VILLA PARK : City Targets Speeders on Center
Motorists are speeding and risking lives on Center Drive, and the city intends to crack down on the situation, the City Council declared Tuesday.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which provides law enforcement for Villa Park, will be asked to intensify patrols along Center Drive. Council members said they hope a flurry of citations will warn drivers to obey the 35-m.p.h. speed limit.
“We don’t want dangerous situations in town,” Mayor Bob Patchin said.
The council acted after receiving a petition from residents concerned about speeding cars on Center. The aptly named residential street bisects the city and goes past or near three schools. Residents said the speeding cars endanger schoolchildren.
In a petition to the council, residents said vehicles use Center Drive as if it were a racetrack. The petition also said that “what was once an inner-city access road has become a commuter highway, not only for people traveling within the city but those traveling from Riverside, Corona, Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda down to the Jamboree and Irvine areas.”
The petition also asked the City Council to install a four-way-stop sign at Center and James Road.
The council denied that request, however, after hearing a report from city traffic engineer James Pfalzer. He said a traffic survey determined that stop signs are not warranted at that intersection. But Pfalzer said the traffic survey confirmed that cars are regularly speeding on Center Drive.
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