The Town Council voted unanimously at its Tuesday, Dec. 2 meeting to enact a 40-mile-per-hour speed limit year-round on Southern Shores’ stretch of N.C. Hwy. 12, repealing the current year-round 35-mile-per-hour speed limit that took effect in 2022.
In order for the speed-limit change to occur, Town Manager Cliff Ogburn explained, the N.C. Department of Transportation must concur with the Town Council’s recommendation—a decision that Mr. Ogburn said would likely be forthcoming.
Before the Town Council voted unanimously Aug. 2, 2022 to implement the current 35-mph year-round limit on N.C. 12, the limit was 45 mph year-round except from May 15 to Sept. 15 when it dropped to 35 mph from Trout Run south to the Kitty Hawk town line.
N.C. 12 encompasses Ocean Boulevard and Duck Road, from the Kitty Hawk-Southern Shores town line north to the Southern Shores-Duck town line.
Town Councilman Mark Batenic led off the Council’s speed-limit discussion Tuesday by focusing on his interest in getting low-speed vehicles (“LSVs”), such as upgraded “golf carts,” off of N.C. 12, particularly on Duck Road.
During the summertime, he noted, vacationers often drive such carts, outfitted for six passengers, to and from Duck, impeding traffic flow.
“It’s impossible [for other drivers] to get around them,” he said, and they get frustrated.
In North Carolina, LSVs, which are street-legal motorized carts with legally mandated safety features (headlights, turn signals, e.g.), licensure, and other requirements, can drive on roads that have speed limits of 35 mph or less. Their top speed, however, is 20 to 25 mph, thus making them a nuisance to other drivers who wish to proceed at the posted speed limit.
While the impetus for the Town Council’s speed-limit change appeared initially to be eliminating the inconvenience that LSVs pose to other drivers, its discussion evolved into one about safety—particularly that of the LSV driver and passengers, who would not fare well in a collision with a car, SUV, or truck. The Council did not cite any such collisions that had occurred, however.
Southern Shores Police Chief David Kole said his primary concern was the prevention of accidents involving LSVs, not regulating speed on N.C. 12. He produced statistics showing that there had been little change in the number of speeding tickets issued on the road in 2020-2022 before the lowering of the speed limit compared with 2023-25, afterward.
Chief Kole also presented data on motor vehicle accidents (“MVAs”) on N.C. 12 before and after the speed-limit change, but they did not distinguish the nature of the vehicles involved. His numbers showed 26 MVAs in 2020; 39 in 2021; 32 in 2022; 36 in 2023; 34 in 2024; and 27 this year, through October. Most of them, he said, were rear-end collisions.
During the discussion, Mayor Elizabeth Morey sought to shift the focus from getting vacationers in LSVs off of the main thoroughfare to “err[ing] on the side of safety and caution.” She said that the Council would consider “accommodation for LSVs in the future,” and cited “multiuse paths” as a possibility.
For more information about the speed-limit issue, we refer you to pages 21-30 of Tuesday’s meeting packet, which you may access here:
The Beacon covered the speed-limit change, which was approved after NCDOT conducted a yearlong engineering and traffic study in Southern Shores, on 8/1/22 and 8/3/22. Please see those reports. Most of the members of the public with whom we spoke then favored the change, and the Council enacted it, knowing that it would open up N.C. 12 to LSVs.
Just as he did in August 2022, Councilman Batenic also drew attention at Tuesday’s meeting to the dangers posed by people riding on electric bikes (e-Bikes). Although the Council has discussed regulating e-Bikes since then, it has taken no action to do so.
Councilwoman Paula Sherlock did not attend the meeting because of a family matter. The unanimous vote on the speed-limit change was 4-0.
OTHER NEWS THAT WE THINK YOU MIGHT LIKE TO KNOW:
Council to Meet at 10 a.m. in 2026, Unless Public Objects
The Town Council decided unanimously to change its meeting time from 1 p.m.—which it has been for the past three months—to 10 a.m., starting with the Jan. 6, 2026 meeting.
According to a “Council Meeting Schedule 2026” resolution issued this week by the Town, the time for Town Council workshops held on the third Tuesday of the month will remain 9 a.m.
We think this is an unfortunate change that is exclusionary for most Southern Shores residents, but we did not have a vote. It most significantly affects public comment, we believe, not the number of people in attendance.
The Town Council has soundly rejected an evening meeting time—although the Planning Board continues to meet at 5 p.m.—and chose between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. for its meeting time in 2026.
Only if the public objects to this early meeting time, Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal said, would it be changed. (Mr. Neal was reelected unanimously to his position as Mayor Pro Tem.)
Mayor Morey was sworn into office for her new four-year term, and Ms. Sherlock was sworn in outside of the meeting.
Celebrating the 1776 Signing of the Declaration of Independence
Counciman Rob Neilson is the Town’s liaison for Dare County’s celebration next year of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He announced at the meeting that there would be Dare County representatives at the Town Council’s Jan. 6 meeting to detail all of the events scheduled locally for the 250th anniversary.
The “big kickoff” for the anniversary celebration, as Mr. Neilson called it, will take place Saturday, April 18, at the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. Billed as “Dare A250 Faire: Liberty, Legacy & Liftoff in the Land of Beginnings,” the event is described online as a “full-day patriotic festival,” from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (Easter is April 5.)
For more information about “Dare A250” events, see https://www.darea250.org/events.
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MEET THE NEW FIRE DEPT. TEAM
ALSO SCHEDULED JAN. 6, 2026 are introductions of the Southern Shores Fire Department staff and Fire Auxiliary Board members.
Fire Chief Ed Limbacher, who tried to show visuals Tuesday from cameras on all sides of SSFD fire trucks, might attempt that feat again in January, assuming he has worked out the computer bugs. What he showed was fascinating.
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The Beacon is still on “hiatus” . . . we just couldn’t resist giving you some of the news, and we had some extra time.
We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season.
BY ANN G. SJOERDSMA, The Southern Shores Beacon, 12/5/25
The Southern Shores Beacon 