South Charlotte Neighbors Ask City for Speed Bumps

CHARLOTTE, NC — “It’s difficult; I’ll take them out in a wagon, and I’ll feel like I’m almost hit four times in 20 minutes,” says mother Heather Gear.

Heather Gear lives right off of East Providence Drive in the East Providence Estates neighborhood. She says with the way drivers speed through, she can’t let her two small children play safely outside.

“We don’t go out in the front yard; we have the rule you can’t cross the tree line because people can drive around the corner and lose control,” said Gear.

Joe Meldrich works from home and says he sees it all day long.

“For every 10 cars that drive by, 8 won’t even slow down for the stop sign. You might get one or two that slow down,” said Meldrich.

The neighborhood is sandwiched between Weddington and McKee Roads, so Gear says many people use it as a cut through. And some as a drag racing course.

Gear says she’s reached out to the city at least five times over the past six years.

“Initially I was told, ‘Well we’ll put you on waiting list; it takes 600 cars.’ Never heard anything for years. I called back and then it was it takes 1000 cars in a day, a 24 hour period to qualify for speed bumps,” said Gear.

Both neighbors say they hope it isn’t going to take a tragedy to get help.

“We’ve had mailboxes taken out, we’ve had cars crash into the trees, we’ve had fences destroyed and this is all daytime,” said Gear.