Officials in Pickaway County are working with The Ohio Department of Transportation, the Ohio State Patrol and the city of Circleville to make a dangerous stretch of road safer for drivers.
A speed limit reduction started to slow drivers down earlier this month on U.S. Route 23 near Circleville. Officials dropped the speed limit to 55 MPH through Circleville’s business district.
Circleville community members say Route 23 is the road motorists use most to commute through town. On 23, some drivers fly by businesses. General manager of the Pizza Cottage, John Stevens, says he knows it. He sees it through the windows of the restaurant every day.
"A lot of the problems here are this light. They don't have enough time to stop. So you see people constantly running this light that's out in front of our business,” Stevens said.
Stevens says he commutes to work going the speed limit on Route 23 to the Pizza Cottage, until the slow down.
The speed limit changes to 55 MPH at the Island Road overpass and goes through the business district. It ends about 3 miles down the road at DuPont. The 5 mile per hour drop in speed changed earlier this month. ODOT, the Ohio State Patrol, the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office and the city of Circleville worked together on the small speed reduction to try and lower the number of crashes.
"Well I know here a couple months ago there was a bad accident where there was a fatality,” Stevens said.
According to Ohio State Patrol crash statistics, two fatal crashes have been reported on U.S. Route 23 in Pickaway County this year.
Locals say traffic is heavy and steady on Route 23 every day.
"There's a lot of traffic on and off this 23. Especially down here at the red light. You know there's a lot of people in and out of there all the time, so 55 is good,” Bill Locke said.
Community members say hitting 60 MPH through Circleville’s business district is just too fast.
"It probably wouldn't hurt to be 50 to be honest with you. Wouldn't hurt a bit,” Locke said.
Some drivers say the slower speed limit won’t make a difference at all.
"People don't pay attention. They drive whatever speed they want to drive,” Sandi Stewart said.