Retired Wildwood teacher Jackie Gardner made an impassioned plea Monday night to city commissioners to stop speeding on York Street, where she lives.
“We are having a lot of problems with speeders,” she said. “They have no respect for our rights. They have no regard for our children.”
A former Sumter County teacher of the year who spent her career in the Wildwood schools, Gardner said her street has no sidewalks and kids use the street for their tricycles and other toy vehicles.
She asked for speed humps on the street, which were installed about two months ago on Jackson Street, where speeding also was a problem, and since moved to Mill Street.
The half dozen speed humps, which are wider than speed bumps and designed to slow fast-moving traffic, cost $11,460. All three streets are west of the CSX railroad tracks near County Road 44A, close to Wildwood’s downtown area.
Mayor Ed Wolf said the speeders like to taunt the police because they know officers won’t risk chasing them through the residential neighborhood at high speeds. He encouraged Gardner to help police identify the violators, but many apparently are not Wildwood residents.
Wolf also asked city staff to check the cost of installing sidewalks along York Street as a potential safety improvement.
“I didn’t retire to be frustrated,” Gardner said. “My main fear is a child will be killed. It’s not fair to our children and the taxpayers.”
