Speed bumps are coming back to the Miracle Mile on June 26, but city officials are tweaking their approach.
“It’ll be a little different this time,” said Keith Porch, safety-service director for the city of Mansfield. “The previous year, they were typically installed Friday evening, and they were left up until Sunday morning, early in the morning, 5 or 6. Then they would be brought up.
“This year, they will be installed Friday evening. They will be brought up Saturday morning; then, they will be reinstalled Saturday evening and then taken up Sunday.”
The Miracle Mile is the stretch of Park Avenue West between Trimble and Home roads. For decades, it has been a popular spot for cruising.
While times were more innocent in the 1950s and 1960s, cruising in recent years has involved drag racing, with sometimes fatal results.
“There is zero doubt that when we first tried this, it had a definite impact on what was occurring out there,” Porch said. “The incidents I’m talking about are when we’re having the drag racing at 100+ mph down Park Avenue with either motorcycles or vehicles.”
He said the decision not to have speed bumps during the day on Saturdays was made in consideration for drivers who abide by the law.
“You’re getting the public that’s going back and forth, traversing through the city, that aren’t involved in the activities that the police department was experiencing,” Porch said.
City officials recognized that most people don’t like speed bumps and wanted to accommodate law-abiding drivers.
Speed bumps will not be on the Miracle Mile during day on Saturdays
“We’re not having drag racing at noon or 1 o’clock,” Porch said. “It’s just there’s a lot more traffic during the day than later in the evening.”
He said city officials opted to bring back speed bumps because police have seen an uptick in violations.
“We tried to take the monitoring approach because that’s the last step we want to take is installing the speed bumps,” Porch said.
The safety-service director declined to give a specific time on when the speed bumps will be installed or when they will be taken up for the year.
Porch described some of the behavior that necessitated speed bumps a couple of years ago.
“We were blatantly having — and I have not heard of any of this happening this year — motorcycles that were coming up next to officers, trying to bait them to get into a chase and then taking off at 100 mph,” he said. “Without a doubt, they’re playing with their lives.”
He said some drag racers have taken off their license plates to prevent police from identifying them.
“The primary point of speed bumps is to curb the high speeds that officers were seeing,” Porch said.
But he admits that speed bumps don’t solve all issues.
“They do not prevent squealing of tires or other violations that occur,” Porch said. “We’ve had people trying to do burn-outs on the speed bumps to try to uproot them from the road.”
Anyone doing so could be charged with criminal damaging or criminal mischief.
Still, the speed bumps help make up for reduced manpower. Porch said police could be more proactive in the days when there were 13 officers working the night shift.
“That’s not the scenario the police department has today,” he said.
Police now may have five officers on the night shift.
“You can’t have two of the five on Park Avenue and have three officers to respond to calls for the whole city,” Porch said.
Another issue caused by speeders is noise.
“It has been a constant headache for residents to have to deal with,” Porch said.
Speed bumps may be a small price to pay. Even if many people are not fans of speed bumps, they will have to deal with them.
“I’ll never apologize for something that I know will save lives,” Porch said.
Reach Mark Caudill at 419-521-7219 or via X at @MarkCau32059251.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield officials plan to reintroduce speed bumps to Miracle Mile
Reporting by Mark Caudill, Mansfield News Journal / Mansfield News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mark Caudill, Mansfield News Journal | USA TODAY Network
