HARPER WOODS, Mich. – Complaints of speeding drivers are piling up in Harper Woods to the point that the police department is teaming up with Wayne County Sheriff’s Office this week to show that area more attention.
Most complaints are about neighborhood streets with a speed limit of 25 mph.
Harper Woods Mayor Valerie Kindle said drivers need to follow the speed limit not just because it’s the law, but also to save lives, especially children and pedestrians.
“(Children) need to be able to play in their neighborhoods and their homes without the fear of someone running them over,” Kindle said. She said she’s seen drivers going too fast way too often.
“Today, as I was driving, traveling down Beaconsfield, which is a 25 mph zone, there was a lady who passed me. She had to be doing more than 50 miles an hour,” Kindle said.
Beth Schmidt lives in Harper Woods and walks her dog daily.
“Somebody was coming right at me. Cars were parked on one side, and I had the right away, but they were flying past me,” Schmidt said.
Chief of police for Harper Woods Jason Hammerle said it’s a significant problem.
“We have our share of accidents related to speeding, related to disregarding traffic symbols is a big one; people just going right through stop signs, complete disregard. And, you know, it’s really a huge gamble when you do something like that,” Hammerle said.
Three years ago, the city installed digital signs that track a driver’s speed as they pass, but Hammerle said that hasn’t phased drivers. He said they had considered speed humps, and some streets have them, but that isn’t much of a deterrent, either.
“We’re going to be out here to help them combat those speeders, drifters and drag racers that go on here while they’re still able to answer calls for service,” said Sheriff Raphael Washington from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff said they had done similar initiatives with other cities, but this is their first time doing this with Harper Woods.