Speeders Beware--Thousand Oaks Residents May Be Watching

THOUSAND OAKS —  Next time some motorist is high-tailing it through one of this city’s quiet streets, he may have a surprise in store: His neighbor may be toting a radar gun and laying in wait.

Traffic officials from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and Thousand Oaks have devised a plan--the first of its kind in Ventura County--to allow residents to borrow radar guns and monitor speeding in their neighborhoods.

The civilian traffic watchers would hand over the scofflaws’ license plate numbers and speed rate information to police, who would send letters to the cars’ owners warning them of their offense. If the vehicle was caught speeding three times, deputies would will stop by the owner’s house for a little chat.

Dubbed the Neighborhood Speed Awareness Program, the concept has been reviewed and approved by the city’s Traffic and Transportation Advisory Commission and is expected to be approved by the City Council.

“It’s really not being done to intimidate,” said Cathy Schutz, chairwoman of the traffic commission. “I think a lot of times, the speeders are people in the neighborhood, but the people don’t realize how fast they’re driving sometimes. We’re just hoping to get them to slow down.”

Sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Bailey said that roughly 90% of the complaints received by police in Thousand Oaks have to do with traffic and speeding--which speaks to the city’s standing as one of the safest communities in America, but also cuts into the amount of time officers could be spending on other problems.

After learning of a similar program conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department in West Los Angeles, he and city traffic engineers decided to try loaning residents radar guns in Thousand Oaks. The idea, Bailey said, is to utilize the energy of those who are fed up with speeders to work toward a solution.

“The citizens would not get involved in enforcement in any way,” Bailey said. “They would simply be another pair of eyes for us. It seems like every neighborhood in town has this problem.”

Neighborhood groups often complain to Thousand Oaks officials about motorists whizzing through residential streets, and the groups frequently ask for special measures, such as speed humps to counter the problem, said city traffic engineer John Helliwell.

In addition to regular traffic patrols, Thousand Oaks places mobile radar units on the sides of roads known to attract speeders. The machines notify motorists of how fast they’re driving, in hopes that they’ll voluntarily cut their speed.

Not all neighborhoods meet the requirements for speed humps, and often the alleged speeders are not driving as fast as critics believe, according to Helliwell.

With the radar gun plan, neighbors whose streets do not have sufficient traffic to qualify for speed humps will be able to combat speeding another way.

Those who suspect certain people of speeding would be able to better determine when someone is truly breaking the law, and those who may not be aware of their pedal-to-the metal tendencies would receive fair warning, according to Helliwell.

“There are not too many engineering solutions to speeding, and the police can’t be on every corner,” Helliwell said. “We don’t know what will happen with this, it’s just a pilot program, but it seems better than putting speed humps all over town.”

He said he plans to provide the City Council with a status report on the pilot program after it is tested in two or three neighborhoods.

Marilyn Bell is one of a group of homeowners who complained to Thousand Oaks’ traffic commission about speeding on her street--Greenmeadow Avenue--and pleaded for speed humps. They were told they did not qualify.

Though she commends Thousand Oaks officials for seeking new solutions to speeding problems, Bell said she worries that neighborhood activists would be placing themselves in danger by waving radar guns at drivers who, to put it mildly, are not always receptive to their concerns.

“They use this street as a short cut, and they’re hauling by the time they get up here,” Bell said. “So the radar, as much as it sounds like a good idea, it makes the residents the vigilantes. If I tell people to slow down, I usually get flipped off or screamed at. One person even comes by and revs his engine. It’s nasty out there.”

Vern Doty, who also lives on Greenmeadow Avenue, saw the plan differently.

“Anything that we can do, I’m for,” Doty said.