Some Gainesville residents and UF students aren’t happy with city and county commissioners being backseat drivers.
Within the past week, several residents have written emails to the City Commission disagreeing with a proposed plan to reduce the speed limit on a section of Interstate 75. Some students aren’t thrilled with the idea, either.
Gainesville Mayor Craig Lowe and 11 other commissioners asked the Florida Department of Transportation early this month to look into changing the speed limit.
Lowe said he wants to decrease the speed limit from 70 mph to 55 mph between County Road 234 and State Road 222 to protect drivers, especially considering the aftermath of the Jan. 29 crashes on I-75 that killed 11 people.
In an email to Lowe, Gainesville resident Richard Allen said lowering the speed limit to 65 mph is an option, but any lower would be unnecessary.
“A reduction to 55 mph would be both inefficient and totally inappropriate,” he said.
Sarah Kleinman, a 22-year-old history senior, said reducing the speed limit could lead to more rear-end collisions if drivers aren’t cautious about the change.
Nadeige Pierre, a 21-year-old criminology junior, said lowering the speed limit would make the drive worse for truck drivers and commuters and called the proposed change “inconvenient.”
In an interview earlier this month, Lowe said the speed limit needs to be reduced to protect drivers from crashes when there are a lot of cars on the road.
“Speed definitely factors into a reaction time, which factors into having an accident or having an accident with a fatality,” Lowe said.
Contact Ben Brasch at bbrasch@alligator.org.
