I reside on Winding Way, a street where the echoes of speeding vehicles, unsafe driving and accidents are part of life. The hazardous traffic, coupled with my concerns for my three young daughters who, like all other residents young and old, deserve a safe neighborhood to live in, compels me to bring this perilous issue to light. 

In the past 6 months, vehicles have twice slammed into the light pole on our property, requiring the township to twice replace the light pole.  In the first incident, the vehicle flipped over, and the light pole fell down (and the driver said they were speeding).  In the late February incident, the driver took a chunk out of the pole and couldn't stop until halfway down the street because they were going so fast.  Outside of the known accidents, there are perpetually chunks of bumpers or vehicle light cages in the street, presumably from hitting the sidewalk or worse.  Continuing to replace the light pole does not properly address the problem of speeding of the high volume traffic.  

Winding Way is a residential street which is used as throughway for drivers navigating from Montgomery Avenue to Lancaster Avenue at all hours of the day. The street's heavy traffic combined with high-speed not only compromises the safety of pedestrians but also makes normal residential life increasingly fraught with risk.

Speed humps have been proven effective to reduce vehicle speeds, and in turn, accidents. A study in Portland, Oregon, showed an 18% reduction in 85th percentile speeds and a 6% decrease in accidents after speed humps were installed (Portland Bureau of Transportation). Ensuring safety should be the top priority of every responsible township.

Calling on Lower Merion Township, we implore the Traffic Safety Unit to leverage the Traffic Calming Engineering Policy to install a speed hump on Winding Way between Linden Lane and Merion Road. This would be a concrete step towards reducing speeding, encouraging safer driving practices, minimizing accidents, and averting damages to infrastructure like light poles.

Join me in advocating for a safer community. Your signature can make our neighborhood on Winding Way safer, not only for my three daughters but for us all. Sign this petition to make our voices heard.