PORT NECHES, Texas — With school out for the summer, more kids are spending time outside in their neighborhoods. But for one Port Neches street, this has brought about some concerns.
Due to speeding cars, the residents of Armstrong Avenue in Port Neches are worried about the safety of their children.
Michael Roam, a Port Neches resident who lives on the street, said that the speeding issue caused him to live every parent’s worst nightmare.
“I watched my son get hit by a car,” he said. “If the lady had not been doing the 30 mph speed limit, odds are we would not have been going to the hospital. We would have been going to the cemetery.”
Roam approached the city council last week for a speed limit reduction on Armstrong Avenue.
The petition that Roam presented had a signature from every resident on the street.
“We are getting a lot of children moving into the area,” Roam said. “I want the streets safe and for people to slow down.”
On Port Neches Avenue headed toward Magnolia Avenue on Highway 366, the speed limit is 40 mph. But, there is a cut-through area near Armstrong Avenue that drivers take to avoid the traffic light.
On this cut through, there is not a single speed limit sign on display.
“I am hoping that we get the 20 mph speed limit,” Roam said. “We will get radar enforcement.”
Police Chief Paul Lemoine responded by conducting an eight-day study using a stale stat box, which records time, cars speed and direction.
“It did not indicate they had a serious problem out there at all,” Lemoine said. “As a matter of fact, it was probably some of the lower volumes of cars on any of our streets we have been doing studies on.”
More than 6,000 vehicles were counted. Of those, 339 were speeding. The lowest speed recorded was 13 mph, and the highest speed 56 mph.
Lemoine said he does not think reducing the speed or putting more signs out will help make a difference. However, he said it is not out of the question.
“They do not care about what signs are out there,” he said.
An ordinance will be placed for vote on next month's council meeting.
Once a speed limit has been decided on signs will be put on display.