MACOMB TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Since the coronavirus pandemic began, one Metro Detroit neighborhood saw a dramatic rise in speeding vehicles.
With more people working from home, more children are home than ever before.
“We’ve seen a kid run and almost get hit,” said resident Fred Moore.
Why isn’t more being done to help these families? It’s been a problem for month that has continued to get worse for those living in the Strawberry Fields subdivision, located near the intersection of 22 Mile and Hayes roads.
Drivers have used the Macomb Township neighborhood as a way to cut through, putting children and families at risk. Residents said local authorities were unable to solve the problem.
“We’re a very tight-knit community,” said resident Tracy Ymaikrz. “And it’s not uncommon at all for kids of all ages to be out playing.”
Residents said it was a safe place to raise a family until the speeding drivers started cutting through.
“The connector street opened up probably about a year and a half ago,” Ymaikrz said. “And it’s a straightaway from their sub to this street right here. The speeding is crazy.”
Using a radar speed gun, one neighbor measured a vehicle going about 70 mph through the residential neighborhood -- nearly three times the speed limit for Michigan residential areas.
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A car parked on the street was struck by a van speeding so fast that it tipped over.
“That’s why we chose to live here, it’s not on a main road,” said Lindsey Knop. “But this feels like a main road.”
Local 4 Defenders set up a radar gun and caught drivers going way over the speed limit in the neighborhood filled with children.
Residents said the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office was asked to patrol the area, but all they did was put up a device to track a vehicle’s speed.
In a statement, the Sheriff’s Office told the Defenders that during an eight-day stretch, the radar unit logged 2,425 vehicles travel past, and “approximately 10% were going 26 mph or higher.”
The full statement can be read below.
Knop said the community tried to get stop signs and speed bumps installed, but their requests were denied.
Since the Defenders began looking into the problem, the Sheriff’s Office reinstated the radar trailer in the subdivision to gather more data from speeders. Residents are optimistic things may change and become safer.