Local

Orange County to reduce speed limit on busy road after neighbors complain about speeders

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — People who are fed up with speeders on Wekiva Springs Road are getting the slow down they have been asking for.

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The county is reducing the speed limit to try and make the road safer, but neighbors aren’t convinced that it will make a difference.

Ursala Good has lived next to Wekiva Springs Road for the past 26 years. She said that speeding is a serious problem.

“It’s like you’re on I-4, 95. Yeah, people do 60 easy on that street,” Good said.

Orange County is reducing the speed limit on the road, between State Road 436 and county limits.

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The roughly 3.5-mile stretch passes by neighborhoods, churches and an elementary school.

“I see people speeding, even when school is starting and when school is ending,” Good said.

The speed limit sign said 45 mph along Wekiva Springs Road, but it will soon be 40 mph after neighbors complained about people speeding.

Eyewitness News asked neighbors if they think it’s going to help.

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“Of course not,” Good said. “If it’s 45 now and they are doing 50, 60, what do you think 40 is going to do?”

Using our speed gun, we caught several drivers not following the speed limit.

A safety study on the stretch of road found more than 200 crashes in the past five years, including one involving a pedestrian and five head-on collisions.

“It’s more than a safety concern,” Good said.

Lauren Torres with the county’s traffic engineering division said reducing the speed limit makes a difference.

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“We’ve yet to hear a resident or you know, someone from the sheriff’s office say, ‘You put up the signs and nothing has changed.’ I mean, we can’t control everyone. I’m sure you’re still gonna have people that are speeding, but this also helps to because it helps the sheriff’s office to enforce the speeds,” Torres said.

Good said she would also like to see more patrols on the road, but says drivers need to be accountable.

“People need to police themselves. There’s a speed limit for a reason,” Good said.

Orange County said it has reduced the speed limit in five corridors so far this year, with 15 more roads they’re currently studying.

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