Truck crash resurrects speed debate in Irwin

UPDATE:
According to the Idaho Transportation Department:

(The department) “conducts traffic studies to determine the appropriate speed limit to post along state highways. Traffic studies include both speed and accident analysis. Speed studies are aimed at determining the maximum speed at which 85 percent of motorists are driving. That speed is generally considered to be the reasonable and enforceable speed limit to post.”

ORIGINAL STORY:
Idaho State Police say an unloaded log-hauling truck fish-tailed on US 26 in Irwin at around 5:40 a.m. Friday.

The unidentified driver was not hurt, but the trailer crashed into a garage and totaled a white, 2016 BMW parked inside.

The owner of the property is Shane Fisher.

Fisher said he has been trying for about two years to get the Idaho Transportation Department to lower the speed limit of the highway as it goes through his Irwin neighborhood to 35 miles per hour.

Idaho Transportation Department spokesman Bruce King said the department does routinely study segments of the highway to determine appropriate speed limits. But, he did not immediately know what criteria had been used in this case.

Fisher said he was told the speed limit was not changed because existing limits reflected the average speed of motorists on that stretch of highway.