People need to slow down on residential streets

The article (by staff writer Heather Milo) in the Oct. 17 edition, entitled "Resident fears pedestrian safety due to speeders", got my attention.

As a father of three high-school students and one first grader, I have been worried about the safety of children walking to school for many years. Unfortunately, nothing in the article seemed to offer any hope for a long-term solution to the problem.

I travel to Henderson, Nev. (a suburb of Las Vegas) about six times a year, and am constantly amazed by the traffic compliance in their school zones. How do they do it?

Two things: lights placed on either side of the school zones that flash during the hours before and after-school, and fines that will cost you a couple weeks out of your paycheck. The speed limits are 15 mph near elementary and middle schools and 25 mph near high schools.

It always amazes me, when I see everyone from teenagers to senior citizens slow way down and crawl through a 15-mph zone. Even people who are late to work or are hurrying to get to the casino don’t mess with the school zones.

Unfortunately, the only way to get most people to comply with laws is to hit them in the pocket book. I think we have already proven that with the success of fines for not wearing seatbelts, heavy fines for littering and double fines in construction zones.

You can put up speed-monitoring machines and provide educational-outreach programs, but when a driver loses a week or two of pay for not slowing down, you got their attention. If drivers still refuse to slow down, at least the revenues from the increased fines might fund another police car.

Let’s take the necessary steps to improve safety for our children.

Andy Lupanow

Thousand Oaks