A Detroit man has been begging the city to slow reckless drivers in his neighborhood by installing speed bumps. The city has denied his requests and last month, he was injured by the very thing he was trying to stop. A truck sped through his neighborhood at twice the speed limit, hitting him and putting him in critical condition.
Aaron Dome is a Detroit east side resident trying to protect his neighborhood, reports FOX 2 Detroit. Over the years he’s recorded speeding drivers racing through Lakewood Street between Jefferson and Kercheval streets. Dome has reported hundreds of speeding drivers to the city and the mayor, begging for the installation of speed humps. The city has denied the repeated requests.
In late July, Dome was pulling into his driveway in a fourth-generation Honda Accord when a pickup doing twice the speed limit smashed into his car. Incredibly, another car going a similar speed was right behind the truck, straddling the middle of the street.
The violent crash sent Dome into intensive care with a traumatic brain injury and other injuries. His girlfriend described a sad scene, from FOX 2 Detroit:
“It was the most frightening and nightmarish sound that I’ve ever heard,” Summers said. “He was slouched over, unconscious, bleeding profusely from his head and my first thought was he is not going to live. It was the scariest moment of my life.”
Why has the city denied his requests for speed humps? The city determines whether an area needs speed humps based on the number of kids on the street, proximity to a park or church, and reports of speeding and traffic. Detroit has installed speed humps in 4,500 areas, but not Dome’s neighborhood. Lakewood Street is a fairly empty street with a long stretch of empty lots between homes.
The city told the couple that their street isn’t eligible for speed humps because it is not close to a park or church. A statement from Detroit Department of Public Works director Ron Brundidge confirms:
“This accident, along with recent DPD traffic enforcement, further demonstrates that speeding is a major public health concern citywide.
“Our review of the request for speed humps on this block of Lakewood determined it was not eligible under the 2021 program due to it not meeting the minimum requirements for housing density, number of children living in the area, and crash history.
“However, DPW continues to monitor traffic concerns and will revisit the Lakewood request in light of this updated information.”
Thankfully, Dome is already on the way to recovering from the ordeal, but there have been no further updates about his condition since the original story. The Detroit Police Department says that on the day that Dome was hit it issued 15 citations by their house. Clearly, the threat of getting a speeding ticket isn’t slowing the drivers down.
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