Neighborhood children hold an anti-speeding rally, urging Washington Township motorists to slow down.
By: Lauren Burgoon
WASHINGTON The Sanguinetti kids haven’t gotten in a full game of basketball in a long time.
It’s not that their ball is flat or the hoop at the end of their driveway used to play games in the street is broken no, the games keep getting called on account of speeding. Drivers treating their street, Ivanhoe Drive, like a speedway keeps forcing the kids to jump back from the curb and triggers constant anxiety in their mom, Christine, when her children are playing outside.
"It’s awful out here. I have three children and I worry every day about speeders. I worry that if I take my eyes off of them or have to go into the house to cook dinner or answer the phone, one of them will be killed," she said. "When I am out here I’m always yelling at them about a car coming and eventually they just give up and don’t want to play anymore."
This isn’t just happening to the Sanguinetti children. Parents all over the Washington Leas development say their 25-mph neighborhood is infested with drivers who act like they’re speeding down Route 130 instead. The parents are fed up and are renewing calls for the township to install speed humps along the streets.
About 30 neighborhood parents and children turned out Friday for a mini-rally to show the town they’re serious about street safety. The rally came about after other measures, like homeowners putting out their own warning signs to drivers, didn’t work. Kids on bikes and scooters rode circles around the corner of Ivanhoe and Westbury Court Friday and waved homemade signs to motorists with slogans like "Please don’t zoom in our playroom" and "Have you checked your speedometer lately?"
Their parents kept one eye on the kids while discussing the speeding problem that plagues the development.
"People who drive through here are sometimes going 45 mph or higher," Vicky Bruker of Ivanhoe Drive said Friday. She grimaced recalling last Halloween, when the streets were teeming with children but drivers didn’t bother to slow down. "It’s like they don’t care or they aren’t thinking. Unfortunately a kid will probably have to get hurt before something is done."
That hasn’t happened yet but the parents are worried that a tragedy is in the making. The parents agreed it’s not that they want their children playing in the street, but they do want them to be safe if a ball goes into the road or they need to cross the street.
"It can get really bad. They pick up speed at the top of the hill and don’t slow down," Jennifer Bilgrav of Ivanhoe Drive said.
Some speeders are from adjacent Washington developments and simply aren’t thinking enough to slow down along the stretch of road, Washington Leas residents said. However, they said that most speeders don’t live in the neighborhood but use their streets as a convenient cut-through to the nearby Hamilton Marketplace. That prompted one sign at the rally, "Take the long way home if you can’t drive 25."
As if dozens of kids weren’t reason enough for drivers to hit the brakes along Ivanhoe, residents say the sun is working against them too. In the early evening when the sun starts to fall, it creates a huge glare for drivers.
"You literally cannot see in front of you and it’s almost impossible to notice any kids playing if you’re driving that fast," Westbury Court resident Vince Calcagno said. Mr. Calcagno is a former committeeman who tried and failed to convince the town to put in speed humps previously. He helped organize Friday’s rally to draw more attention to the issue, which he said is not just a Washington Leas problem. Other roads in town also need the humps, he said.
Forcing drivers to slow down admittedly is not cheap. Speed humps can cost $15,000 to $25,000 each and several would be needed along roads with speeding problems. But Mr. Calcagno said the town could find the money if officials wanted to.
"The town will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a house with no plan of how they’ll get the money back," he said in reference to the historic Cattail Tavern. "But where’s the money for this? Safety is an issue that means a lot to people in town."
Mayor Doug Tindall agreed that speeding motorists is an extensive problem in town.
"This is a public warning: the Police Department will start enforcing the town’s ordinances and be very diligent about issuing traffic summonses if drivers don’t start abiding by the speed limits," he said Monday. "We need to crack down on this. It seems like some people think they don’t need to abide by the law and that isn’t true."
Mayor Doug Tindall said the police are using technology to gauge speeds on certain township roads right now and if the information proves that drivers aren’t obeying the law, the town will look into what more can be done. The mayor noted that speeding ticket fines and increased insurance costs are very expensive, but necessary for people who refuse to slow down.
"As a committeeman, I am concerned about this. Public safety is important. If people are not willingly and voluntarily taking a closer look at their speedometers when they’re going through town, then we’ll need to make this an issue," he said.

