O’FALLON, Mo. – Residents in O’Fallon, Missouri, decided to take matters into their own hands to solve a problem communities all over the St. Louis area have been dealing with.
Residents said they are trying to stop people from speeding through their community. Cory Starkey got the idea of neighbors putting their speed bumps and speed cones in the street to slow down traffic.
“I’ve made a makeshift speed bump out here; I’ve put cones out just to try to get the community to be aware that if you come through here, we’re going to slow you down,” Starkey said. “They’re portable speed bumps they’re made out of rubber, so whenever the kids are out, I can drag them out, whenever the kids are in, I bring them back into the garage.”
He said he had some officials complain about the practice but said if they did it then they just can’t get action from O’Fallon.
“They were trying to get a stop sign. Since there’s no sidewalks out here, it’s an older subdivision this is the only place they have to play,” Starkey said. “We’ve done our petition, but the city denied it saying there’s not enough traffic through here. This is a cut-through from Highway P to Main Street.”
The city of O’Fallon is trying to throw cold water on residents’ plans.
“We don’t suggest or want any of our residents to take matters into their own hands,” said Tony Michalka, spokesperson for the city of O’Fallon, Missouri. “We don’t want anybody putting anything out on to roadways that could impede other vehicles causing danger to other people, making everyone else unsafe. It is illegal, you cannot put anything, and third party measures out into roadways whether or not it’s a speed bump or anything on the curbs of the road to impede traffic.”