Village issues warning to speeders

Speeding came up at Monday’s Village Board meeting, as local officials and police reminded everyone driving on local roads that they need to slow down. There have been several minor accidents reported on local streets lately.

“We did a bit of a survey,” Mayor Joe D’Onofrio said, “and it looks like about eight out of ten speeders on our side streets are the residents of those streets. We all need to make an effort to slow down, especially now that it is spring and there are more children outside playing.”

New York State dictates the speed on residential streets as 25 miles per hour; D’Onofrio said it should probably be more like 15 miles per hour. 

He said there will be extra patrols on side streets on the weeks ahead, with police officers in both marked and unmarked vehicles sitting on the roads.

HFPD Officer Frank Lilos was at the meeting and suggested that the board invest in some of the solar, portable speed signs — such as are used in Fort Montgomery — to show motorists just how fast they are travelling. Lilos also said that while “none of us want to give out tickets to residents for speeding on their own street, we will if we have to.”

From the audience, Highland Falls’ Michael Joyce suggested purchasing a couple of speed cameras, and place them at locations such as Mountain Ave. (near the Intermediate School) and Main St. (near MyTown Marketplace and Walgreens). He noted that using them would make sense, and free up police officers for other work.