Busted! Drivers caught blasting down residential streets in Redington Shores way above the speed limit!
“We would have been rammed over because 5 cars sped past,” exclaimed Heidi Edelmann, a 5th grader from Canada on vacation in Redington Shores, whose Florida vacation is quickly turning into a real life lesson about the importance of looking both ways before crossing the street.
“You’re about to walk and the cars are like 'zoom' and you back up like 'wooh'!," she explained talking about the close calls she, her mom and older sister have had during their two week vacation.
The drivers on 175th Avenue and several nearby residential streets often speeding wrecklessly, according to town leaders.
Redington Shores commissioners recently added digital speed signs along busy 175th Avenue. They also asked the county to monitor other nearby residential streets. What they found, stunned them.
“I knew there was some speeding but I didn’t know it was that much!,” exclaimed Jeff Neal, the 2nd district commissioner.
Every time someone speeds, Neal gets the data sent to his phone.
The results: Drivers are speeding between 44% to 91% of the time. On 182nd Avenue, drivers are going above the speed limit 76% of the time. On Wall Street, drivers are going above the speed limit 55 percent of the time. On 176th Terrace, drivers are going above the speed limit 75% of the time. The worse street: 176th Avenue, where 91 percent of drivers are going over the posted 15 MPH speed limit. Only one street had less than half of drivers speeding, Longpoint Drive, where 44 percent of drivers went over the speed limit.
"We're not just talking 1-2 miles per hour over, on average people are going 15 miles per hour over and some are going up to 60 miles per hour," added Neal.
People living along 182nd avenue, wall street, 176th terrace, 176th avenue and longpoint drive are glad the speed readers are showing the dangerous problem they’ve noticed for years.
The next step? Figuring out how to slow drivers down! Town leaders tell ABC Action News the new street paintings, stop sign and speed readers on 175th Avenue are helping, but soon, a lead foot will cost you in speeding tickets.
“We have no choice because people are not slowing down,” Neal elaborated.
Several other beach communities are looking at investing in the $3,300 speed counters too, to keep tabs on drivers.
Heidi Edelmann hopes drivers learn their lesson before her next Florida adventure. “I wish they'd look at the signs and be more aware,” she said with a sigh.
