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CMPD responds after residents post homemade signs warning speeders

By Mark Barber
By Mark Barber

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A viewer sent Channel 9 photos and a video of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police pulling over cars Tuesday morning on Park Road Extension in south Charlotte after our story aired Monday about the viewer putting up homemade signs urging drivers to slow down.

(Click PLAY to watch viewer video of CMPD respond to

Park Road Extension.)

Residents tacked large signs to speed limit signs along Park Road Extension near Carolina Place Mall warning drivers to ease up on the gas pedal.

[PHOTOS: Neighbors fed up with speeders post warning signs]

One of the messages posted on pink construction paper reads, "How many of you need to beep, tailgate and hit us before the CMPD starts ticketing the speed demons?"

(Twitter: Nunie)

Another sign cut into the shape of an arrow says, "30! Not 40, 50 or 60."

Neighbors said they took action after a woman's dog was hit and killed Friday by a speeding driver.

"I'm afraid for my life. Yes, I am," Angel Bell said.

Bell said she worries about her safety every time she walks to the bus stop on Park Road Extension.

"When the cars come down, they don't drive, they just fly right out of here, and when they hit the dog, that just did it," Bell said.

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"Police should do something about it. That's what they're there for, it's what you pay taxes for,” Juan Flores said.

Charles Breitbart, president of the Park Ridge Neighborhood Association, has been pushing CMPD for years to enforce the 30 mph speed limit in the neighborhood.

"It's really been a challenge for us. We have well over 10,000 cars a day coming through this area,” Breitbart said. “Park Road is a cut-through to South Carolina.”

Breitbart said residents have had some temporary police patrols and electronic monitoring signs, but they still need a long-term solution.

"One of the things we're trying to do is to get permanent signs, the digital signs that show people their speed,” Breitbart said.

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If residents can't find $5,000 to buy a new sign, and if police don't take action, Bell thinks it will be only a matter of time before the next tragedy.

"Something else will happen because people aren't thinking. How they drive out here, they're not thinking," Bell said.

Channel 9 asked the Charlotte Department of Transportation and the North Carolina Department of Transportation for speeding and crash numbers for the Park Road Extension.

They said it could take days or weeks to give us that data. We'll let you know what the numbers show.

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