A Chilmark police report on Middle Road traffic is in and the results are not flattering: of the 14,500 vehicles clocked in a 13-day period last June on the road which stretches from Beetlebung corner into West Tisbury, more than 87 per cent were speeding.

According to police chief Timothy Rich, who presented the data at a selectmen’s meeting last Thursday, the main offenders were local.

“Prime time on the ’07 report is 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. It’s parents going to Chilmark School or West Tisbury School. It’s all residents of the road,” he said.

Chief Rich called on the selectmen for advice on how to proceed in terms of enforcement, emphasizing that writing a lot of tickets may not be a popular move.

The vast majority of the speeding is confined to below the 45 miles-per-hour mark, he added.

“Twenty nine vehicles are going over 45 miles per hour. It’s statistically nothing,” he said, adding that the question is when do the patrolmen begin to ticket.

“At what point to we consider it speeding?” He asked. “Are we willing to politically accept when tickets are issued? We can write tickets.”

He added that speeding clocked in the hour leading up to 7 a.m. indicated that drivers coming from Chilmark are rushing to the early ferry.

The report analyzes vehicles passing by 35 Middle Road, which is in a 25 miles per hour zone from May 31 to June 12. A total of 1,565 vehicles were clocked at an average speed of 30 miles per hour, with 87 per cent of eastbound traffic and 86 per cent westbound traveling at speeds between 25 and 40 miles per hour.

However a negligible 0.7 and 0.2 per cent of vehicles respectively were traveling above 40 miles per hour.

From the sample data, the majority of the speeding over 40 occurred between the commuter hours of 8 to 9 a.m. and 5 to 6 p.m.

Chief Rich added that drivers who are new to the windy road are less likely to speed than regulars who know the terrain.

“Strangers aren’t jumping on these roads and careening round. They’re tricky,” he said.

Chief Rich put forward the possibility of a rigorous campaign on the road to help change behavior.

Selectmen J. B. Riggs Parker said in the interest of fairness regulations for Middle Road should apply to the rest of the town. But Chief Rich said a targeted campaign for Middle Road could be effective. He added that this could include a system of warnings for first offenses.

Ultimately, though, he said, it was not a police decision as to how and where the lines are drawn.

“We’re just the tool,” he said.

Chairman Frank Fenner said he would like to see improved signs on the road, arguing that the changing speed limits could be clearer.

The police department has also conducted surveys of North Road and the roads leading to Menemsha.

The survey of Middle Road was headed by patrolman Jeffrey Day. The data was collected using a TRAX monitoring device which collects data on speed time and direction of travel and uses a single length of tubing fixed to the road. The report also includes data collected from April to July of 2008. Chief Rich said that much of the data is still raw and needs to be extracted to make a clearer picture of traffic trends. He added that the road is a used as a route between towns by locals looking to avoid traffic.

“You rarely see a moped. No buses are allowed down there,” he said.

He said despite numerous complaints, vehicle accidents on the road are not disproportionate to elsewhere in Chilmark.