Install Speed Humps on Bobby Foster

The Mesa del Sol Neighborhood has been plagued by street racers on Bobby Foster road for a number of years now. To date all efforts to reduce or eliminate the street racing have failed to make any difference. In fact, it is growing worse. This racing occurs in general at night between 8:00pm and 12:00pm. Sometimes up to 25 cars have been seen participating or observing. Evidence of alcohol use by the racers has been observed the following morning by neighbors.

Now, increasingly, gunfire is heard associated with the racing. All of this criminal activity is happening a quarter mile away from the Mesa del Sol residential neighborhood. Police are called whenever this activity is observed. Calls have been made hundreds of times. Unfortunately, the police are limited in their ability to respond due to the large area of coverage and scarce manpower.

Consequently, police involvement has had little effect. In fact, the racers have become emboldened by the situation. The racers are organized with lookout cars to alert the racers to approaching APD or BCSO. These escape methods have been effective. In fact, we are not aware of a single arrest. The racers use the nearby neighborhood streets to escape, hide and elude the police when the racers lookouts alert them that the police are coming. The police are also limited in their ability to discourage the racing because they cannot arrest for a misdemeanor they do not witness. The racers are in control of the situation and they know it. The dangerous nature of this activity is now expanding into areas of the neighborhood where children cross the road to school and residents may be walking pets or exercising. There has also been an alarming increase in the discharge of firearms in the same area. In addition, some of the racers have pulled their cars up onto the concrete apron surrounding and beneath the Aperture Center for photo purposes. Increasingly, it feels to the residents that the racers command the neighborhood streets when they want to. There is every reason to believe that failure to address the racing and criminal behavior will lead to further criminal activity, and perhaps to tragedy.

In order to protect the safety of its residents, the Mesa del Sol Neighborhood Association is now petitioning for the installation of speed humps at appropriate intervals along Bobby Foster. Studies have shown that speed humps (unlike speed bumps) will not impede safety vehicles or regular vehicle traffic, but do deter high speed traffic. This is a low cost, common sense approach to a problem that has been ongoing for years and which local law enforcement is powerless to stop.