ANDOVER — The police chief here wants you to give him five — 5 miles per hour, that is.
Chief Brian Pattullo is asking residents to drive 5 mph under the posted speed limit on town roads, particularly on residential side streets. He thinks the plan will decrease car crashes in town and improve quality of life for residents as warmer weather comes and they start to walk, run and enjoy the outdoors more.
He'll start the "traffic calming initiative" this week and set the example with his own police officers, who will start driving 5 miles below the posted speed limit when patrolling neighborhoods, he said. Town trucks could follow, Pattullo said, as he's brought the initiative before the town manager for consideration.
"It's a speed limit. You should be going under that limit," Pattullo said. "People get complacent with their speeds. It's intended to get citizens back on track and to slow the traffic down. It's a quality-of-life issue."
Pattullo said Andover ranks fifth in the state for the number of commuters on its roads — only Boston, Springfield, Worcester and Attleboro have more. It's easy to see why, with thousands of people commuting to office parks on River and Dascomb roads, the Internal Revenue Service and Raytheon buildings on Route 133 and Wyeth in the Lowell Junction area.
Speeding is a major issue in town, Pattullo said. Police issued 6,656 citations for speeding last year. That's one for every four Andover residents.
Pattullo thinks speeding and congestion in town are also responsible for an increase in car crashes. There were 1,057 car crashes last year, compared to 971 in 2006 — an increase of 9 percent.
If residents slow down on their own roads, out-of-towners choosing side streets to commute will follow because they'll be traveling behind residents.
"It should have a trickle-down effect to have everyone slowing down," he said. "Hopefully, we'll get a reduction in motor vehicle crashes."
The traffic initiative will make a difference for residents along the busiest cut-throughs and roads in town — Beacon Street, Shawsheen Road, Stevens Street, Bartlet Street, Elm Street and Central Street, Pattullo said.
While it will take some getting used to and planning ahead for residents, Pattullo said, he thinks people will pay attention to the initiative, and find it's a way to improve the quality of life in their own neighborhoods. That will make them want to improve the quality of life in their neighbors' neighborhoods as well, and drive more slowly all over town.
And if that's not enough of a reason, driving at lower speeds saves gas.
Speeding, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is one of the biggest factors contributing to traffic crashes. Data from the agency from 2006 shows that nationwide, speeding was a contributing factor in nearly a third of all fatal crashes — 13,453 people.
And most of those crashes — 87 percent — happened on non-interstate roads where the speed limit is under 55 mph
