The Andover Select Board unanimously adopted a town-wide speed limit of 25 MPH on all roads unless otherwise posted at its meeting Monday.
The map above shows existing speed limits in Andover. Streets that are not highlighted had the town’s “default,” 30 MPH speed limit, which will be lowered to 25 MPH following Monday’s approval..
Andover police will not begin handing out tickets for several months, and will spend the next few months educating drivers about the new speed limits. Signs will be posted at town borders noting the town-wide speed limit.
Also on Andover News:
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- Andover Keeping Open Town Meeting, Considering Changes
Earlier this year, town meeting approved opting in to a state law allowing the town to reduce the speed limit to 25 MPH from 30 MPH on most roads in town. The select board, however, was charged with deciding whether to apply that change immediately to more than 600 streets in Andover which currently have 30 MPH speed limits or incrementally on a street-by-street basis.
The board discussed both options at it’s Oct. 3 meeting, but could not take action because only the street-by-street option was included on the Oct. 3 agenda. The map above shows existing speed limits in Andover. Streets that are not highlighted have the town’s “default,” 30 MPH speed limit and would be lowered to 25 MPH under the town-wide option.
So far, 62 other Massachusetts towns have opted into the law, including 54 that adopted the town-wide version. The eight that have done it on a street by street basis include Danvers and Billerica.
I do not understand the idea of the police not enforcing the new speed limits. How will they educate drivers, including commuters,about the new limits? Allowing drivers to ignore the law for 6-12 months after the new limits are posted would indicate that speeding is allowed- that is what drivers will learn. Please put the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, skateboards above that of speeding drivers. Our government’s primary purpose it to protect its citizens. I am also confused as to why busy school streets will not have reduced speed limits. It seems counter intuitive to reduce speeds on cul de sacs but not in high trafficked areas. I imagine there are more accidents on busy streets, maybe someone can check the data.