Prince Edward OPP are reminding area motorists looking to avoid official detour routes on the east end of Main Street that Hill Street and Spencer Street remain closed to through-traffic.

A few too many motorists looking to evade the official McFarland Drive detour and shave a few seconds off their travel time have been ignoring the “Local Traffic Only” signage on Main Street. That means the once-quiet neighbourhood streets overlooking Picton Bay have become busy throughfares.

“Local traffic” means motorists either live in the neighbourhood or are visiting a specific location within it. In this case, the affected neighbourhood runs from Spencer to Hill Streets, and includes Broad, Bay, Fairfield, Division and Bokus Streets.

About 30 neighbourhood residents have signed an online petition calling on the municipality to enforce the local traffic stipulation. They’ve had enough of defiant motorists zipping through their neighbourhood.

Penned by residents Andy Janikowski and Bob Cooke, the petition calls on the County to bring about immediate traffic calming measures in order “protect the mobility of seniors and more generally the quality of life for all County residents.”

The authors point out there are many frail seniors living on Hill Street and in Spencer Common at risk of injury from the speeding vehicles.

“We believe the County of Prince Edward is currently falling short of these commitments. The purpose of this petition is to draw attention to this situation and prompt the County to take immediate action.” The petition appeared online in mid-August.

The petition also calls on the County to establish a posted speed limit of 30 KM / hour on Hill and Spencer Streets and to consider the installation of speed humps on Hill Street to address the speeding, which is not just detour-related, and poses a danger to residents and visitors alike.

The petition also asks to have the neighbourhood designated as a Traffic Calming pilot project.

“We are eager to work with The County to introduce traffic calming measures in our neighbourhood to mitigate the horrible traffic conditions we are currently experiencing, including the improper use of our streets as a detour for the current Main Street construction project,” write the petitioners.

Since the petition became public, both the County and the OPP have issued press releases reminding motorists of the proper detour route. Prince Edward OPP are advising the public that frequent patrols of the area will enforce the rules.