Siesta Key Residents: Lowering Speed Limit Won't Work

Siesta Key residents have plenty of ideas to make Midnight Pass Road safer, but they're not sure lowering the speed limit will do the job.

Patch talked to several Siesta Key residents Monday morning to get their thoughts about the road that they use every day.

The county commissioners requested that the between Higel Avenue and Beach Road.

Driving north on Midnight Pass Road, the speed limit goes from 35 mph, to 30 mph around a curve, then to 40 mph going pass

Residents we talked to had a look on their face wondering where to even start.

Sandy Fogel has lived on Siesta Key for about 22 years and said speed has always been a problem.

"My feeling would be rather than change the speed limit, put up a couple of red lights to force people to slow down," Fogel said as she walked her dog, Einsteen. Fogel added that the light would have to be before the curve.

The curve is the X-factor in all of this, residents said.

"See the arrows up there and the light? It all warns that it's a bad curve, but if you look at it, it doesn't look bad," Fogel said. "So people tend to ignore all the warning signs."

Siesta Key resident Anne Angers doesn't think a speed limit sign will change drivers' behaviors.

"I think the road's dangerous," Angers said. "I don't think the speed limit would make a difference because if they don't' slow down at 30-35, how are they going to slow down? They're not going to slow down at 20-25."

She's seen a lot of accidents over the years on that street; one she recalls in her early days on the beach involved a 16-year-old speeding around the corner and flipping the car. The driver and his friend survived, she said.

"They were just plain going too fast," Angers said.

Angers isn't sure if a stop light would help, but it might have to be done.

"I think more people would pay attention to a light than a speed limit sign," said the 45-year Siesta Key resident. 

Janet Wick, a Minnesota native, has snow birded on Siesta Key for 15 years and thinks a flashing speed limit sign telling drivers how fast they're going could help. She also voted for Option Six on a Florida Department of Transportation mailer asking what pedestrian options should be made. (Responses had to be submitted by Jan. 20.) However, that survey focused on crosswalks.

That option is to have four crosswalks with flashing beacons — at Midnight Cove Road, South Portofino Drive, Summerhouse Lane and Derby Lane. 

That is the same option that the Siesta key Association supports. 

Siesta Key Association President Catherine Luckner told Patch recently that the group asked for radar speed-calming devices last year on Midnight Pass Road. 

Wick is a bicyclist and even on that she doesn't feel safe on a bike lane.

"I don't ride on the bike path, because I am scared to death, and I'm old," Wick said, laughing. "So I ride on the sidewalk and tell them I'm going by, because I don't want someone to step into me on my bike."

A barrier wouldn't do the trick, Fogel said, because folks would complain about the appearance of guard rails or concrete barriers.

The straightaway before the curve invites people to speed, Fogel said, as drivers are also allowed to pass on both sides just before the curve. Even north of the curve near Glebe Lane, people are allowed to pass near the church before a double yellow line picked up just before the curve.

"I found myself going pretty fast through here," she said.

Speed bumps would cause people to drive around them onto the bike lane and sidewalks, Fogel said.

When you do drive the speed limit, folks get upset, Wick said.

"My husband drives the speed limit, somebody comes up and blasts their horn at us, then comes right up to your bumper, because they're so ticked off at you because you're not going faster, then they pass you and almost take off my front fender," Wick said.

Whatever the solution, there needs to be action, residents said.

"Something has to be done there," Fogel said. "We walk our dogs there all the time, and half the time we're screaming at people because they're driving in the bike lane. There's always accidents here going up on to the grass."