Road’s name is different, but problem is the same

I read with great interest the article in the Feb. 19 issue of the Sentinel ("Residents Want Trucks to Go, and Cars to Slow") regarding the perils experienced by the residents of Gravel Hill-Spotswood Road due to speeding trucks, and regarding the petition they have signed to get the speed limit reduced from 40 mph to 30 mph.

For a minute, I thought I was misreading the name of the street, because the same exact scenario could be applied to Spotswood-Gravel Hill Road, where I live, and I was wondering where that petition was so I could sign it, too.

We experience the same problems here on Spots-wood-Gravel Hill Road as residents do on Gravel Hill-Spotswood Road, especially in the early morning hours when our children are getting on the buses for school.

I have watched in horror as my daughter has walked across our lawn to the bus and trucks have gotten so close to her bus, inching up impatiently, waiting for her to board and for the bus to be on its way. One truck even blew by the bus when the bus had its red stop sign out, lights blinking and all. This is why I make my daughter wait in the house instead of at the curb — these trucks race by constantly, without any thought for the residents they pass.

We, too, have several blind driveways, and I fear one day one of my neighbors will be going to work one minute and going to the hospital the next because the trucks just don’t pay attention. I understand they have a job to do and that they didn’t ask for the new developments they are helping to build, but neither did we, the families that have been here for generations. We used to play in these streets as children ourselves. Now I can’t imagine our kids even checking the mailbox without fearing for their safety.

If my neighbors want to get a petition together, I’ll be the first in line to sign it. In the meantime, I hope Mayor Richard Pucci will reconsider the next time another developer comes to him with a juicy contract, and remember that his kids used to be able to play in these streets, too.

Wendy K. Bodine

Monroe