PASCO COUNTY, Fla — Neighbors in one Pasco County subdivision are terrified by speeders. They say drivers are cutting through their residential street to bypass traffic on SR 54.
Laurie Jason walks along Ellington Way with her dog multiple times a day.
"She likes to pull, she likes to go in the middle of the road,” said Jason. "People just don’t take into consideration what’s going on around them."
Jason says Ellington Way leads right out to Starkey Boulevard -- and when traffic backs up on SR 54, drivers are taking this route to get around it.
"They're on State Road 54, they’re doing that speed, they’re used to doing that speed, and they just come whipping in,” she said.
There are signs that clearly show the speed limit is 20 mph, but she says drivers ignore them.
Jason's house is on a side street — her car was hit about a year ago when someone took the curve too quickly. "You’re in a neighborhood, it’s 20 mph, your airbag should not be deploying," she said.
The traffic even has people worried about backing out of their driveway and many folks have to cross the street to get their mail out of the mailbox.
The sheriff's office says it’s willing to get additional traffic patrols on that street when it can, and put the neighborhood on the list for a traffic radar trailer.
"I grew up where you played on the street and these kids can’t,” said Jason. "I’m worried about them on the sidewalk. It shouldn't be that way."
Pasco County says the road does qualify for a traffic calming study, it just needs five neighbors to call in and request it. That number is 727-847-2411.
