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Lowering the speed limit on 30A?

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SGBBeach Fanatic
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A speed bump on 30A... As citizens strive to lower speed limit, bigger plans emerge | 30a, speed, change - Local News - WaltonSun.com


A SPEED BUMP ON 30A: As citizens strive to lower speed limit, bigger plans emerge
January 08, 2010 10:30 AM
By Matt Algarin

Will 45 be a thing of the past on 30A?

Friends of Scenic 30A and members of the public gathered on Jan. 4 to discuss lowering the speed limit on 30A to 35 mph for the entire 18.5 mile stretch. The change would let low-speed vehicles, like street-modified golf carts, share the roadway with cars.

Bill Freeze, Chairperson for the Friends, believes the change will have nothing but positive end results.

?These beaches have been voted as one of the 12 best places to see in 2010.? Freeze said. ?We have noticed that we need to educate the tourists and the residents about what we have here in paradise.?

Freeze added that LSVs have to be registered and licensed, which will provide additional income for the county.

About two dozen supportive residents and industry experts gathered to hear the proposals made by the group.

In order for an electric cart or LSV to share the roadway with cars, the speed limit can be no greater than 35 mph. There are currently four miles of roadway on 30A where the speed limit is 45 mph.

In addition to allowing LSVs to traverse the roadway, supporters say the change would help to alleviate some of the traffic by encouraging motorists who are in a hurry to use the feeder roads that run north and south to get to their destinations.

Graham Fountain, chief of special operations for the Sheriff?s Office, clarified that this only pertains to electric carts, not golf carts.

?Because it looks like a duck, talks like a duck and quacks like a duck, but it?s a goose,? Fountain said while describing that anyone who is caught driving a gas-powered cart on 30A would be ticketed.

?The sheriff?s office will be taking a neutral position on the topic,? Fountain said of the speed-limit change. ?We haven?t pulled traffic (data) to see how many crashes involved these types of vehicles.?

?We do have some concerns because 30A is a little atypical than the usual roads you may do this on,? Fountain added. ?When the building starts up again on 30A you are going to have a lot more dump trucks and mixers going up and down the road.?

Tim Paul, who is a former district five commissioner and developer of Topsail Village on 30A, said changing the speed limit should be the first step.

?I think the whole idea is to have a complete system,? Pauls said. ?You shouldn?t have to only be able to use your LSV on 30A. You should actually be able to make a useful trip with it.?

Tom Stein, the Director for the Friends of Scenic 30A, agreed.

Stein said he ?has always had a lifetime interest in public transit and was a cable car grip man in San Francisco for four years.

?With my background in public transit and in addition to living here for the past 30 years or so watching the traffic load increase here on 30A,? Stein said, ?it has led me to the conclusion that some kind of public transit needs to be established on 30A.?

Stein said that the time is imminent and that something has to happen now.

The Friends of Scenic 30A will be holding another public forum on the first Monday in February to discuss updates on traffic crashes and the price tag for redesigning 30A for a bike path and low speed vehicles.

Replies

285
Jdarg avatar
JdargSoWal Expert
#277
If you want to have the right to travel on the roads in a golf cart and be treated like a car, you might want to think about using parking spaces. :lol:

Today at Publix - these dudes must have thought the front entry was a carport.


Classy.
wadecoolBeach Lover
#278
Such an anti progressive majority, you apparently have here. Fine, if you're all together on it, then Walton County can lead the charge against the use of smaller, fuel effecient vehicles. I would find it odd and actually comical to see the home of New Urbanism, lead the way to preserve the dominance of the Nissan Armada. You can be the anti progressive to take the podium, to represent the overwhelming majority that you represent. Turn back the tide on small vehicles!! " Let it be known that if you support LSVs, incessantly, you are both in the "minority" and are alienating and rubbing us the wrong way. "


Neighborhood Electric Vehicles...NEV...LSV...ZEV...GEM... | FixingThePlanet.com

LSV Road Use Legislative Developments ? Small, Task-Oriented Vehicles (STOV)

VerdeGoh! Electric Vehicles - FAQ's

Innovation Times Nov/Dec 2008: Whither the LSV? A Concept in Search of a Wider Market (IUV Magazine Article)

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/rulings/lsv/lsv.html

You are hilarious on so many fronts! I'm going to pick an obvious one that noone has mentioned to date. Apparently, someone in a Nissan Armada backed over your tricycle, stole your parking place at the last Black Friday sale, or something else tragic because that is the vehicle of choice you have used over and over as the jolly roger against your precious LSV. But..... you made a critical mistake along the way..... you mentioned that you drive a Chevy Tahoe. Oopps, I know thats a cat you wish would go back into the bag, but its just not possible here. As an avid Car and Driver reader, I'll just whisper over your shoulder that the difference in city fuel economy (since we're talking about Hwy 30a) between an Armada and a Tahoe is 1 or 2 mpg. To know how deep your progressive ideas run, one doesn't need to look much further here. BTW, does your Tahoe have 4x4 and rear a/c as well? Shame, shame.
YellowDogBeach Comber
#279
You are hilarious on so many fronts! I'm going to pick an obvious one that noone has mentioned to date. Apparently, someone in a Nissan Armada backed over your tricycle, stole your parking place at the last Black Friday sale, or something else tragic because that is the vehicle of choice you have used over and over as the jolly roger against your precious LSV. But..... you made a critical mistake along the way..... you mentioned that you drive a Chevy Tahoe. Oopps, I know thats a cat you wish would go back into the bag, but its just not possible here. As an avid Car and Driver reader, I'll just whisper over your shoulder that the difference in city fuel economy (since we're talking about Hwy 30a) between an Armada and a Tahoe is 1 or 2 mpg. To know how deep your progressive ideas run, one doesn't need to look much further here. BTW, does your Tahoe have 4x4 and rear a/c as well? Shame, shame.

We don't need to cast this in liberal vs. conservative terms, no matter how tempting that may be from RobertsonDavies' posts. It's really a lot simpler. He wants the county to accomodate him in a money-making scheme. Money for him, inconvenience for the vast majority of vacationers and residents. Not a partisan issue, unless you just want to make it one to enjoy the divisiveness.

Edited

wadecoolBeach Lover
#280
We don't need to cast this in liberal vs. conservative terms, no matter how tempting that may be from RobertsonDavies' posts. It's really a lot simpler. He wants the county to accomodate him in a money-making scheme. Money for him, inconvenience for the vast majority of vacationers and residents. Not a partisan issue, unless you just want to make it one to enjoy the divisiveness.

I honestly wasn't trying to make this debate about left vs. right, although like you said, its clear to see which way RobertsonDavies leans politically. I was just pointing out a recurring theme in his posts that literally made me laugh out loud as I really love a good ironic statement. That being said, YellowDog, you put it as simply and accurately as anyone could have. Btw, did RobertsonDavies take his ball and go home or what?

Edited

joho avatar
johoBeach Fanatic
#281
If you want to have the right to travel on the roads in a golf cart and be treated like a car, you might want to think about using parking spaces. :lol:

Today at Publix - these dudes must have thought the front entry was a carport.

Who's guessing this is a tourist? lol
Why do these people seem to leave their brains at the State line?
AndrewG avatar
AndrewGBeach Fanatic
#282
He should have gotten a ticket. I guess like everything else certain laws are enforced and others ignored. Would it have been worse if he were an illegal alien or would you have had pity?
Matt J avatar
Matt JSWGB
#283
If you want to have the right to travel on the roads in a golf cart and be treated like a car, you might want to think about using parking spaces. :lol:

Today at Publix - these dudes must have thought the front entry was a carport.


I really wish I had taken the photo of the SUV that did the exact same thing in the rain over the summer.

LSV's don't cause bad driving, the oblivious morons do. I've heard that rhetoric before and I didn't like that organizations ideals either.

All that being said a friend of ours has a golf cart on the west end of 30A near Goat Feathers. He uses it to drive to the beach club, Gulf Place, and Bally Hoo's. He was floored when I explained this thread to him. His question was why a mode of transportation designed for a very small radius was being proposed as a long distance travel method?

Here's some standards of golf cart use in a work setting on a restricted area:

http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/pubs/videoresource/stpgolfcart.pdf

The preceding was brought to you by a state that passed a law allowing guns in bars.
leencoo12Beach Crab
#284
We watch the traffic on the east end of 30A in the morning and evenings there's a ton of folks that don't abide by the 30 mph coming out of Rosemary. I'd be for more enforcement of the present limit and a consistant 25 or 30 the entire length of our Scenic Highway.

Do LSVs include mopeds? I know the tourists love them, but they've become an eye sore / noise nuisance on scenic 98.
Kurt avatar
KurtAdmin
#285
Do LSVs include mopeds? I know the tourists love them, but they've become an eye sore / noise nuisance on scenic 98.


No - they are street legal and most are fairly high speed. Kinda cool to see them zipping around an Italian town but annoying in most tourist spots. Yet a ton of fun and energy efficient. Also quite dangerous as most people who rent are novices.

I suspect that in coming years most will be electric and quiet.
AndrewG avatar
AndrewGBeach Fanatic
#286
Cool fun vehicles attract morons who just want to step on the pedal and forgo understanding the laws or operators manual.

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