By Jessica D’Aniello Citizen’s News
PROSPECT — The town recently installed a speed bump on Straitsville Road to slow traffic near where a local man was killed in a car wreck in 2014.
Speeding has been an issue along the stretch of road for years and was a factor in the death of Carmen Santoro, who was pulling out of Porter Hill Road when he was T-boned by an oncoming vehicle.
Two years before the accident, David Santoro, Carmen’s son, pushed for the town to add a stop sign at the intersection to slow traffic.
“I told them it was a dangerous intersection, somebody was going to get killed there and two years later, it was my dad,” Santoro said.
Over the years, the town has painted “SLOW” on Straitsville Road, put in radar speed signs and added mirrors to improve sightlines. Now the addition of the speed bump had made the road even safer, Santoro said.
“The stop sign makes it much safer for me to pull out of my road and the added speed bump slows people down,” he said.
He said there needs to be a few more speed bumps on the road to keep people driving at the speed limit.
Mayor Robert J. Chatfield said if the speed bump is effective, more could be added on other roads in town.
“We’re going to see how this goes and we might look at another couple of streets in the spring,” Chatfield said.
The project, completed in mid-November includes four signs that read “Speed Bump,” the bump, and the road paint. Chatfield said it cost between $3,500 and $3,800.
Chatfield said at a town meeting on safety held last year, residents were calling for speed bumps to slow traffic.
“One of the things that came out loud and clear from the people that came, was they were looking for speed bumps,” Chatfield said.
