I have reported this issue to the Police Chief and they will inspect the speed indicator.

Thomas Younger, Town Administrator

Thanks for having this to look into. Is there any update from the police department? It is a tough ride down Summer Street to get to the South Elementary School each day. All day long I can hear cars racing by in front of the school. There definitely needs to be more signage and traffic enforcement on this stretch of road.

This flat stretch of road, with no center line looks like a racetrack, and cars all day long drive that way.

The only speed signs are at each end of the road and are totally ignored. The only other speed limit sign is the broken radar speed sign. I think a school zone sign or strictly enforced speed limit sign closer to the school may help.

It would be great if the town could get control of this stretch of this thickly settled School Zone road.

Thanks again for your attention to this issue.

Thank you for the SeeClickFix submission. The visual speed display has been modified to now display speeds up to 35 MPH. Speeds in excess of 35 MPH are not displayed in an attempt to discourage motorists from intentionally driving over the speed limit to see their speed displayed. The radar display will still advise the motorist to slow down.

Thank you for addressing this issue. However the sign has not been modified. It is still operating only to 30 mph. It still goes blank after flashing 31.

What is the police department smoking these days? So the sign still says "Slow Down", but not their speed because otherwise they would try to openly flaunt our laws attempting to set new personal speed records ...and this approach actually works???

I walk regularly seeing the same signs on both Spring Street and Washington Street continuously showing all vehicle speeds. On almost all occasions I've witnessed speeding cars noticeably slowing down especially when being shown their speeds in excess of 37-40 mph on our 25mph streets.

The police response above would have us believe what I should actually be seeing are drivers accelerating. If this is true then it should be easy to catch these morons and get Stoneham more tickets revenue on their way off of our streets. Is this how the sign manufacturer recommend settings for optimum effect selling them to the Town? The police should pull their heads out and work on their credability.

Wouldn't it seem that a more direct "attempt to discourage motorists from intentionally driving over the speed limit to see their speed displayed" might be having a police presence to issue citations to these more aggressive drivers? More revenue for the town, and it goes right to the problem trying to be rectified by the signs.

I have two of these signs near my home, and have also seen them in neighboring towns, always showing the speed. The higher the posted speed the more abrupt most drivers slow down as they realize their error. The most aggressive drivers who want to make a game of it should be pulled over for everyone's safety.

That is a good point about it not making sense to have the sign go blank. Cars accelerate quickly to beat the light at the other end of the street. They fly by the sign and it is completely blanked out from excessive speed. It leaves no indication to the driver that he is speeding through a school zone.

The 20 MPH school speed zone sign at the ends of the street do not seem to register with drivers at all. More signage toward the center of this stretch of road, and some stepped-up police enforcement would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I think there might have been a miscommunication within the Stoneham Police Department. This sign in question has not been changed to 35 miles an hour. It is still only registering to 30 miles an hour and then going blank. Maybe the police department responded to a different location in error. If you could please look into getting this sign changed as was indicated when the Stoneham Police Department closed this post.
Thank you.

Drivers are still blazing between the lights, either from Main to Pond or Pond to Main. The sign is only visible coming from Pond toward Main. It does not matter if there is a school there. All that matters is getting from A to B as fast as possible. The sign does very little, as far as I can see.

I know there have been some negative posts in this topic. But I applaud the original poster for being polite and expressing concern for a unsafe situation. I know sometimes the police or other departments do not respond quick enough and people get impatient or angry.

However, in this situation I find the town's response very unsettling. The Town Administrator passed it along to the department he thought appropriate. The police department responded by closing the issue and not at all a dressing the concern of traffic enforcement in this area.

This issue was also closed without addressing the need for better signage along this stretch of road. Worse yet, it was closed by the police department saying that changes had been made to the speed limit sign, when it is obvious they had not.

This issue, that had originally went to the Town Administrator, was closed by the police department without any action being taken although they stated it had. It is completely disrespectful to the original poster, who it looks like in good faith, try to do the right thing. I hope this gets brough to the Town Administrators attention again so can see the route this issue has taken.

I would like to apologize for sounding so negative on this issue. My point was not to be cynical. The sign only faces toward Pond St. Most drivers seem to ignore it. I, like all of the concerned neighbours who post here, would hope that the safety of school children would be a priority. I thank the OP for taking note of the problem. Hopefully some amelioration will come from this sign.

I wasn't meaning to call anyone out for being negative in this post. I guess it just seems like sometimes on seeclickfix, some people start off a post negative and get no response from the town. However, in this case it seems like some criticism and negativity is in order.

In this case the original post was perfectly polite, and it went downhill from there. I think the Town Administrator past this on to the police department in good faith that they would respond in a professional manner.

I think the police response was just as disrespectful to the Town Administrator as it was to the concerned citizen. There hasn't been any more response from the police department, leaving us to believe that theirs is just to 'shut up and go away' attitude. Their attitude toward this safety concern issue is more than just disrespectful, it is outright dangerous to public safety.

Thomas Younger should be just as outraged at the in action as everyone else.

Driving to the South school today, the car in front of me blanked out the radar speed sign at 30 miles an hour. Continued accelerating and must have been doing 35 or 40 before it hit the end of of the street in front of the South School. A common occurrence.

The sign has not been modified previously stated. Can the police department or Town Administrator please respond with any updates to this issue.

Thank you.

Pathetic lack of communication with the citizens you're supposedly serving. Wouldn't be surprised if you called the Police Department and put on hold with music from an old Keystone Cops movie playing in the background.

I have been following this post for a little while and debating on whether to comment. For whatever reason, it seems that the Stoneham Police Department has decided not to make any further comments on this issue, or to take any action on the the original post.

This post was originally address to Thomas Younger, the Town Administrator. He entrusted it to the police department, with some expectation of how it would be handled. I do not imagine this meets his expectations. He may be totally unaware of the events played out here.

I have seen Mr. Younger at town meetings, he very much appears to be a 'buck stops here' and not a 'pass the buck' kind of guy.

Continuing this post seems to be going nowhere. If anyone has a way to contact Thomas Younger by email, sending him a link to this might be helpful. He may be unaware of the results of the original request for help. You could also send a link to any of the town selectman, as they are the ones who appointed Mr. Younger.

https://en.seeclickfix.com/issues/4288050-broken-radar-speed-sign

I have driven that stretch of road often. It is a shortcut to Route 28 and 93. You would not have to spend much time watching traffic go by to see that it is not maintained as a school zone, or even a residential area, as far as traffic speeds are concerned.

I would hate to see it take a tragedy before the town takes action here. Good luck to the residence on this street and the parents of South School in getting this issue resolved.

Mike

Thank you for the comments associated with this post. Based upon the feedback received, changes were made to the speed monitor, however there is a connectivity issue between the computer used for programming and the device itself. It is our goal to have the the programming changes completed as soon as possible.

There is adequate signage advising motorists that they are entering a school zone during posted hours. This section of Summer Street will be an area designated for additional traffic enforcement.

Thanks to the Police Department for their acknowledgement and status on this issue!! Let's remember we're all working towards the same goal...making Stoneham a better place.

The sign is not been updated as of yet, and what I see driving down Summer Street each day, it does not appear there has been any increase in traffic enforcement. Hopefully we can get this sign updated and some increased traffic enforcement before school resumes next week.

It has been almost 3 weeks since the original post and two weeks since the police department said they had updated the sign. I appreciate the acknowledgement by the police department, but would appreciate some action being taken also.

I've always been brought up to have respect for the police and their authority. I am bewildered by what is going on here. I'm very disheartened to have to write a post like this.

This issue was reported here over three weeks ago. Two weeks ago the police said the radar speed limit sign was updated to register up to 35 miles an hour. That did not actually happen. It appears, by their response, that they do not have the technical ability to do so.

The police also said they would increase traffic enforcement in that area. By the looks of cars still speeding through the school zone, it appears that did not happen either.

Driving to the South School, I was behind a car that was going 29 miles an hour in this 20 mile an hour School Zone. He went right past the crossing guard who was standing in the end of the crosswalk, waiting to cross a mother and child. The officer did not seem the slightest bit phased by it.

It is not hard to understand why drivers, who speed down the street from early morning until late at night have no respect for the School Zone speed limit, or law enforcement.

The crosswalk, is another story. Last year the DPW was supposed to have it painted. They never did. Instead, the DPW in another post, said the school department grounds-crew went with a can of spray paint they use on the grass fields. That is what was used. It wore away within 2 months.

The nature of Summer Street is that it is a cut through to get to State Route 28 and Interstate 93. It includes a thickly settled residential area and an elementary school.

An occasional police presence is not going to solve the safety issue. It is going to take some serious commitment by the town to get this area under control. Unfortunately, it appears that the town is not willing to do so, or taking public safety here seriously.

I do not understand why the Town Administrator, Board of Selectmen, and Police Department are not inclined to take action to maintain Public Safety in this area.

The police department was able to address the connectivity issue with our computer used to program the radar device. Based upon the feedback noted above, changes were made to the vehicle speed display and associated messages. This area of Summer Street will have traffic enforcement conducted.

Additionally, the school department is assisting with the repainting of the crosswalks on Summer Street near South School.

I appreciate you taking steps into resolving this issue. I have a question about the school department doing road maintenance. Last time they used spray paint from their field sprayer and it was not initially bright enough and it wore away quickly.

It was traditionally the DPW who was in charge of having heavy-duty, bright, appropriate paint applied to the road for this application.

If the school department is going to contract an outside source to do this correctly, that would be fine. But if they are just going to come down with a can of spray paint again, it seems like a waste of time. I think our town can do better than that.

Thanks again for taking the first steps in controlling me dangerous traffic situation in this area.

2 minutes ago · Flag

This content is currently blocked. The content is either under review by SeeClickFix or has been confirmed by SeeClickFix for violation(s) of SeeClickFix Terms of Use (https://www.civicplus.com/terms-of-service). Content that aligns with SeeClickFix Terms of Use will be posted, and content that does not align with our Terms of Use will not be permitted for public viewing.

We were out for a morning walk this morning just before 6:00. A row of cars flew by us. One going 41 miles an hour.

It's dangerous out here all hours of the day.

This stretch of road needs to be addressed. It looks like a drag strip, and drivers treat it that way.

It is a straight freshly paved black stretch . There is no center line, nothing to slow the traffic down, and a poorly painted non-existent crosswalk.

The police cannot be expected to hang out there all day, making up for the fact that the Town Administration has dropped the ball on maintaining this roadway in a fashion that makes it safe for everyone.

I know things take time, but at some point priorities need to be set.

I think it is safe to say that the original issue of this post has been addressed and corrected. Thank you for updating the sign. The issue of speeding in this area is a hot topic for many, and the town is aware of it. I think, since the original issue of this post has been addressed, it would be safe to close it.

I work in this area, and will be keeping an eye out to see improvements, as I am sure others will. A separate post, addressing the speeding issue in this area, can be started if things do not improve.

Closed