Street racing in residential neighborhoods

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Preventing street racing in our neighborhood

• By Michael I. Lomeli

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Before we begin

• I would like everyone to take a quick survey to
  see how everyone feels about our roads. Type this
  link into your search bar and take the quizit
  should not take longer than three minutes. Once
  everyone has completed the survey, the
  presentation will begin.
• Google Form https//forms.gle/4LvU2cwBjfNzWxyK7

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Street racing in rural neighborhoods

• Here in Fontana, it isnt uncommon for people to
  hear the sound of cars racing at night. Other
  than it being a nuisance to those trying to
  sleepstreet racing is dangerous when done
  illegally. Illegal street racing in rural public
  roads are a hazard to overall safety as it
  increases the amount of car crashes in the area
  and can cause serious injury or death to any
  involved in a automobile accident.

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Previous attempts at preventing street races

• Law enforcement have been trying to find ways to
  effectively prevent street racing in
  neighborhoods and have tried deploying various
  methods such as speed bumps (Not to be confused
  with speed humps), arresting and charging
  spectators as race participants, citing and
  releasing racers, and deploying decoy police
  vehicles. However, these methods of deterring
  street racing has proven ineffective for various
  reasons

• Speed bumps are effective at slowing down racers,
  but are hazardous to emergency vehicles who might
  be in a hurry.
• Arresting spectators for unlawful assembly or
  curfew violations may be ineffective if the local
  court rules that spectators are not participants
• Giving citations to racers is a weak deterrent
  since most just pay off the fee and continue to
  race
• Placing decoy police cars typically results in
  the cars getting vandalized(1)

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Introduction to Traffic-Calming Methods
Despite the previous methods being unreliable, it
helped the development of better ways to combat
street racingsuch as traffic-calming methods.
Traffic-calming methods are new devices that can
be applicated in residential areas to enforce the
speed limit without the need of law enforcement
presence. The Federal Highway Association has
listed these Traffic-calming methods into the
following general categories

• Bumps, humps, and other raised pavement areas
• Reducing street area where motor traffic is given
  priority
• Street closures
• Traffic diversion
• Surface texture and visual devices
• Parking treatments(2)
• The document provided important information about
  each method including design considerations,
  advantages and disadvantages, and examples of
  application in public roads.

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A possible solution The speed hump

• Out of all the various traffic-calming methods
  presented, the speed hump is possibly the most
  effective against speeding cars according to a
  study conducted by June M. Tester..
• J. M. Tester, an author for the American Journal
  of Public Health, conducted a matched
  case-control study over a 5-year period among
  children seen in a pediatric emergency department
  after being struck by an automobile. The
  objective was to evaluate the protective
  effectiveness of speed humps in reducing child
  pedestrian injuries in residential neighborhoods

At the end of Tester's study, she concluded her
findings in the article "We found that speed
humps were associated with a 53 to 60 reduction
in the odds of injury or death among children ...
Our study provides direct observational evidence
that speed humps are associated with a reduction
in the odds of childhood pedestrian injuries and
supports the installation of speed humps by
traffic engineering departments."(3)
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Conclusion

• Street racing is an issue that occurs in public
  roads and can be dangerous to public safety.
  After lots of trial and error with various
  methods to prevent street racing, a whole variety
  of methods were found. Many of these methods
  served their purpose in enforcing road laws,
  though the speed hump is shown to be most
  effective against street racers. It was designed
  to warn people of it nearby, and allow vehicles
  and emergency responders to safely travel past it
  when driving the speed limit. Street racers will
  be required to slow down when driving through
  residential streets, and thus keeping pedestrians
  of Fontana safe and worry free.

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Work cited

• Street Racing Page 3. ASU Center for
  Problem-Oriented Policing, Arizona State
  University, 6 July 2020, https//popcenter.asu.edu
  /content/street-racing-page-3 (1)
• Klau, Hass. Safety Federal Highway
  Administration. , National Bicycling and Walking
  StudyCase Study No. 19 Traffic-Calming,
  Auto-Restricted Zones, and Other Traffic
  Management TechniquesTheir Effects on Bicycling
  and Pedestrians, Federal Highway Administration,
  https//safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/univcourse/pd
  f/swless11.pdf (2)
• Tester, June M, et al. A Matched Case-Control
  Study Evaluating the Effectiveness of Speed Humps
  in Reducing Child Pedestrian Injuries. American
  Journal of Public Health, American Journal of
  Public Health 2004, Apr. 2004, https//www.ncbi.nl
  m.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448312/ (3)