I've had ENOUGH!

To Whom It May Concern,                                                                                             August 22, 2011


I am a concerned parent and I don’t know who to write to or contact. I wish that I could have a police man parked right outside my house every day to ensure that people are following the traffic rules posted for New Sweden Hwy. I see laws broken all the time living on New Sweden and it makes me angry that my children are being put in such danger. Since there were so many people who complained about the speed of New Sweden Hwy being too slow, the city was kind enough to oblige them and return what once was a nice safe speed of 35 mph back up to 50 mph. Yes, the new Riverview School is not facing the highway and so why worry about the safety of the kids when you have adults in a hurry to get somewhere and need that extra 18 seconds to get to work. Who cares about the kids that are waiting on the side of the road for the bus to pick them up. Speeding cars can zoom by without a thought for the kids because they need to get to work. Oh sure, during school hours, they may need to slow down to 40 mph “for the children” but hey, when you are in a hurry, you can still go at least 45 mph. The police wouldn’t pull you over for going 45. Could you not have had the decency to at least make the speed limit 20 mph during school hours? Stop thinking about the complaints you may have to filter through for a few months until people get use to the new speed and think about countless accidents that can be prevented by lowering the speed limit back down to a safe number. Don’t you think the safety of people more important than a few seconds saved as you travel to work?

Just this morning, the school bus pulled up to our house. Normally, our bus driver will wait until all the cars have stopped before she waves to my girls that it is safe to cross the street to get on her bus. Luckily, today my kids were late getting out of the house instead of waiting at the edge of our lawn. As the young man who lives across the street was getting on the bus, a car, which should have stopped, zoomed by the bus even though the flashing lights and stop sign were up. Had my girls been crossing at that time, a serious accident would have occurred. This is just my thinking, but if the speed limit is lower, people tend to notice more things happening around them. When I am trying to maintain a slower speed, I see the kids at the cross walk, I see the bus stop lights, I see the kids crossing the street…and here’s the kicker, I have time to stop!

What’s going to happen when winter comes and that wonderful Idaho wind sends a nice snowy ice drift across New Sweden? Who can stop a car that is going 40-45 mph before hitting my girls as they cross the street? Even though it may be hard to stand up to the complainers who want to speed through New Sweden Hwy, let’s think Safety First! Let’s do what is right and lower the speed limit back down to 35 mph. If you can’t handle that, then at least have the decency of putting the speed limit at 20 mph during school hours. Otherwise, I invite a police officer and EMT ambulance to park in my driveway to be ready to catch violators or save my child from injuries after being rammed by a speeding vehicle.

Hope that you are listening,

Courtney Heath

I sent this letter to the editor and I am getting other people on my street to write in as well. Hopefully, with our city being so kind and switching the speed limit back up, with enough complaints in the other direction, those yellow bellies will change again.