Community Corner

Residents Petition Edgewood Council for Lower Speed Limit on Elmer Street

After a crash on her street that involved road rage, a neighbor is asking for the borough to look into lowering the speed limit.

After a ended with one man shot and a car crashed through a neighboring garage, Cynthia Savitt of has decided to renew an effort to lower the speed limit on Elmer Street.

A resident on Elmer, Savitt presented a petition to Edgewood Council Monday night during its meeting with eight names of neighbors who live on the same street. While the current speed limit is 25 miles per hour, Savitt would like it to be changed to 15 miles per hour.

“About three or four years ago, the speed limit on Maple Avenue was dropped to 15 miles and ever since then, we have had cut through traffic to and from the parkway through our street,” Savitt said. “People have been speeding at ridiculous rates—I have almost had a head-on collision pulling out of my driveway and then there was the crash last Saturday.”

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On Oct. 10, police reported that a Wilkinsburg man was chased through Edgewood after a road rage incident at a nearby gas station. A suspect chased Johnny Johnson, 18, who also was shot in the thigh while driving, until Johnson crashed the car into a garage on Elmer Street.

Last summer, Savitt went to the borough building and complained about the issue, but PennDOT has restrictions for roads to qualify for speed limit changes, according to Edgewood Borough Manager Warren Cecconi.

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But, in order to help, the borough posted 25 miles per hour signs and had a police officer in the area to monitor the street near Elmer and Dewey.

“Flash forward to the car crash last weekend and I got a petition and a letter to send to neighbors,” Savitt said. “It says ‘I approve to lowering the speed limit to 15 mph,” and some people also feel it would be good to make Elmer a one-way street altogether to cut back on traffic.”

Edgewood Council President Pat Schaefer said leaders would be looking into the issue, accepted the petition and heard Savitt’s comments at Monday's meeting.

“I feel that something tragic is going to happen and I have felt that way for three or four years,” Savitt said. “ When I moved to Elmer eight years ago, it was very quiet and that’s why I chose to live here.”

After the speed limit on Maple Avenue was lowered, the issue of increased traffic on Elmer continued to grow, she said.

“We have so many people who walk their dogs on our street and with the 90-degree turn, it’s so dangerous when people don’t slow down,” she said. “It’s totally blind—I am afraid for the kids walking to and from school, and we have a lot of elderly people who walk down the street.”

Savitt said she hopes to see a change in the future to alleviate her worries, along with the neighbors there who agree.

“I would like to see the speed limit lowered to 15 at the minimum, and I think its a great idea to make Elmer one way,” she said. “I am not quite sure which way, because we get equal traffic in both directions, but it’d be good to have it at the Dewey end of the intersection.”


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