Cranberry Hopes to Slow Down Speeders with Pilot Program

If you thought speeding took place only on Cranberry’s main drags, guess again.

The worst cases of speeding occur right in the heart of the community’s neighborhoods, according to Jeff Schueler, Cranberry’s public safety director. Most of the speeding complaints the police department receives are from residents concerned by the drivers who live near them, he said.

“Probably one of my biggest concerns is speeding,” he said. “It’s by the people who live in their own plans.”

The township will try to address the issue though a one-week trial slow-down campaign in neighborhoods later this month in cooperation with several homeowner associations.

Township Assistant Manager Duane McKee said the pilot program will take place July 25 through Aug 1 in 10 Cranberry neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods include: Cranberry Heights, Oak View, Freedom Woods, Hampshire Woods, Glen Eden, Glenbrook, Ehrman Farms, Walden Pond, Cranberry West, and Blue Ridge.  

During that week, he said the township plans to rotate a speed-gauge trailer through the different neighborhoods. He said the Cranberry Township Community Chest and RJ Developer paid for yard signs warning people to slow down. Homeowners involved in the project may place those signs on their properties.

The township also will distribute similar car decals to residents during next week’s

Police will step up their presence in neighborhoods participating in the pilot program, Schueler said.

McKee said the pilot is based on the national Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 program, which is dedicated to creating safer streets for youngsters.

He said the idea for the project arose from quarterly forum meetings he holds with board members of the township’s 67 homeowners associations. At one such meeting, Jeannette Lahm, a resident of the Walden Pond neighborhood and a school board member, brought up the idea of creating a community program using basics from the Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 program, McKee said.

If the campaign is successful, it may be implemented in other neighborhoods, McKee said. Schueler said he hopes neighbors encouraging other neighbors to slow down will cut down on some residential speeding.

“Maybe the pressure the residents put on each other will get them to start policing themselves,” he said.