Slow Down! Homeowners Cited For Making Own Speed Bumps
LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - They had enough of the speeders on their road, so some homeowners in Larimer County took matters in their own hands -- but now they're in trouble.
The homeowners built their own speed bumps along Raw-Hide Flats Road north of Fort Collins. The road leads to the Soapstone Prairie Natural Area. Now the speed bumps are gone, but the homemade sign warning about them is still there.
Residents said their "Slow Down" sign wasn't working and neither were the speed limit signs.
"So we put in speed bumps, solves the problem overnight, nobody's speeding," resident Al Scott said.
Scott has pictures of the speed bumps he said he and his neighbors made from dirt on the road they've helped maintain for years.
"There were six with three interlocking speed bumps so a person could drive around them at 25 or 30 miles an hour. Over that they'd hit the bumps," Scott said.
Now Scott's hit a legal bump after sheriff's deputies cited him for obstructing a highway. The county attorney's office got a temporary restraining order barring Scott and a neighbor from working on the road, partly because of concerns the speed bumps could cause a crash.
"It won't cause accidents if people are doing anywhere a reasonable speed," Scott said. "Well (if they don't) then they're going to be severely banged in their car, but it's not going to cause an accident."
"What's frustrating is nobody cares; nobody seems to care," resident Anna Ditus said.
Ditus said she agrees the speeding traffic is dangerous -- especially to children.
"Nobody really wants to have a speed bump. We hate the speed bumps. But if it's going to protect the kids and animals, and even us, then that's what's necessary," Ditus said.
Ditus would like to see photo radar or more deputies writing tickets. It's all prompted the county attorney to take a closer look at who's really responsible for the public road that's seeing much more traffic since it became the route to the new Fort Collins open space area called Soapstone.
"They can put in a sign every 50 feet and it won't slow down the traffic. Put in a speed bump and the traffic slows down," Scott said.
One neighbor told CBS4 she thinks the homemade speed bumps were a bad, dangerous idea.
The sheriff's office spokesman said now that it's been determined that it's a public road deputies will patrol there and for now it's been put on the "extra patrol" list in hopes of slowing speeders down.
Several people living along the road say complaints about the homemade speed bumps came from a neighbor who is among the worst-offending speeders on the road.
