Community Safety
by Mark Hall
On a daily basis I receive emails, phone calls and
have personal meetings with residents regarding
community safety issues and concerns. All of these
communications are welcome due to the fact this is
your community and your perception is what I need
to be most concerned with. Undoubtedly, the most
prevalent concern is roadway safety. Under the
umbrella of roadway safety the major concerns are;
1. Speeding!
This issue is being aggressively addressed by the
deployment of the Traffic Hawk Speed Enforcement
System. In the first three weeks of deployment a total
of 75 residents were issued warning letters and 10
residents were required to appear before the
Grievance Committee. In order to illustrate the
relationship of vehicle speed to odds of pedestrian
death in collisions, I have provided the research and
chart below. If a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle
travelling at 20 mph, the odds of dying are only 5%.
However, if that same pedestrian was struck by a
vehicle travelling at 40 mph, the odds of death
increase to 85%. Therefore, I think it is evident why
the speed limit within the community has been
established at 25 mph and why it is so important to
enforce this rule.
2. Is Frenchman’s Creek Drive and Tournament
Drive one or two lanes?
These two roadways are SINGLE LANE roads. They
are very wide to accommodate pedestrians, cyclists,
golf carts, maintenance personnel or security/
emergency vehicles. Vehicles should travel in the
center of the roadways until they need to move over
to accommodate for pedestrians, cyclists, golf carts,
maintenance personnel or security/emergency
vehicles. There is NO PASSING on Frenchman’s
Creek roadways.
3. Pedestrian Safety
Pedestrians walking in the correct direction
(facing traffic).
Security officers who encounter
pedestrians walking with traffic instead of facing
traffic will stop and request the pedestrian to
move to the other side of the road. The vast
majority of these encounters are very positive and
the pedestrian complies with the request. This
typically occurs during the holiday season when
guests and relatives are present and are either
unaware or forgot. I will continue to direct our
officers to be vigilant in “redirecting” our
pedestrians to walk in the right direction. In
addition to our officers efforts, I have produced a
video segment addressing this issue and all the
other topics within this article that plays on
Frenchman’s Creek television throughout the day.
Pedestrians walking three and four abreast
instead of single file or no more than two
abreast.
This issue occurs throughout the year
but becomes especially problematic during the
holidays due to it happening more frequently.
Security officers do speak to residents and guests
about this issue, but it does not seem to reduce the
occurrence. I would ask our residents not to walk
more than two abreast when on property and be
aware of those that do. Some of the most
influential people in our lives are our peers. When
residents point out safety issues to one another,
they are more likely to heed the “advice”.
Security
Your Safety is Our Priority
.
February 2014 6
