicular traffic in the community challenge this concept, as many commuters (both home grown and transient) do not share the love for the inconvenience associated with schoolchildren crossing busy arterials during rush hour traffic. To add to the chaos, many of our own residents fail to comply with school and municipal policies designed to find abalance between the competing interests of commuters, merchants, parents of school-age children and residents. If traffic congestion continues to increase, as the rate of growth of communities to the south of Pittsburgh suggests it will, we may eventually be forced to recognize that we cannot easily accommodate all these various interests.
http://www.mtlebanon.org/DocumentCenter/View/9028
I'm not feeling the love.
Robb Hollow with its winding roads would make a great location to test and tune a Honda CR450 motocross bike though...just say'n. Then you could jump into the woods to test those new Metzeler tires.
Nick M.
Anytime I'm driving up 19 past dunkin donuts, my speed is usually 45mph in the right lane and cars fly by me like I'm standing still.
Clarification from 10:09 "I'm not feeling the love" refers to from the police.
I don't have a problem with schoolchildren crossing roads because what kind of town doesn't love its children!
On the Washington Road matter, I have taken to avoiding the stretch of road from Dunkin Donuts up past the corner. People drive like maniacs there.
A lot of it has to do with laziness and misguidance under Chief McDonough. His priorities were misplaced, either a fault of his own or the Commission's, but nonetheless didn't do much to tackle the motor vehicle vs. pedestrian issue plaguing the community. Lack of enforcement for basic rules of the road have gone unchecked for years. When this occurs, drivers lose fear of a ticket and treat Lebo's roadways as safe for speeding. The MTLPD, under McDonough, has spent time in fantasy land, wasting time on nonexistent issues and playing with their expensive toys and surplus military equipment. Only if the police return to a dedicated and consistent traffic management plan will drivers begin to obey the laws again.
Why does the community need a Federal Grant to enforce speeding?
So no one here speeds. Except to log their complaints about the muni. No one is forced to stay. See how you like it outside the bubble.
Excellent question 8:30.
It's about time they instituted some enforcement, but had they not gotten the grant would the effort not happen?
After all we had the money and manpower to guard deer corrals in the name of public safety.
Aren't speeders doing 71mph in a 35mph zone a creating a bigger risk for deaths and injuries?
11:14 i think the other comments were about all the other issues that are going unnoticed in the township..I live on a busy avenue esp in the morning and after school.Cars Vans and SUV's are constantly flying up and down the hill. I understand people are busy and are in a hurry but the really scary thing is how many of these people driving have there eyes down on their phone....Thank God all my kids are not elem school age because i would be fearful of them crossing the street.
11:14 pm. I listened to the last traffic board meeting from 4/1/15 and the police officer describes relentless speeding in Mt Lebanon, even when cop cars are on the side of the road with flashing lights on... so let me know why anyone would believe you instead of him?
11:14 really, you're once again going to tell people to move. Is that your response to every thing?
I applaud the police effort, it's long overdue and yes I have been guilty of speeding.
I was ticketed, the officer was justified writing the ticket and I paid the fine and accepted the points.
That is the way the system works and it did cause me to slow down.
There is a section of Rt. 19 near the Simmons Farm Market that has been a known speed enforcement area for decades.
It is very rare to see anyone speeding in that area.
I'm on board with the enforcement of speed limits, but to be honest someone focused on driving and doing 45 in a 35mph zone scares me less than a driver doing the limit through the business area with their eyes on their phone, doing their make up or trying to read the paper.
The number of pedestrian accidents and hit 'n runs is alarming.
I think the police need to crack down and ticket like crazy. Set up speed traps. Enforce traffic rules such as stop signs, no turn on red signs, etc. Hit them where it hurts - with large fines and points on their license which affects insurance. Zero tolerance policy. People should once again be scared of being busted for breaking traffic laws in this community - residents and non-residents alike. People are ridiculous around here. I know people are busy but the speeding, completely blowing off stop signs and other posted laws/restrictions is incredibly selfish. You being late to pick up your kid from lacrosse practice doesn't give you permission to put me or my kids in danger. We can do better, Lebo.
I'm sure McDonough was a good state cop but he was a poor choice for Mt. Lebanon Police chief. He knew his stuff but was morose at best and combative at worst. Just a bad fit. Yet another bad call by Feller
2:13 agreed, but for someone driving an $80,000 and up Beemer, Jaguar, Land Rover or Bentley, a speeding ticket, small jump in insurance and points is basically chump change.
Put them in an orange jumpsuit picking up litter on Washington or Cochran Roads would be a better lesson.
The other option in some countries fines issued are based on income/net worth.
Don't forget here in Leboland we had people laugh off parking fines and the municipality let them.
3:32 But it's their egos that (sometimes) take a hit... they are a little humbled being pulled over. Trust me - I know guys with Porsche collections..eventually the tickets pile up and they have problems.
'Bout time! I've driven Washington Rd. many, many times in amazement at the driving practices of others on the road, with nary an officer in sight, anywhere. In fact, just last Saturday I watched as a single passenger vehicle made several extremely dangerous lane changes near the Get-Go, right before Connor Rd., without any warning to other drivers, nearly colliding with me. Had I been distracted in any way at the time for even a fraction of a second, I would be waiting for car repairs as I write this. And that is only the most recent of many "stupid driver tricks" I've been able to see up-(too)-close-and-personal. As for speed, people seem to think that the limits are "suggestions" and that there is no compunction about obeying them. I would love to see driving rules enforced and would be especially interested in seeing how doing so would impact the (alleged) concern about deer/vehicle collisions. There's just no good reason why we should have twice the national average of hit-and-run two-car accidents and hit-and-run accidents involving pedestrians in our little community. I have no idea what the police department has been waiting for.
I avoid Washing Road by taking other routes. There are just too many careless drivers there.
Just remember that each speeding ticket is 3 points on one's license. When one gets 2 tickets (6 points), then your license is suspended. ML needs more people getting pulled over for speeding. When a number of speeders get their licenses suspended, we'll start seeing drivers following the rules. I used to see ML police in hidden spots waiting to catch speeding violations. I have not seen a police presence in the pass several years to catch the violators. : (
Unfortunately until the state allows local police to use radar and laser, there probably will not be any appreciable impact on speeders. The VASCAR system is incredibly tedious and not accurate...thus a big reason why we do not see as much (if any) speed enforcement.
So a start in the right direction probably should include telling our state representation that local police should be afforded MODERN means of traffic enforcement...and not just leave it to the state police.
Please someone buy my home...i have to get out of here...this is not a walking community -sick to my stomach that my kid has to walk to school (I take her now and hold her hand but in a few years she'll be crossing Bower Hill or walking inches away from careless drivers on Cochran). It is the residential streets that are the biggest problem though...stop cutting through our streets and speeding. I can't get in or out of my driveway as I'm inconveniencing the drivers cutting through. Kids can't get through the cross walks. This is just a horrible situation.
High tech gadgetry and spending money is always the answer here, right?
I'm fairly certain that the well-known speed trap on Rt 19 from just before Simmons to Donaldson Crossroads is strictly Vascar enforced. Most everybody locally knows it's a speed trap and drive accordingly.
Put our police out there pulling people over and the reputation will build quickly that this isn't the Indianopolis Speedway.
Those idiots that don't learn quickly will amass enough points that they'll soon be off the roads.
Good job police dept., carry the enforcement long after the grant runs out.
The police had 2 cars pulled over on Washington Road between Mt. Lebanon Blvd and Rocklynn about 10:30 this morning so they are doing something good. One wish would be that they would enforce the texting while driving law more vigorously. Three citations in 2013 and the same in 2014 really doesn't amount to much.
Nick M.
9:37,
Tell your Commissioner (Bendel?) about your concerns. Make it clear to him you view it as a serious safety concern. You'd be surprised how few residents actually contact the Commission. I think that's how the deer issue (and turf), which was raised by a relatively small portion of the community, was morphed into a public safety issue that the Commission felt they have a mandate to address. Although most of the commissioners recognize traffic and speeding issues as a safety issue, I don't believe they have formed a comprehensive plan or spent the time on it like they did with the deer.
A small number of residents can pressure the Commission to take more comprehensive action on the traffic and speeding. Write them frequently and attend meetings. They need to be pressured until they feel like they have no choice but to act on a serious safety issue in the community.
There has to be an answer for 9:37 other than talking to John Bendel. It is a good idea for 9:37 to document his/her concerns but a conversation with one commissioner isn't going to make a difference.
The Saturday Commission Meeting is going to include a discussion of traffic safety. If there is opportunity for residents to speak then, that would be a good venue for 9:37. Expect to hear from the police that the things that residents would like aren't possible. The police already have an agenda of what they would like to say -- you can hear about their thoughts from listening to the April traffic board meeting.
The police, the municipality and school district suffer from malaise with respect to traffic/pedestrian safety; this should be recognized as it is putting residents and their children in danger.
"We can't do XYZ" is not acceptable.
In the first half of 2014, PA had over 3x the pedestrian deaths of Wisconsin but Wisconsin in putting $70,000 in federal grant money in the hands of pedestrian safety task forces to address the issue, while what? The four police departments here share $3800 to address aggressive driving only -- when they already should be enforcing the speed limits.
http://fox6now.com/2015/04/13/to-improve-pedestrian-safety-dot-providing-30k-in-federal-funding-for-milwaukee-task-force/
SMH
I wish they would target Greenhurst Drive. Some black SUV raced up to my car as I backed out of my driveway and honked as I shifted forward. He literally had to be going 40+ as he got from the stop sign to my car very quickly. He trailed me closely as I drove to the light. It really is ridiculous how fast people drive up and down this road. There are kids, dog walkers, and other cars trying to navigate 1 sidewalk!
7:15,
People do that on my street as well. I'll drive 25 MPH and cars will be on my bumper. Sometimes I think they're barely paying attention and don't realize they are tailgating. I usually slow to a ridiculous crawl. Most seem to get it at that point and back off. Worrisome though with road rage though.
I never go over the posted speed limit. People crawl up my car all the time. I take great delight in slowing them down. I LOVE aggrevating the speeders. I like to think that I am helping to slow down the aggressive drivers. They can ALL kiss my butt!!!!
This is a little off topic, but I've noticed on several road projects here in Mt. Lebanon that if the road is closed they put up barricades AND station a police officer/SUV at each.
Is this really necessary?
Are we such a community of numbskulls that upon approaching a closed and barricaded street we an officer in place to keep us out of the construction zone?
Couldn't we just use minimum wage flagman at each barricade and have ONE office assigned to the zone? Do we really need two or three officers at a site?
Is this an efficient use of our police manpower? I could be wrong so I'd be interesting in hearing explanations.
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