The old out-of-towners are the root of all evil schtick just doesn’t stick in Hansville. After months of planning ways to slow down those who speed along the North End community’s highways and byways and pointing the finger at those darned “summer folk,” members of the Greater Hansville Area Advisory Committee and the Road Safety Advisory Committee discovered that those who exceed the posted limits are actually their friends and neighbors. OK, not all of them.

But out of the 300 traffic citations issued by the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office from March 2006 to May 2007, 285 were from Hansville. That’s 95 percent — a passing grade in any class, but a failing one for local motorists.

Is the community adding speed tables along select roads to spite itself? With 95 percent of speeders being Hansville residents, it certainly appears to be the case.

The community is growing, and growth will mean more drivers than many will be able to stomach taking Hood Canal Drive to Little Boston Road or the straight shot down Hansville Road into and out of town. There aren’t a whole lot of other options after all.

And while speed tables might seem to be a grand idea, they will seem less and less grand every time law-abiding drivers are forced to drive over them as well. Yes, unfortunately even those who don’t exceed the unrealistically low 30 mph along Hood Canal Drive will hit these things on a regular basis.

In short, the traffic measures punish everyone in Hansville for the lawlessness of a select few.

Last winter on the Hansville Road was a true test for many drivers and GHAAC and RSAC members are correct to question just how a traffic circle would have impacted local drivers.

That said, how will drivers be able to gather the head of steam required to make it up the hill out Hansville in snowy conditions when they have to slow down every 100 feet to negotiate a speed table? If everyone gets snowbound in Hansville next winter, this paper guarantees that the last thing residents there will be grumbling about is speeders.