Speed Awareness Program
Put Safety First...A
Partnership Approach:
The Speed Awareness
Program is a partnership between the police and citizens, which is
designed to reduce neighborhood traffic speeds by increasing motorist
awareness. Some reasons to get involved include:
- Vehicles
traveling faster than the speed limit in your neighborhood.
- High number of
traffic accidents in your neighborhood
- Pedestrian
safety
The Speed Awareness
Program is for two-lane residential streets only,
and not designed for major streets.
Residents
participating in the program must:
- Be at least 18
years of age.
- Be a Mustang
Resident.
- Agree to and
comply with program rules .
- Be willing to
work with the police department.
- Be willing to
contact their neighbors and get them involved in the program.
How to Get Started
To get your neighborhood
started in the program, contact your neighbors and see if they are
willing to assist you with the program. If your neighbors are interested
in the program, call the Mustang Police Departments Neighborhood
Coordinator, Lt. Freddy Brown
at (405) 376-7733.
The Program
The Three Steps:
Step 1 -- Education
Education
is the first step in this program, and comprised of several options
designed to raise motorist awareness of speeding concerns in your
neighborhood. By simply raising awareness of a driver's speed, you may
quickly notice reduced traffic speeds in your neighborhood.
The first step in
this program is to hold a neighborhood meeting and discuss the problem
with the people on your street. This raises the awareness level of
everyone on your street and gives everyone an opportunity to determine
when the problem is occurring. Many citizens that complain about
speeding vehicles cannot tell the police when the problem is actually
occurring. Too many times the answer is “All the time” and this does
not allow the police department to set up meaningful enforcement action.
Signs provided by the
city can be placed by the residents in their yard outside the city
right-of-way (typically 10' back from the edge of the pavement) for up
to 7 days. This notifies drivers that the speeding concerns are those
of the residents, not just the city. The signs are meant to increase
awareness of the dangers of speeding in residential areas.
Neighborhood speed awareness trailer will be
placed in neighborhoods where there is speeding concern. The trailer
(example below), equipped with a radar unit that tracks and displays
motorists' speed, will remain in neighborhoods for a couple of days. By
simply raising motorist awareness --via displaying vehicle speeds --
most neighborhoods will notice reduced traffic speeds.
Step 2 – ENFORCEMENT
While
heightened awareness may be all that is needed for most neighborhoods,
some areas may require the Police to monitor traffic and issue citations
to speeding motorists. The police will use marked vehicles and handheld
radar units to enforce speed limits in residential areas.
Step 3 – ENGINEERING
To
complete step three, obtain a Traffic Commission Request Form from the
community development department, and request to have the City's Traffic
Commission review the problem. The City's Traffic
Commission will then determine if a traffic study should be conducted. If the
study is conducted it will typically include speeds, vehicle volumes, schools,
sidewalks, and residents with driveway access.
The
Traffic Commission may meet with the neighborhood to discuss options such as:
- Signing, striping, and continuation of
the Education and Enforcement efforts.