DARIEN, IL – A Darien resident on Monday asked the City Council to take more action to curb speeding on 67th Street.
The street is two lanes, and some of it lacks sidewalks. The speed limit is 25 mph.
During the council’s meeting, resident Dave Kaduk, who lives on 67th, said a traffic light installed last year at 67th and Clarendon Hills Road was “fantastic” for turning safely in and out of the neighborhood.
“Overall, it’s positive there, but it really hasn’t impacted the speeding, especially further down the street,” Kaduk said.
For more than two years, Kaduk has maintained a website documenting issues on the street. Recently, he posted videos of a car whipping past a school bus with its stop sign extended and another passing a driver.
“Drivers that feel they are impeded by drivers going the speed limit will simply pass them with speeds in excess of 40 mph,” Kaduk said on the website. “There is no sidewalk on this section of 67th, so pedestrians are often walking on the shoulder.”
Ward 7 Alderman Thomas Belczak, who represents Kaduk’s neighborhood, said extra police patrols have been sent to the area and that a city committee has discussed options. He asked whether Darien would do a traffic study.
Dan Gombac, the municipal services director, said he was waiting to see the data from speed limit radar studies.
“Once we see that, we’ll take another step, whether it’s doing nothing at this point or doing something additional,” he said.
Kaduk has suggested a four-way stop at 67th and Wilmette Avenue to get drivers to slow down as they’re turning. Now, it’s a two-way stop, with the signs on Wilmette.
A four-way stop, he said, would not be to reduce speeding, but to get drivers to slow down as they’re turning. Parents picking up their children at the nearby DeLay Elementary School on Wilmette often are in a long line of cars, he said.
“I walk both of my kids to school pretty much every single day and pick them up. We see cars going 40, 50, 60 mph oftentimes, coming through the intersection turning within 2 feet of us and not slowing down,” Kaduk said. “We could just take a look at that sort of stuff and find a way to resolve this issue.”
Gombac said stop signs could not be used to reduce speeds.
“There’s a lot of criteria that goes behind it,” he said.
Kaduk has been speaking about issues on the street for at least the last couple of years.
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