Wildwood's Police Chief said signs advertising for speed limits in neighborhoods in The Villages are creating a dangerous situation. That’s because they are on the main roads where he said confused drivers slam on the brakes.
As people round the corner onto 466A in front of the Sumter County Administration building and library, drivers are faced with making some split second decisions. The first thing most drivers likely notice are a pair of signs on each side of the road with the words "Speed Limit" and 20, but just a little bit down the road another sign says 45.
“If all the sudden you are going 20 and then you can go 45 that doesn’t make much sense," said The Villages resident Vonda Davis.
The first signs are actually advisory signs for The Villages neighborhoods, on the other sides of gates, and have nothing to do with the speed limit on the six-lane road. Below the 20 mph marking are the words, "Unless Otherwise Posted."
Twelve similar signs are posted at entrances to The Villages all over the county.
Sumter County’s Administrator Bradley Arnold said people have figured out which speed limit to follow since they were first installed three years ago.
“I have seen people will tap their brakes when they see the neighborhood sign," Arnold said. "But, then they immediately see the speed limit regulatory sign and move on.”
But an open letter to residents from Wildwood Police Chief E.W. Reeser remains posted at the Wildwood Police Department and on their Facebook page, warning drivers of cars in front of them slamming on their brakes.
Even with time to study the signs while standing on the sidewalk people were confused.
When asked about the speed limit Carol Clausen said, "from here until it says 45 I would say it is 20 miles per hour."
When asked if she thought that meant it was ultimately a 50-foot speed trap then, she responded, "Well I’m not sure, I don’t know.”
Chief Reeser makes it clear in his letter, Wildwood Police aren't ticketing drivers in the small stretch of roadway.
Wildwood’s Chief lost his bid to have them removed, but said this week he’d still like to see them changed to green information signs. But the county administrator said that’s not possible because they are legal speed limits, just not for the road they’re on.
The signs on major roadways have allowed the county to remove 50 speed limit signs in neighborhoods.
“That’s why we went with this approach because we want consistency in the individual neighborhoods,” Arnold said.
In the past year another Sumter County city also went to uniform speed limits, unless otherwise posted. All entrances to Center Hill warn drivers of 25 mile per hour neighborhood speed limits.