TIFTON — The City of Tifton has adopted an ordinance aiming to address speeding problems within the city.

City council members approved a traffic calming ordinance during their Oct. 21 meeting, giving local residents the ability to request a form of speeding reduction in their neighborhood if they felt the issue was present there.

The council decided to pursue this more expansive program after concluding at their previous meeting that existing traffic calming devices like speed bumps and tables would only serve to relocate the issue as speeders took routes around roads with these bumps instead.

Through this ordinance, once a resident has applied for a traffic calming program, the city public works department would conduct an on-site investigation, after which they would make a recommendation for the best course of action, ranging from additional signage, modifications to the street layout, or a neighborhood education program, to the city manager.

Additionally, while the ordinance has maintained speed bumps as more of a last resort, it has provided a threshold for roads to be able to have a speed bump installed, including a minimum length of 800 feet, a maximum volume of 1,600 vehicles and maximum speed limit of 30 miles per hour, and at least a 30% portion of drivers speeding or 10% speeding by ten miles over the speed limit.