River Trails Homeowners Association

Renee,

  Our hearts go out to you and your family. I hope the little one is home and back to being a kid again very soon.

I too am concerned about the speed of cars in the neighborhood but I am also very concerned about the number of children I see playing in the street.  I see kids talking on their cell phones, texting, listening to their ipod, all while walking right into the road without ever looking up.  A young girl walked right out in front of me one day with her head down texting.  I was going very slow and was keeping an eye on her but was still shocked when she stepped right off the curb in front of me.  I see kids blocking off the street (with their parents help!) so they can play in the street.  There are big problems on both sides of this issue.  Kids need to be taught by their parents that the street is for cars, not playing.  Drivers need to slow down as you never know what may dart out in the road.  They should also be aware and let pedestrians cross at intersections.   I am praying for your daughter and your family and hope that everyone will take a good look at their own behavior that could be contributing to this very serious problem.

Speaking of speed bumps, you don't know how many times I have almost witnessed a head on collusion on the second turn of Salado. Once people go over that second speed bump going toward San Juaquin they speed up. We have children living on that turn that can't even play outside because it is so dangerous. I feel we need a third speed bump or remove the second one & place it closer to the turn.

It's more than wearing helmets, obviously.  This neighborhood is my first home purchase, and in any other neighborhood I have ever traveled through, there has always been a posted speed limit of a reasonable 25 MPH (20 in a school zone).  Neither of them are followed in this neighborhood.  Having received a ticket in an industrial zone for a rolling stop (literally 2 MPH at the stop sign), I've been mindful of stopping completely at a stop sign, especially around the school & when school is out.

Sometimes I come to a stop sign at the same time a child wants to cross, when I am the only car at the intersection, I wave them through and make sure they're on the sidewalk on the other side before I start out again (sometimes kids might drop something the street and run back to get it).  I would rather wave them through so I can see where they are at all times before I move my vehicle.  If it ticks someone off because I take an extra 5 seconds and you're worried you're going to be late to work-TOO BAD, you need to get up earlier in the morning.  This is all common sense, sometimes the one thing lacking from otherwise very smart & intelligent people.  Common sense.

Folks, it's simple. The stop signs are there for a reason, they are NOT a suggestion, they are a requirement.  I can't tell you how many times I have seen people completely disregard the signs, including high rates of speed in the neighborhood.  Most evenings, I am turning in from Precinct Line onto Concho, & drive a nice & steady 20-25 up to the "freak" intersection at Perdido/Concho/Tyne (where I stop for an extra second to look an extra time to make sure someone's not flying around the Perdido corner).

During the stretch of Concho from Precinct Line & Tyne, people have the gall to pass me like it's a 2 lane road just so they can get to the stop sign literally 2-3 seconds before I do, literally gunning their engine in the process.  Speeding like this through River Trails, will result in a case like this where someone hurts a child or adult, and will only get you to your destination a mere few seconds faster.

Is it worth potentially killing someone to save 4 seconds?  NO!  People, grow up and drive like responsible adults.

The speed bumps in RT will not do any good unless they are steeper.  The low profile already allows people to drive across as if it's not there.  They need to be steeper like they are in store parking lots, marked in bright orange/yellow, steep enough to hurt your car if you're stupid enough to go race across them at 25 MPH w/o slowing down.