Hillside residents fed up with menace of speeders in their neighborhood, demand action from mayor
HILLSIDE, Ill. (CBS) -- People in west suburban Hillside say speeding drivers are terrorizing their neighborhood. One driver recently crashed into a woman's front yard and sped off.
CBS 2's Asal Rezaei reports that homeowner and other neighbors are fed up and want action.
This video captured on a neighbor's camera shows a driver blowing through a stop sign at a high speed Wednesday night.
It ended up going through Alice Dixon-Zollicoffer's yard just moments later.
"I heard some screeching noises and a big bang, and I was like, oh my goodness it must be a car accident on the corner," she said.
Thankfully, the driver didn't crash into her home, but did leave parts of her yard badly torn up.
She runs a home day care, and says the driver came speeding through just one hour after all her kids had gone home.
"I saw the flash of the lights I thought they were going to come through my window," she said.
Roger Romanelli lives right down the block. He was walking his dog when the driver came speeding by.
"Immediately me and the dog jumped out of the way, the guy flew right past me, I heard him come up here and crash," he said.
Romanelli says he and his neighbors have repeatedly asked the mayor's office for help over the past six years, but have been ignored; even with video evidence of one car after another speeding and going right through stop signs.
A slow for children sign along with a couple of stop signs just down the road are the only things have changed since neighbors brought up this issue.
"We need monitors, cameras. We need the safety infrastructure. We need strategic police patrols," Romanelli said.
These neighbors feel those safety measures are a long time coming.
"Now I don't even want to go on nature walks with my children, because of the speeding cars coming through here," Dixon-Zollicoffer said.
Hillside Mayor Joseph Tamburino released the following statement late Friday:
"The safety and wellbeing of our residents is the highest priority for the Village of Hillside and traffic safety is no exception. For the last seven weeks, our police department has been aggressively enforcing traffic violations in the area where this incident occurred which has resulted in dozens of tickets issued for stop sign and speed violations. Other steps taken to calm traffic are dedicated unmarked police units stationed at intersections, upgraded stop signs and street paint, and ongoing conversations with residents about the use of speed humps and traffic circles."
