CLEVELAND — The City of Avon Lake has been facing a lawsuit regarding the speed limit from Miller to Moore Road. The posted speed on Lake Road is 25 mph, something some residents say is illegal. The city raised the speed limit in one part just before the lawsuit was filed. 

What You Need To Know

  • William Zimmerman said he got a ticket for speeding on Lake Road many years ago

  • The City of Avon Lake has been facing a lawsuit regarding the speed limit from Miller to Moore Road

  • The city raised the speed limit in one part just before the lawsuit was filed

William Zimmerman said he got a ticket for speeding on Lake Road many years ago.

"I believe the citizens of Avon Lake have been taken advantage of, and it’s been an illegal speed trap up here on Lake Road for an extended period of time, and somebody has got to speak up," he said.

Zimmerman is now one of several clients being represented by attorney Gerald Phillips, who filed the lawsuit in the Lorain County Common Pleas Court in late April.

"You took an oath of office, you raised your right hand and you swore to uphold the constitution of the United States," Phillips said.

Phillips said the city never got permission to lower the speed limit and the lawsuit explains that the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) established the speed limit at 35 mph in 1958, and that in 1989, the department denied the city’s request to lower it.

Phillips said there is no record of how the limit was changed.

"They want to keep the citizens and residents in the dark. They don’t want them to know, they don’t want them to have the right to know," he said.

But Mark Spaetzel, the mayor of Avon Lake said the area, known as Route 6 where the speed limit is 25, is a business district, and for the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians, the speed limit should be 25.

"We felt that the 25 mph with the turn lane is what is actually keeping accidents down. If we were to change this to 35 mph, we believe we might see an increase in traffic accidents in the area, so we’re trying to keep it at 25 mph," Spaetzel said.

But Phillips is not buying it.

"He has to meet the definition of a business district. We know the business district on Lake Road doesn’t meet that definition," he said.

And For Zimmerman, he said he will continue representing those who were treated unfairly.

"My question would be, how do you give these people justice then? Because you maybe turned their lives upside down because you said you were speeding, and what we have is a speed trap, and now you have all these other issues that have led to something bigger and greater. Who knows, they could’ve gone off to jail," he said.