West Falmouth Residents Seek To Curb Speeding

By MARTHA V. SCANLON
The village of West Falmouth is, in one resident’s words, “a major danger.”
In preparation for a meeting with the Falmouth Traffic Advisory Committee, which will be held later this month, West Falmouth Village Association president Paul Sellers, of Old Dock Road, solicited concerns from members of the association at their annual meeting last night at the West Falmouth Library.
One such issue, Mr. Sellers said, is parking on West Falmouth Highway in front of West Falmouth Market. Though parking is prohibited because it is a state highway, Mr. Sellers said that the state would not recognize the issue unless it comes from the town administration or the police department. 
Mr. Sellers also said that he had been “startled a few times” by people in the road in the area between the library and the Quaker Meeting House.
He added that in past years, the police had put a seasonal stand in the middle of the crosswalk to warn drivers of the crosswalk. He said that he had hoped the two police liaisons recently appointed to the village could attend the meeting, prompting one resident to call it “appalling” that they were not there.
Regarding “the always important issue of speed,” Mr. Sellers said that the speed limit is posted as 40 miles per hour on West Falmouth Highway on one side of Chapoquoit Road and 30 on the other. Another village association member said there are not any speed limit signs posted on Chapoquoit Road and Old Dock Road. “People come around the corner on Old Dock and have no idea,” she said.
Members were also in agreement that the town needed to more regularly clear brush from roadways around the neighborhood. One resident said that brush blocks the sign approaching the West Falmouth Highway intersection from Brick Kiln Road, and many cited concerns about overgrown brush on Old Dock Road, Nashawena Street, and Quaker Road, which, they said, forces walkers and bikers into the road. “It’s not safe because you can’t get off the road,” said Martha W. Vaccaro of Hidden Village Road.
Old Dock Road resident Maureen Harlow-Hawkes said that she has called town hall every Monday and Friday for the past five months about the issue with no response. “I’ve tried everything in my power to get them to do it,” she said.
One resident suggested speed tables, but Mr. Sellers said the town “seems to cringe” every time those are brought up.
While some blamed high school students and truck divers for driving too fast on Old Dock Road, Ms. Harlow-Hawkes said that, after living in the area year-round for years, she has “seen the faces” and knows her neighbors are as guilty as anyone.
“You can put as many signs up as you want, but they know that corner’s there,” she said.