Speed Limit

Amtrak wants a federal judge to invalidate the 39-m.p.h. speed limit set by Pennsauken on trains passing through the township. The National Railroad Passenger Corp., which operates Amtrak, sued the township Friday, arguing that federal regulations regarding train speeds supersede any state or local laws. Concerned about public safety in the wake of plans to build the so-called Gamblers' Express train line between Philadelphia and Atlantic City, Pennsauken passed an ordinance on Oct. 27, 1986, imposing the 39-m.

In response to residents' complaints that the 35 mile-per-hour speed limit on Primos Avenue is too high, the Glenolden Borough Council has endorsed a proposal to lower the limit to 25 miles per hour. The council's action at its caucus Tuesday night was prompted by a letter sent by state Rep. Ronald Raymond (R., Delaware) stating that several residents of both Glenolden and Folcroft had told him that the road was dangerous with a 35 mile-per-hour limit. According to council president Thomas Connery, the Folcroft Borough Council has agreed to write a letter to the state Department of Transportation urging it to lower the speed limit on Primos Avenue, which is on the boundary shared by Folcroft and Glenolden.

The speed limit on the Primos Avenue Bridge that runs between Folcroft and Glenolden will remain at 35 m.p.h. despite efforts by the two boroughs to have it lowered. At the Folcroft Borough Council meeting Monday night, Councilman Thomas Coletti, chairman of the Highway Committee, announced that PennDOT had conducted an engineering and traffic study on Primos Avenue and decided not to lower the speed limit. In a letter sent to both boroughs, PennDOT district traffic engineer Douglas May said, "The results of the study indicated that a reduction of the speed limit is not warranted.

The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors has accepted the offer of three Saw Mill Road residents who have volunteered their driveways for use by police in conducting a traffic survey. Several residents of Saw Mill and connecting roads presented a petition to the board Monday night, asking for its help in reducing the speed limit on Saw Mill Road to 25 m.p.h. from the current 35 m.p.h. and in installing stop signs at five connecting roads. Cynthia O'Donnell, a Saw Mill Road resident who circulated the petition, told the board that increased traffic and speeding traffic, particularly around curves in the road, posed a danger to those living nearby and to pedestrians using the road.

The 55-mile-per-hour speed limit was adopted in the midst of the energy crisis to save fuel. It has survived into the oil-glut era because it also saves lives. The problem is that people no longer obey it and police rarely enforce it. Interstate highways were designed to be driven at speeds as fast as 70 m.p.h. and even the most law-abiding people find that they whisk along the highways at illegal speeds without feeling any sense of guilt or peril. If the 55-m.p.h. limit now seems questionable to residents of the highly urbanized Northeast corridor, you can imagine how popular it is in Montana or West Texas or any of those other places where people drive 90 miles for dinner and a movie.

Another Uwchlan neighborhood wants lower speed limits. John Mesher, who lives in the Charter Oaks development, gave the township supervisors a petition with 112 signatures asking that the proposed 30-m.p.h. speed limit be reduced to 25 m.p.h. because of safety concerns. Mesher said that there were about 175 children under age 12 in the development of about 120 houses, and that they were likely to play in the street because of small, steep yards. "We hear you, and we'll do whatever we can to help," said C. Ward Braceland, supervisors chairman, at the meeting Monday.

Re: Inaccurate Radar Guns. Pennsylvania has not set or enforced posted speed limits for safety reasons for a long time. The establishment sees the enforcement program as a revenue generator, not a safety program. Any police department that found out many of its tickets were questionable due to faulty equipment would voluntarily dismiss them, and request the court to refund fines already collected. That would be the honorable thing to do, but it was not done. If the program was really about safety, then that would be the mindset of everyone connected.

Pass Buzby's General Store, the Harmony Gun Club, the municipal office- trailer, scattered homesteads and poof! in a swirl of Pine Barren's dust, you are out of Chatsworth - a man-made variation in the wild blur of evergreen and sand along Route 563. Summer people drive this road to get to Bass River State Park - fast. Resident Charles Robinson knows. From his front porch he has seen cars fly across the tiny bridge that marks the entrance to Chatsworth. From a spot in the town's core he has used a radar detector to clock vehicles bolting through.

Traffic, water and sewer issues, chemical spills and zoning were among the issues addressed Monday by the Warwick supervisors in a meeting that lasted more than three hours. A traffic ordinance lowering the speed limit on Guinea Lane from 35 m.p.h. to 25 m.p.h. was adopted in a 2-1 vote. Supervisor Arthur L. Pease 3d, who lives on Guinea Lane, voted against it. He did not agree with the other supervisors that the higher speed on the two-lane road separating Warwick and Warrington Townships was a safety concern.

When Gov. Casey last month signed into law the seat-belt bill requiring drivers and front-seat passengers in Pennsylvania to buckle up, he achieved only half of a traffic safety package that needs to be enacted. The other half is repeal of the 55-mile speed limit on rural interstate highways. The limit should be raised to 65 on rural interstate routes as states are allowed to do under an act of Congress early this year. Casey, without taking time to think the matter through, was too hasty in declaring soon after taking office that he was opposed to raising the limit in Pennsylvania.

A Philadelphia man accused of tampering with public records to issue fraudulent driver's licenses at the Malvern Driver's License Center was held for trial Wednesday. Khalif Abdullah Ali, 43, who worked as a supervisor at the license center in East Whiteland Township, is accused of providing licenses to fugitives from justice posing as other people so they could "obtain new identities to avoid apprehension," according to state police. Ali, who is no stranger to the Chester County court system, remains at Chester County Prison after his bail was increased from $20,000 to $100,000.

A state Senate committee recently moved a bill ratcheting up New Jersey's already stern laws against driving in the fast lane with insufficient ferocity. It would increase fines to as much as $300, partly to pay for more signs warning against lollygagging. Now all the legislation needs is a snappy title - the "Tailgaters' Bill of Rights," perhaps, or the "Aggressive Driver Protection Act. " The bill does of course speak to an annoyance that many of us can identify with, and its sponsor, Sen. Donald Norcross (D., Camden)

I have often said that there are many pleasures to being single, and among them is that you get to be in the driver's seat. I mean this literally. In other words, I'm not talking about the road of life. I'm talking about I-95. Not all of these columns are metaphorical. Sometimes a train is just a train. But a cigar is always a phallic symbol. I've been single for a long time now, and I'm used to driving myself everywhere. And I love every minute of myself as a driver.

DEAR ABBY: There is an ongoing issue between my husband and me. It's his disregard for my personal safety. Our large city is known for its heavy, fast traffic and impatient drivers. "Jon" is a good driver. He likes to drive in the left (passing) lane on the highway or tollway, usually about five miles above the posted speed limit. This is considered too slow for many drivers, who become impatient and aggressive having to be behind us in the fast lane. If they start to pass us on the right, he will speed up so they can't get ahead of him. He says he's "teaching them a lesson.

Snow blanketed the region Saturday, the first significant snowfall this winter, causing flight delays and prompting speed-limit reductions on some major roads. Icy road conditions were blamed for the deaths of two women killed in an auto accident in the Juniata section of the city about 2:15 a.m. Saturday. The women, ages 21 and 22, were pronounced dead at the scene, and two injured men were taken to Temple University Hospital, where they remain in stable condition. The victims were not immediately identified as police were seeking to notify their families, said a police spokesman.

Excessive speed and bald tires were to blame for the Oct. 31 accident that injured two Radnor teenagers waiting for a school bus, police said Tuesday. Radnor Police Superintendent William Colarulo said investigators had filed charges against the driver, Tanisha Johnson, 34, of the 7100 block of Theodore Street, Philadelphia. The charges include two counts of reckless endangerment and multiple vehicle-code violations, all misdemeanors. Johnson faces arraignment Jan. 3 in District Court in Delaware County.

Six weeks after being damaged by floodwaters, a well-traveled stretch of West Park Drive between Bridgeton and Upper Deerfield Township in Cumberland County has been repaired and is expected to be open by Thursday, county officials said. The eastern lane of the drive, next to Sunset Lake, collapsed as lake waters washed over the road. Repairs, costing about $250,000, were a top priority after the Aug. 14 storm that left nearly a foot of rain. They are part of a long-term reconstruction project that includes installation of guardrails and stabilization of the embankment.

A Bucks County deputy coroner who was found dead two weeks ago has been identified as the driver in a hit-and-run accident two days earlier, according to Upper Southampton Township police. John McGhee, 51, who was also a funeral home director, struck and injured a 16-year-old girl on Maple Avenue on July 25 and failed to stop, police said. Two days later, McGhee was found dead at his funeral home. A son, Brendon, said his father had suffered an apparent heart attack. Police Chief Ron MacPherson said Monday that investigators identified the car as belonging to McGhee after a tip from an auto-parts dealer.

A Bucks County deputy coroner who was found dead two weeks ago has been identified as the driver in a hit-and-run accident two days earlier, according to Upper Southampton Township police. John McGhee, 51, who was also a funeral home director, struck and injured a 16-year-old girl on Maple Avenue on July 25 and failed to stop, police said. Two days later, McGhee was found dead at his funeral home. A son, Brendon, said his father had suffered an apparent heart attack. Police Chief Ron MacPherson said Monday that investigators identified the car as belonging to McGhee after a tip from an auto-parts dealer.