CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Speeding drivers in a Bon Air neighborhood are leaving some residents scared and fed up.
The speed limit along Bannon Road is 25 miles per hour, a number some residents said drivers aren’t following. They want the speeding to stop before its too late.
“A car came through our neighborhood going like 60 miles an hour,” Shellie Smith, who lives along Bannon Road, said.
Smith said because of a new Trader Joe’s and Planet Fitness at the nearby intersection of Huguenot Road and Buford Road, the traffic has gotten heavier. She said it is causing cars to cut through her neighborhood to escape that traffic, but they are re going way too fast while doing so.
“I have four children. And numerous neighbors have children and our children like to play basketball, they ride their bikes,” Smith said. “If you’re just trying to beat a light or get there faster, like there’s kids that are affected in these neighborhoods,”
Chesterfield Police said they have given out four tickets and one warning in and around Bannon Road since 2020. Law enforcement officials added they don’t recall any traffic related complaints on the road but added that residents can submit traffic safety complaints online.
Chesterfield County officials also said in the following statement to 8News that they have not received any complaints about speeding on Bannon Road so far:
The Chesterfield Department of Transportation (CDOT) has not recorded any complaints about speeding on Bannon Road. However, both CDOT and the Chesterfield County Police Department (CCPD) are regularly contacted about speeding on residential roads throughout the county. Any existing speed bumps in Chesterfield were installed years ago as pilot projects. While we now do not install speed bumps, we do work with neighborhoods on implementing additional fines for speeding. To install such signs, it requires CDOT to confirm a speeding problem, and then confirm that there is majority support from the neighborhood through a survey to residents.
Statement from the Chesterfield Department of Transportation
Smith said she and her neighbors just want to see something done before it’s too late.
“We would do almost anything to make sure that this is cut down on,” Smith said. “Our biggest goal would be to have a speed bump. Our littlest goal would be to have even a child at play sign or rumble strips.”
