At the beginning of the school year, students and parents faced many issues regarding the five new speed bumps installed on the Panther Path golf cart path. In mid-September, the amount of speed bumps decreased from five to three.
About two weeks ago, students were in for a surprise one morning when they were driving down the golf cart path and all of the speed bumps were completely removed.
“I reduced the number of speed bumps from five to three, because I thought they were spaced too close together,” Director of Facilities Mike Satterfield said in an email communication. “We later removed the speed bumps completely due to ADA concerns.”
The speed bumps were originally installed to decrease the dangerous speeds of students on the golf carts. However, once installed, many students would drive around them.
Options other than speed bumps were considered, but could not be implemented.
“The request regarding speed bumps was to widen the cart path on the side of Panther Path, but widening the area couldn’t be done,” Rising Starr Principal Mark Henderson said.
The best option seemed to be adding speed bumps along the path from Panther Path to the student golf cart parking lot. However, in accordance with ADA guidelines, they have now been removed.
Golf cart speeding and carelessness is still a big area of concern for parents and teachers. Satterfield added that future projects may include adding crosswalks along the cart path to help students and staff cross safely.