Residents request speed bumps be put on Coursey Road again  

[email protected]

Members of the local  community are asking the Holmes County Board of County Commissioners for speed bumps to be reinstalled on Coursey Road in Westville due to safety concerns.

Speed bumps were previously on the road but removed by an engineer. County officials can revisit the issue but should “proceed with caution” and do the “proper due diligence” when considering putting up speed bumps again, County Attorney Nate Nolin said. 

“Speed bumps are a serious thing,” he said. “I would have to yield to an engineer on where they should be placed.” 

Local residents said people speed in the area and also cited a deadly vehicle crash on the road after the speed bumps were removed. 

“We had a brand-new road there and so the company went out and picked the spots they assumed would be a good spot to place them,” he said. “They did work. I had complaints from people on both sides, saying they were an inconvenience.”

Discussion on the matter was placed on a Jan. 2 BOCC meeting agenda by Commissioner Brandon Newsom due to residents wanting to talk about it. The matter is expected to come up again during another BOCC meeting. 

Newsom said the speed bumps were initially put down for the maintenance of the road, not for speed.

Coursey Road resident Marie Bowman said the current condition of the road–without speed bumps–is a “hazard.”

“The speed bump that comes from 81 going toward 185, when you stop at that speed bump, you went over it, and then you can just floor it and gun it right in front of my house,” Bowman said. “They pick up that speed and they go. The speed bumps that do need to be replaced need to be more frequent. Put one in front of my house.”

Removing the speed bumps was a “hasty decision,” she said.

Her husband, Steve Bowman, said he watched a woman die in the fatal crash.

Newsom said the costs to put in the speed bumps was $800. 

Community member Richard Willsey, who does not live on Coursey Road, said the matter is not always about drivers being inconvenienced when they have to go over speed bumps.

“I agree with the residents on Coursey Road. I live on Happy Hollow. It’s a dirt road,” he said. “People come down Happy Hollow Road going 55, 60 miles an hour. They’re going to do what they’re going to do but I really think the Board needs to look because we had the death out there. That could have been avoided.”