Stop sign requested at 12th and Taylor

Residents who live on South 12th Avenue in Washington asked the city council Tuesday to put a stop sign on their street to reduce the speeding they say is occurring. Geneva Genkinger suggested putting the stop sign at the intersection of South 12th and Taylor Street.

Genkinger has seen cars zip through that part of town early in the morning at about 5:30 a.m. She said she even got the license plate of one speeder and turned it over to the police. She suspects that the speeders are people who work out in the Washington Demon weight room. Councilor Bob Shellmyer said he has also noticed a speeding problem near the weight room.

Genkinger also said she has heard of drag races occurring on the southeast part of town.

?Fillmore Street is a drag race from 2 o?clock in the morning until they decide to quit,? she said. ?Since Fillmore has been paved, our street has become a drag strip. They will come out from Van Buren and go straight out to Fillmore.?

Shellmyer said the rubber tire tracks on Fillmore make it plain that racing is occurring there. Genkinger said she moved to that part of town thinking it would be peaceful, but that has not been true.

City Administrator Brent Hinson said the council has applied for a grant to purchase a mobile speed trailer. The speed trailer shows a driver how fast he is traveling in real time. It can also gather data on the average speed of motorists at specific times of the day. He said that should alleviate the speeding problem.

Genkinger said she?s worried about the speeding because she knows of many people who bike and walk through the southeast part of town.

Pete Lambert lives on the corner of 12th Avenue and Taylor Street. He said that the installation of a stop sign on Ninth Avenue last year had the unintended consequence of diverting speeders to 12th Avenue.

?Since they put that stop sign in, it did nothing but make it worse,? he said. ?Now people are avoiding the stop sign on Ninth to race down 12th.?

Lambert said he worries about kids who play on the playground equipment near 12th and Taylor. He said he has seen several kids almost get hit by cars there.

?Someone?s going to get killed at that corner if somebody doesn?t fix it,? he said. ?There needs to be a stop sign there for the north-south traffic.?

The council agreed discuss the matter more deeply at another meeting this month.