**As required by the structure of our Sarasota County Neighborhood Initiative Grant, this is the fourth and final educational newsletters to be provided**
Are you alarmed about the excessive speed of drivers, both within our residential streets, and especially along the Beneva raceway? You are not alone.
The Association is extremely concerned about Beneva Road traffic, the increase in accidents and fatalities on our stretch of the road, and lack of enforcement of the speed limit.
2021 Statistics identified by the Sarasota County Traffic Operations Department:
● 77 crashes
● 3 fatalities
All within our approximate 1-mile stretch of Beneva between Bahia Vista and Webber Street!
How did we get to this? Via a Transformation from Isolated Community to Bisected Community
The Forest Lakes Country Club Estates (FLCCE) community was established in the mid-1960s. At that time, as revealed by historic aerial imagery, the only access to the neighborhood was from the south, via Beneva Road which dead ended just south of what is now Bahia Vista Street. Beneva Road was internal to our neighborhood. When Beneva was extended in the 1970s it became a regional thoroughfare bisecting our community.
The posted speed limit is 40 mph. Sheriff's representatives have advised that tickets are typically issued when a driver’s speed exceeds 10 mph over the posted limit, i.e. 50 mph.
FLCCE has 15 homes with driveways that directly connect to Beneva traffic and eight neighborhood entrances on Beneva Road. Also, there is a private golf course with golf carts that cross, plus many bicyclists, walkers, and multiple County and school bus stops in our stretch of Beneva. And, due to the proximity of FLCCE to the Pinecraft Community, the number of bicyclists in our area soars during the winter season.
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