Redstone Twp. residents complain about speeders
REDSTONE TWP. – Simpson Road residents Wednesday complained about vehicles speeding on their street, asking for additional police patrols. George Novotny said he doesn’t want to see a fatal accident like the one that occurred recently in Masontown, where a mother and daughter out walking were reportedly struck by a speeding drunk driver. The mother was killed and the daughter was serious injured.
“Whether it’s a drunk driver or someone going at excessive speed, it doesn’t matter. If you’re hit, you’re still dead,” Novotny said.
Novotny noted that residents walk and jog along the road and are at the edge of the road to get their mail and their newspapers, and there is no berm.
“I don’t want to see happen on Simpson Road what happened in Masontown,” Novotny said. “It’s a situation waiting for a tragedy to happen. I believe in preventive medicine.”
Redstone Police Capt. Dennis Field said the department has been targeting the area for speed enforcement. Field said the majority of the 44 traffic citations written in June were from the Simpson Road area.
“The majority of the people we’re stopping don’t have a license, haven’t paid their fines and have warrants for their arrest,” Field said. “We’ll try to be more visible up there and we’ll ask the state police to give us more help during the day.”
Redstone Township has a part-time police force, and Field said that while the officers try to change the shifts around, everyone seems to know when they are working and when they aren’t, making enforcement even more difficult.
Field said he has also met with the new manager of the Hunter’s Ridge apartment complex along Simpson Road and has been assured that steps are being taken to improve security efforts there. Field said the manager was having tree limbs cut away from areas where they blocked security lighting.
In other matters, it was announced that the state Department of Environmental Protection has given the township permission to proceed with a sewage plan for the Filbert, Fairbank, Orient and Tower Hill areas.
“Survey and design is next with Widmer Engineering. It will go into the Redstone Township Sewer Authority plant,” said Supervisor Ray Paris.
Paris said it will be two or three years before construction begins on the new sewage collection and treatment system. The existing plant will need to be enlarged to accommodate the new customers.