Neighborhoods Under Siege By Speeders and Reckless Drivers

Wilderness Lake Preserve is a microcosm of the exurban lifestyle in Pasco County, with homes built in the last decade on winding streets and quiet cul-de-sacs, and not surprisingly it suffers from the same life-threatening menace that incongruously plagues so many nearby communities. The menace is a toxic combination of speeding and careless, distracted and even reckless driving. Consider the following:

• September 2007: Late at night a young driver enters the undeveloped portion of Connerton at high speed and strikes the curb of a traffic circle, vaulting his Acura into the air and killing him. He had narrowly survived a traffic accident the year before, spending 11 days in a coma.

• September 2010: In Wilderness Lake Preserve a man is arrested for throwing a large metal object at the windshield of an approaching school bus after he became exasperated at what he believed was habitual speeding.

• October 2010: In Wilderness Lake Preserve a mother and her 7-year-old son are struck on the way to the school bus stop by a driver who said he never saw them. The mother is killed.

• June 2011: In Oakstead, a motorcyclist lost his life when was struck head on in a late-night accident.

• December 2011: A woman with her two young daughters in her minivan strikes a tree on Wilderness Lake Preserve Boulevard and careens into a pond. All emerge uninjured.

These are just a small sample of what residents of many communities are dealing with on a daily basis. On Wilderness Lake Preserve’s community bulletin board website, residents post the descriptions and in some cases the license plate numbers of vehicles seen speeding and in some cases even driving through playgrounds in the “Beware of Lunatic Driver Thread.” One driver reported there was in a marked City of Tampa police car.

Sheriff’s deputies routinely operate radar traps within the community to enforce the 20 mph speed limit, sometimes even using motorcycles and unmarked patrol cars. Recently they placed a radar speed trailer on the main road for several days, showing each driver their speed as they approached.

That these measures would be needed is even more astonishing in light of the great care that was taken by the developers to design the main road in a way that naturally limits the speed that drivers travel, without resorting to speed bumps or tables. The technique, called “traffic calming” relies on tight turns and median islands that narrow the road, deterring most drivers from treating it as a high-speed thoroughfare. Nonetheless the problems continue, and not just among youthful drivers.

In the final analysis the failure is one of simple civility to one’s neighbors, along with a disregard of personal safety and the safety of others. These are hard economic times, and while many may be tempted to pull away from their communities, the answer will be found in returning to cooperative values, especially ones that reduce the chance of families being traumatically deprived of breadwinners, mothers and children.

Think about it, and tell your kids.