JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Brad Transue always has one eye on the road when's he working near traffic in the Venetia neighborhood.
"It's dangerous," Transue said. "We've got to be careful coming in and out of there especially when we've got equipment and loud headphones on."
Neighbors complain drivers have been breaking the law on Timuquana Road and Venetia Boulevard for years. The speed limits are 30 and 25 mph, respectively.
Channel 4 camped out with a radar detector during rush hour one evening. It didn't take long to catch people cruising way too fast.
Within minutes on Timuquana, we recorded driver's speeding 41, 44, and 43 mph, more than 10 mph over the limit.
On nearby Venetia Boulevard, the results were the same: a lot of driver's speeding 10 mph or more over the 25 mph limit. On Venetia there are no sidewalks.
We watched a driver speed by Katie Kidd pushing her child in a stroller.
"People have no regard for the families on this street, you know just in such a hurry to get two and from," Kidd said.
Leighton Tesche is a member of the neighborhood's watch group. She said neighbors have complained about speeding for years.
"Well I'd like to see a reduction in the speeding or annihilation of the speeding and I think speed limit signs would help. Maybe signs that say 'strictly enforced' underneath," Tesche said.
After setting our speed trap, we took our results to city councilman Jim Love. He looked into the problem and says the neighborhood definitely needs more speed limit signs.
"There is only one 30 mph sign on Timuquana Road from between Roosevelt Boulevard and the river, and that's not nearly adequate enough. [The city is] going to fix that and it should make a difference," Love said.
Love also says he contacted the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. He was told if the new signs don't help, JSO will begin patrolling the area more closely and begin pulling over people who break the law.
What neighbors can do about speeders
Here's what the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says to do if you have a speeding concerns in your neighborhood:
- Make a complaint to the substation closest to you. If you aren't sure where that is, you can find it on the Jacksonville Sheriff's office website. The Sheriff's Office says that complaint will be assigned and addressed.
- You can become a member of your local Sheriff's Advisory Council -- also known as ShAdCo -- and you can bring your concerns up at a regular meeting. Then at the next meeting, you will be informed on how the complaint was handled and given those results.
- As for the smart trailer -- which you may have seen set up to record the speed of drivers in a particular area -- that can be requested through the Sheriff's Office. Once the request comes in, the problem will be assessed and then it will be determined what the best course of action for that problem is. It may be enforcement, police presence, or other methods.