Complaints drive down speed limit on busy road

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Neighbors are begging drivers to slow down. After a number of complaints, the NCDOT lowered the speed limit on White Road in Ogden from 35 mph to 25 mph.

“The death trap,” neighbor Carolyn Lyle said. “I call this the death trap.”

Neighbors say cars come flying down White Road, often used as a cut through road. But they’re worried that eventually someone’s going to get seriously hurt, or even worse.

“We need stop signs. that’s the main thing,” another neighbor said.

Some neighbors along White Road even live in fear in their own neighborhood.

“I’ll back out and I get honked at because I’m not backing out fast enough for the person that’s doing 45,” neighbor Lauren Breland said.

Breland lives right by an intersection with a two-way stop. She says they have been pushing to make that a four-way stop.

“I’ve seen a couple accidents,” neighbor Tyler Agena said. “None as bad as the car that was flipped on top of itself in this intersection.”

Agena says that’s the same intersection where kids wait for the bus.

Breland doesn’t even feel safe letting her daughter play in her own yard.

“She does not come outside to play or ride her bike,” she said. “Not here.”

After a number of neighbors complained, the DOT completed a study and decided to lower the speed limit on White Road and neighboring roads.

“Just happened to wake up one morning,” Breland said. “I think it was Sunday, and I’m like, ‘The speed limit is now 25. this is awesome. that’s a good step.”

What neighbors really want to see is more stop signs.

“What I would prefer, what the neighborhood would prefer, our HOA has really been pushing for a four-way stop here or even speed bumps would help,” Agena said.

Agena says cars fly down the road, and she sees cars dodge each other like it’s a speedway.

“The speed limit signs are great to have, but nobody pays attention to them. they’re just ridiculous,” one neighbor said.

Neighbors all say the speed limit change is progress, but it’s just not enough.

“What does it take?” Lyle said. “What child? What grandparent? What mother? What father does it take for the state to give me two stop signs?”

Neighbors say they are still pushing for stop signs. The DOT says the 25 mph speed limit has been put in place on all the state-maintained residential roads in the area.