MOREAU -- The Town Board is renewing its effort to have the state reduce the speed limit on Route 32, after two teens were killed in a car accident in that area earlier this month.
Supervisor Preston Jenkins plans to send a letter to the state Department of Transportation to request the lowering of the posted 55 mph speed limit on the street, also known as Gansevoort Road.
Police believe 17-year-old Matthew Habshi, of Gansevoort, was driving north at 70 mph when he lost control of his 1997 Pontiac Trans Am near Fedor Road.
The car veered off Route 32, hit a tree and a utility pole then overturned. Habshi and a passenger, 15-year-old Brianna A. Diorio, were killed.
Another passenger, Brandon Nelson, 17, of Queensbury, was injured, and later released from Albany Medical Center.
A witness at the crash scene said Nelson told him he had asked Habshi to slow down.
The speed limit is posted as 55 mph, but caution signs on the winding and narrow road have a posted 40 mph speed limit.
Jenkins believes a 45 mph limit could have saved the lives of the teens.
"Nobody can determine if the change in speed limit could have saved their life, but it might have," Jenkins said Wednesday. "Realistically, nobody wants a ticket, they're very expensive, they cost you a lot of money in insurance."
In the letter, Jenkins plans to explain why the speed limit should be reduced.
The request for a lower speed limit encompasses the area of the intersection of Route 32 and Route 197, down to Clark Road. Jenkins said he would support the 55 mph speed limit being reduced in the entire hamlet of Gansevoort, for a total of more than 2 miles of the road.
"Hopefully, we can convince the state that that's what we ought to do," he said.
Last year, the Town Board sought a speed limit reduction from the state but the request was turned down.
Peter Van Keuren, a spokesman for the Transportation Department, said the agency frequently receives requests for lowering speed limits on state roads. After receiving the request, officials review the area's accident history, road conditions and population to see if a lower limit is warranted.
The state is conducting an examination of Route 32, which is a common procedure after a crash, he said.
But Van Keuren added that lowering the speed limit is rarely a cure for fatal accidents.
"If the speed limit was 55 or 40, it looks like the accident was going to occur," he said. "People look at speed limits kind of like the silver bullet, but it's not."
Posted in Local on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 2:40 pm
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