Speeding In Neighborhoods Has Broken Arrow Residents In An Uproar

Some parents in Broken Arrow are sick and tired of speeders racing through their neighborhood. The speeders aren't teenagers or hot rodders they're other parents. And, you won't believe how

Saturday, April 29th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Some parents in Broken Arrow are sick and tired of speeders racing through their neighborhood. The speeders aren't teenagers or hot rodders they're other parents. And, you won't believe how the neighborhood is fighting back.

Bryan Hallman is stopping traffic in his Broken Arrow neighborhood. He's playing traffic cop because he and his neighbors are tired of speeders barreling down their streets.

"Being in the front yard on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and Saturdays is basically setting up a death trap for my children," says Hallman.

They say it's baseball and soccer traffic from the Indian Springs sports complex cutting through. Instead of using the one route set up by the city, they say many drivers use their streets as shortcuts.

"That's just a typical speed right there," says Hallman. "We've had patrols out here on three occasions and the first occasion they wrote four citations in one hour."

But the neighbors say getting the police out on a regular basis is a problem. Police say it's a manpower problem, but it is a priority and when they do patrol they use a no tolerance policy for speeders. They have used a portable radar so drivers can see their speed. Residents say many times it would be up to 45 miles per hour on their 20 mile-per-hour street.

Some neighbors say they've been asking for help for years, but the only thing that's changed is more cars.

"We have done everything I don't know what else we can do," says Resident Linda Goodman. "At this point we've done everything, but get ourselves run over."

One solution to this problem could be putting radar guns in the hands of citizens. The local crime commission is looking into that it's happened in four other states. Citizens take the radar guns and clock the speed. If they're speeding, mail it to police and police then mail them a warning.

Until they can get the cars to slow down, these residents say they'll keep doing what they can, including going before the city council and stopping traffic themselves.

Broken Arrow Police say the neighborhood can petition for speed bumps. Many of the neighbors say that's not the solution they want.