Aaron Gaston candidate for City Council in District 3 joined the gathered residents.
by Richard Lieberman
“We are here to make our street safer,” stated John Coffman. Speaking to a crowd of Dean Drive residents who have been concerned about speeding cars, accidents and what they believe to be unsafe conditions on their street.
The residents are looking for the City to install speed humps on a stretch of Dean Drive to slow down passing vehicles. Speed humps are different than the speed bumps we are all accustomed to. Speed humps are about 4 feet wide and gradually raise to impede speeding vehicles.
“We have speeds on this street that range from 40 to 70 miles per hour,” said Coffman. The City has already installed a stop sign and two radar devices that display the speed of an approaching vehicle. To John and supporters, it is not enough to keep motorists from regularly speeding through the neighborhood. They believe that installing the “humps” is the best response to slow drivers down.
Ventura Police Department statistics show that from 2005 to 2015 there were 770 tickets issued for speeding on Dean Drive. “That represents five percent of all tickets issued in the city,” added Coffman. “That is out of 17,700 tickets issued city wide,” he said. Adding Coffman said, “The length of this road is about three quarters of a mile there is about 700 miles of roads in the city, we are about one tenth of one percent,” he added. “We want them (the police) to write more tickets to get the speed down, but enforcement has stopped,” Coffman said.
From May 1st to June 20, fifty-three days that showed about five thousand vehicles traveling at 36 miles per hour or greater, six hundred vehicles were traveling at 40 miles per hour faster and one going seventy-two miles per hour. The data was compiled by city traffic engineer and collected from the radar signs already installed.
“We had a pretty bad accident about four weeks ago and it was a hit and run driver, guy came through here fast and hit a car,” Coffman said. “The police department won’t enforce it any more they have other priorities,” he added. “It would cost the city about $25,000 to install speed humps,” he added.
Aaron Gaston candidate for City Council in District 3 joined the gathered residents “you all need to contact the city manager we really need to get this fixed.” Gaston said.
Attending residents agree they want to see either enhanced enforcement or speed humps installed. Doing both enhanced enforcement and installing speed humps would curtail speeding on the block and achieve the goal bringing traffic safety to the neighborhood.
