Stop Speeding Down My Block

I’m so sick of traffic speeding down my block. These car accidents are getting out of hand.

I live on a long block with no stop lights or speed bumps. People are always speeding up and down the street. In the past year, there have been 10 fatal car accidents from what I remember. Probably more.

For years, we been begging the city council to install stoplights and speed bumps. I’m always going to the town hall meetings and asking for protection against the speeding traffic. Obviously, not everyone speeds down the block. But it’s becoming a consistent enough pattern to take action. And the amount of people who have been seriously hurt or killed is enough to install more regulations to control traffic. The council always says they will consider it when they look at the budget to determine costs. But nothing ever gets done.

Last year was probably one of the worst fatal accidents on the block. It was especially bad because everyone was home in quarantine. So everyone heard it and saw it. This maniac was doing twice the speed limit when he hit this kid. It sounded like a bomb went off. And then the screams for help…. Sometimes I still hear them in my sleep.

The entire neighborhood was traumatized and outraged. Enough is enough. The next town hall meeting was standing room only. The neighborhood wouldn’t even let the council discuss anything else but traffic regulation because of what they all saw happen. They were tired.

At this point, it's bigger than the individual people speeding down the street. But it's about the council’s refusal to do anything about it. How many more traffic accidents have to happen? We pay our taxes to improve our neighborhoods. Don’t we get a say as to how our tax dollars should be used? They act like we are asking them to get rid of the cars or destroy the road. Obviously, we don’t want that…. we need our cars and therefore, need our roads. But just install some damn speed bumps… a traffic light…. something to control the traffic flow and stop the speeding.

Because yesterday, there was another driver speeding… another traffic accident… and another fatality that didn’t have to happen.

The police are the traffic. Speeding is the gun….