MINERSVILLE - Borough police conducted speed testing in the borough this past week, paying special attention to Sixth and Sunbury streets.
Police set up an electronic nonradar device near the intersection, as well as other places in the borough, to monitor driving speeds. The speeds can then be read from a device inside an unmarked police vehicle, and an officer can issue citations to those not obeying the posted limits.
Minersville police Chief Michael Combs said that he and his officers monitored the intersection at Sixth and Sunbury streets for 3 1/2 hours Thursday, when people were making their morning commute.
While several hundred vehicles went through, there were only 11 citations given out from that area, 10 were speeding tickets and one was for driving without a license.
"We sat there for 3 1/2 hours and no one ran the red light," Combs said.
The average speed of those who violated the speed limit was about 38 mph, when the posted limit is 25 mph coming into the borough.
The intersection has been a topic of interest at recent borough council meetings, with many residents asking if there is something that can be done to change the light or if more police can monitor there.
Budd Frankenfield, 591 Sunbury St., has complained that many cars and trucks drive too fast through the intersection at Sixth and Sunbury streets when coming down the hill and ignore the light when it is red.
Frankenfield also brought the issue to the council's attention at the May meeting, when he said that he sits on his front porch at night and the average number of vehicles, both cars and trucks, running the red light in a two hour period is 26 vehicles.
According to meeting minutes from the borough website, Frankenfield has been noted complaining about the light since July 2010.
According to newspaper archives, Combs previously said that the light is different than all the other lights on Sunbury Street and was installed at some point during the mid-1950s.
The state Department of Transportation has told the borough that the light isn't needed there, so the borough took ownership of it.
About two years ago, Combs began to look into the traffic light but found out it would be expensive if the borough would modify it, possibly $70,000 or more due to all the work needed to change it.
Combs has assigned officers to that area while on duty, bringing in part-time officers, and had conducted speed timing for several days in June, which resulted in 16 citations issued.
Patrolman Jeffrey Bowers said that with the larger vehicles, they may appear to be traveling faster than they actually are.
Bowers had a borough street department worker watch and guess the speed of some vehicles and his guesses were much higher than what the device read.
Borough police also monitored another section of the borough that was of interest at Seltzer Road and Gallo Row.
During the speed testing, police found that there were few vehicles driving the speed limit, 25 mph, when coming into Minersville from Seltzer and average speeds were between 40 and 60 mph.
"The reason we're doing this is not to give tickets but to get people to comply with the speed limit," Combs said.
Combs also said that they wanted to thank Butler Township for allowing the borough to use their equipment for the timing.