Speeding in the Neighborhood

Speeding in the neighborhood is brought up to the Board and membership regularly as a concern.

The Board agrees with the concern so on October 7, 2021, a Board member met with Captain Chris Denny, Block Captain for District 6 and 7, Henderson County Sheriff’s Department. As a Board, we asked about what actions we as residents/citizens of our subdivision could take in reducing or stopping speeders in Mountain Valley.

Capt. Denny said ordinary civilian citizens do not have the legal authority to stop speeders in North Carolina and he highly recommends that we should never attempt to physically stop them on our neighborhood streets. He also said that he has seen in other neighborhoods situations of yelling or antagonize speeders resulted in fist fights and injuries. So what Capt. Denny suggests for residents who live on a state or private neighborhood roads, they should call the Sheriff’s Department and report the speeder providing the dispatcher the make, model, license number, description of the vehicle and description of the driver. Deputies can write tickets for reckless driving, careless driving, and DUIs in our subdivision. Speeding violations must be witnessed by a Deputy before a citation can be written.

He added that only NC DOT signage regulates speed on our streets. We have only one official sign at the entrance of our subdivision that is state owned.  According to Capt. Denny, if we ask DOT to survey Mountain Valley Drive and Kalmia Terrace, our only state roads, an engineering study might indicate that additional signs are needed on those roads. He also said some DOT studies resulted in the DOT raising the speed limit, something the Board and we are sure the residents do not want.

Capt. Denny said that speeding in subdivisions in our area is common due to the fact that US 64 is 55 MPH and Cummings Road is 45 MPH. Drivers leave those roads to come onto Mountain Valley streets that drop down to 20 MPH. They often aren’t paying attention.

As residents, if you see a commercial vehicle driving recklessly or speeding in Mountain Valley, we suggest that you call the owner of the company and report the incident including the time and date of the offense. We do not recommend that you confront the driver.

Capt. Denny also told us that he will ask the patrol division to make a few more visits to our neighborhood in the coming months to deter the speeders or any reckless drivers.