A lot of small towns in Guilford County and across the country have a problem with speeders making their roads unsafe for kids and other motorists.
In some cases, it may be a town resident, while at other times it could be a thoughtless city slicker testing out a new sports car he’s considering buying.
Regardless, the city of Oak Ridge has had enough and it’s taking steps to convince drivers to put the pedal to the medal – the brake pedal, that is.
The moves come in the wake of the tragic deaths of two children in town who were hit by cars in the last several years.
This summer, Oak Ridge installed the town’s first permanent digital radar sign on Haw River Road in an effort to deal with one problem zone. Those are the signs common in Greensboro and other cities that show the speed limit and also have a display that provides real-time feedback as to the driver’s actual speed.
The sign is east of Apple Grove Road in Oak Ridge heading toward Stokesdale. If the sign proves effective in reducing speeders along that problem road, area drivers can expect to see more of the signs meant to remind drivers to slow down as they approach residential portions of the road.
City leaders have also created a safety awareness program to share among residents and are conducting a social media campaign through the town’s Facebook and Nextdoor pages. It provides information about the dangers of distracted driving and speeding and focuses on safety for drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles.
Much of the increased concern about speeders in Oak Ridge, and on Haw River Road, came after the 2019 death of Noah Chambers, which was followed by the death of Aliyah Thornhill in 2022. Chambers, an 11-year-old at the time of death, was hit by a driver while trick or treating. Thornhill, a 14-year-old, was struck and killed three years later – also while trick or treating.
To address the danger, the Oak Ridge Town Council voted to approve the placement of the new digital solar-powered radar sign on Haw River Road.
According to town officials, Oak Ridge will use data from the sign to determine its effectiveness and will consider adding similar signs at key spots in Oak Ridge.
A NC Department of Transportation speed study conducted of Oak Ridge earlier this year found drivers commonly speed through the largely non-residential areas west of Linville Road, and it also found that drivers typically slow down to an average of 45 mph as they approach the residential areas of Haw River Road.
oak ridge should put brakes on this ‘trick or treating’ ? consider NO TRICK OR TREATING signs. i have several on sale !
Smart….how do we get Greensboro on board?
Newsflash – Those digital signs will do absolutely NOTHING to deter speeding. Police writing tickets, with hefty fines, is the only thing that will get the attention of those lawless knuckleheads.
Ah yes, evil “speeders”! It’s always easy to rally support for lower speed limits because we’re all against dangerous driving, and “speeding” is intrinsically considered dangerous. But “speeding” depends on the Speed Limit, doesn’t it?
Until about 3 years ago the Speed Limit on Highway 68 through Oak Ridge was 45mph the whole way. That was about right. But then a well connected owner of a failing restaurant in Oak Ridge Commons decided to use her political clout to try to cut the limit, presumably so that more travelers would see her establishment, and stop in.
Her buddies on the council pushed for the change – and she got it! The limit was cut to 35mph.
THIS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ROAD SAFETY.
But now the Town of Oak Ridge and all the Safety Nazis will crucify you if you drive through our town at 50 mph.
Strange isn’t it – because that was barely above the Speed Limit 3 years ago.
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And that’s how Speed Limits are set. It no longer has anything to do with how safely you can drive down the road.
The best response from citizens is wholesale civil disobedience – and I’m glad to say that’s exactly what’s happening.
Our “Public Servants” need to be put in their place, regardless of their supercilious safety smugness.
Until we start making speeding a crime that cost people more money than a lawyer cost and if you are speeding more than 15 mph over the speed limit they take your license away we will have speeding by people who only think of themselves.
We really need cameras than send people tickets but I guess that is up to our state representatives.
In Cardiff the Welsh Senedd (Senate) has just mandated that all two lane roads must now enforce a speed limit of 20mph. No typo, that’s TWENTY miles per hour. This follows their “woke” experiment in reducing the limit on the M4 as you enter Wales from England, to 50mph from 70mph – “to reduce pollution”. Pollution has not been reduced a jot, but that’s not stopping their crusade against cars. The regional Welsh mini-parliament isn’t taken seriously by Welsh people, so voting turnout for its elections is very low, and the Left has taken advantage of this so that it’s now controlled by hard-left Eco-communists. These people are basically out to abolish the private automobile.
So on roads which once carried appropriate speed limits, many in the country up to 50mph, people are now forced to trundle along at the speed of joggers.
So does your attitude that “Orders must be obeyed at all times” still apply in this case? Must we all mindlessly obey, no matter how absurd and inappropriate our directives are? On roads that traffic engineers assessed were safe for 50mph, why should we be made to crawl along at a brisk jog? Isn’t this really about control? Because it’s certainly not about safety – or “climate change”. That’s just how they sell it to the peasants (as China builds a new coal-fired power station every month).
It’s an iron law of human nature that once a part of the population gains control over the majority, they will never voluntarily relinquish it.
The only way to face them down is through wholesale civil disobedience – or we too shall become abject downtrodden serfs.