With Seymour Lake Township Park on the cusp of its busy season, officials are reminding drivers to play it safe by obeying the speed limit and all stop signs within the park.

“Please slow down and pay attention to what’s going on around you,” said Park Superintendent Jeff Kinasz.

Five new stop signs are being added to the park (raising the total to nine) along with eight new speed limit signs.

And they’re not just for decoration.

Failure to comply can result in a ticket being issued under either township ordinance or state law, the latter of which requires interaction with the 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills, according to Oakland County Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Patterson, commander of the Oxford substation.

Patterson noted there are many people who mistakenly believe that state law does not apply to the traffic signs posted in the park. “They think (compliance is) optional,” he said.

But those folks are wrong.

Because the township previously adopted the Michigan Vehicle Code as part of its ordinances, Patterson said, “It’s enforceable in the park.”

Motorists need to keep this in mind.

“The last thing my officers want to do is issue a citation to someone, but sometimes that’s what you have to do,” Patterson said. “You have to do something to get that compliance.”

Lack of compliance has been a big problem in Seymour Lake Township Park, according to officials.

“It’s gone on for a long time,” said Patterson, who noted sheriff’s deputies have tried their best to educate people and warn them, but it seems to fall on deaf ears.

“When (the traffic) starts flowing out here, it’s car after car after car, speeding and running stop signs,” Kinasz said. “Maybe half the people (obey the rules) – maybe, on a good day . . . I’m surprised we have not had any serious wrecks out here.”

“If they’re flying through here and they’re not even touching the brakes, we chase them down and try to explain to them what they’re doing (wrong),” he added.

“It’s just frustrating on our end to see people blatantly not following the rules,” said Parks/Rec. Director Ron Davis. “It gets to be very disheartening.”

Officials want drivers to remember the rules are there not to hassle them or generate ticket revenue, but to protect park users and visitors.

“It’s not like we thrive on conflict out there,” Davis said. “We want everybody to come out and enjoy the park, but let’s do it in a safe manner.”

With its baseball, softball and soccer fields, a basketball court, picnic pavilions, splash pad, Kids Kingdom playground, 18-hole disc golf course, sand volleyball courts and tennis courts, Seymour Lake Park is an extremely busy place.

Davis estimated that between the months of May and August, there’s between 1,000 and 1,500 people using or visiting the park on a daily basis. That doesn’t include special annual events such as the Seymour Celebration with its 15,000 to 20,000 people and the Midwest LAX Bash (a lacrosse tournament) with its 5,500 to 6,000 people.

“It’s not that (drivers) couldn’t probably do 25 or 30 (miles per hour) through here. It’s just not safe (to go that fast with) the amount of people that are on the road, moving around (and) pulling out of parking lots,” Kinasz said. “There’s a constant movement of people back and forth across the road (that winds through the park).”

“There’s too many people going in and out of there (to ignore the rules),” Patterson said. “Somebody’s going to get hurt. Somebody’s going to get killed if we don’t get compliance.”

The lieutenant said drivers must ask themselves, “Is it worth somebody getting hurt because you just weren’t careful?”

“All it takes is one kid (running into the roadway while chasing after a ball). No one is going to want to live with the fact they hurt a kid,” Patterson said.

Officials don’t believe it’s asking too much of people driving through the park to observe the rules and exercise caution.

“Let’s create a safe atmosphere for our kids,” Davis said.

When motorists come to a stop sign, don’t ignore it or make a rolling stop, make a complete stop. “It’s not a complete stop unless the motion of your tires ceases,” Patterson said.

He noted the purpose of a stop sign is make drivers stop, look around and verify it’s safe to proceed. “I think they miss the meaning of why it’s there,” Patterson said.

Motorists who blow through stop signs, then claim they didn’t see them, don’t get a free pass from Patterson. He said if they truly didn’t see it, that means they’re “really not operating (their) vehicle with due care and caution” because they’re not paying attention to the road.

As far as speed is concerned, the park’s new signs will increase the posted limit from the current 10 miles per hour to 15 mph in order to be consistent with state law.

According to the Michigan Vehicle Code, “A local authority may decrease the speed limit to not less than 15 miles per hour in a public park under its jurisdiction.”

Patterson believes the small speed increase “shouldn’t be a problem” as far as safety is concerned because the speed limit in residential areas is 25 mph and this is 10 miles less.

Davis noted there’s not really a big difference between 10 mph and 15 mph. “When you go 15, you’re pretty much crawling,” he said. “It’s not as fast as you think it is.”

Drivers who obey the park’s 15 mph speed limit will have more time to react to whatever unexpectedly enters their path, be it a person or another vehicle, Patterson noted. “The slower you go, the easier it is to stop,” he said.

In addition to following the traffic rules, Davis wished to remind park users they are required to keep their dogs on a leash and clean up their waste. He also wants people to remember that per the local ordinance, alcohol is strictly prohibited in all township parks.

“If you want to drink, go somewhere else,” Davis said. “Don’t drink in our parks.”