From early in the morning until late in the evening people use South Street in Aberdeen as a "shortcut" when coming from NC Highway 211 towards US Highway 1 and NC Highway 5 or they are driving in the opposite direction towards NC 211…. all day long.
Besides being known as a "shortcut" this half-mile-long road is known for people routinely speeding down this residential street, but speeding here can be expensive.
In attempts to combat the speeding problem, the town has been very proactive including traffic enforcement efforts by the Aberdeen Police Department.
According to Aberdeen Police Chief Brian Chavis, from January 1, 2024 to July 5, 2024, there have been 219 citations issued on South Street by the department.
From January 1, 2024 to July 8, 2024, there were 56 warning tickets issued.
A traffic citation can end up costing a driver hundreds of dollars, especially if the driver has to engage the services of an attorney.
Court costs alone exceed $190.00 for most violations. Consider just using the average amount of $200 which would equal $43,800 spent by people for traffic tickets on South Street in 6 months. Of course, the real number for court costs, fines, and attorney fees is considerably higher than $200 so the actual amount paid by speeders is substantially higher.
The Town of Aberdeen has also been proactive by recently reducing the speed limit here even lower to 20 mph from 25 mph and erecting a 4-way stop sign at one of the busiest intersections on the road.
What is ironic is that we drove both ways more than one time, and the "shortcut" taking South Street actually took longer than if someone went the correct way using NC 211.
We have focused on this small local street in a recent series of articles the last two weeks to highlight the added stresses to a residential street when drivers routinely use it like a highway. Sadly several residential streets and roads in our community suffer just as much unneeded heavy commuter traffic daily.
07/09/24
Sadly the traffic speed on Main St is increasing and so is the amount of large trucks and other vehicles. I hope a similar approach can be taken on Main St.