Shallotte neighborhood fed up with speeding cars

SHALLOTTE — It’s a growing problem that might be happening in your neighborhood: people driving too fast. It’s an especially big problem in Shallotte’s Wildwood Village.

Concerned parent Misty Harden said, “The speed is just crazy… We see them flying by each other, swerving around each other. We’ve had incidents of them going around a stopped school bus. It’s very ridiculous and something needs to be done because our children should be able to play in their yards.”

Harden and Nancy Simmons say they worry every time their kids go outside to play in the yard.

Simmons said, “There’s heavy equipment trucks with cement trucks, wood driving down here doing 60, you’re not going to be able to tell me that they’re going to be able to stop for a little child.”

There’s no speed limit sign posted at the entrance to their neighborhood, so according to the law, drivers can go up to 35 miles per hour.

Harden said, “We almost threw our hands up because you call 911 six and seven times — still there’s no kids at play signs, there’s no speed limit, there’s nothing, you know.”

Simmons said, “I’ve called the police department and basically said, would you mind coming and sitting in my driveway and just checking the speed? They said sure we’ll be out with a speed trap and they haven’t come yet.”

When NewsChannel 3 called the Shallotte Police Department we were directed to the Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff said to call the Highway Patrol, the Highway Patrol passed us on to the Department of Transportation. After more than an hour on the phone, we ended up back at the Sheriff’s Office.

That’s when we were told only drinking and driving and careless and reckless driving can be enforced on Wildwood Street — not speeding.

“I just think that if more people in the community are aware of this situation, maybe something just as little as a sign could save somebody’s life,” Simmons said.

To encourage drivers to slow down, the Sheriff’s Office said they would position a deputy on Wildwood Street an hour a day for a week.

The Sheriff’s Office also said if the residents start a homeowners’ association they can pay for road signs and speed bumps to be placed along the street.