Speed limits rile officials in Bedford

3/21/2001

TEMPERANCE - Bedford Township officials last night vowed to take the Monroe County road commission to task for what some members of the township board called the “ridiculous” determinations of speed limits in some areas of the township that may have cost an 80-year-old woman her life.

Board members said they would write a letter and send a delegation to the next road commission meeting in an effort to get the speed limit on West Temperance Road in the village lowered from its present 35 mph to 25 mph. The speed limit on Lewis Avenue, which crosses West Temperance Road in the heart of the village, is 25 mph.

Had the lower speed limit been in place last month, board members said it might have saved the life of Eva Watson, who was struck by a passing car and killed about 9 p.m. Feb. 26 while crossing West Temperance. The driver of the car was traveling at the posted speed limit at the time of the accident, board members said, but didn't see Mrs. Watson in time to avoid her.

The board also said it would petition the road commission to place crosswalks within the central business districts of Temperance and Lambertville to aid pedestrian traffic.