INC NEWS - Fw: Pace Car Update

[Mike - Hotmail]

INC'ers.

Traffic in our neighborhoods is always a primary concern each year when INC asks you to prioritize community problems.

this is particularly important for not only traffic volumes but also individual speeders along residential streets.

Several months ago Christina came to PAC 2 and did a presentation on a possible "Pace Car Program" in Durham.

She recently sent out this posting.

If you are interested in learning more,   please contact her.

mike
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Christina Headrick 
To: risafoster at aol.com ; jdurrance at nc.rr.com ; hmajes2474 at aol.com ; didaniel at aol.com ; mwshiflett at hotmail.com ; toya.merritt at durhamnc.gov ; eabrams930 at aol.com ; pbarron at gmail.com ; ken.gasch at hldproductions.com ; tomcoinfo at nc.rr.com ; pamcampa at hotmail.com ; bobbe55 at hotmail.com ; sjcdurham at aol.com ; Cfdoyle at nc.rr.com ; Barry Ragin ; allen.joshua at gmail.com ; Melanie Eberhart ; Richard Mullinax ; Caleb Southern ; sherry kinlaw 
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2005 2:14 PM
Subject: Pace Car Update


Hello everyone,

You guys were on my list of folks who had contacted me with interest in starting a Pace Car project here in Durham. (Or I know you might be interested in these issues from our little "Urban Neighborhoods Traffic Calming Task Force" that's gotten started.) I'm currently waiting to find out when, from where (and if) we'll get some funding to pay for a Pace Car program from the city and maybe PAC2. I've also found a terrific graphic designer who could help design all of the materials needed for the program.

As soon as I nail down that there is funding, I think it would be appropriate to try to get together a few folks from our neighborhoods and talk about what the Durham program should be like. I just wanted to send out a quick update because I've been getting e-mails from time to time asking about it. Also, I apologize but the past two months have been really hectic for me, so I've had to put this on the back-burner a bit and am now getting going again on it.

If there are "traffic" point people in your neighborhood who should be on this list, please send their names my way. Thanks! I hope to have an update soon about this for you all.

Best regards and happy basketball watching,
Christina Headrick
Trinity Park
682-0629

PACE CAR BACKGROUND

Essentially, Pace Car drivers would sign a pledge that they would:
* Drive the speed limit on city streets, especially in residential areas.
* Stop at all stop signs.
* Stop at all red lights.
* Stop to let pedestrians cross the street.
* Be courteous to bicyclists.
* Display a Pace Car bumper sticker, window sticker, or magnet on their cars.
Neighborhoods could then coordinate days when Pace Cars drivers went out in a big group and drove the limit on problem streets to slow down traffic if they wanted to do that.

In addition to folks signing these pledges, the whole program would be used to generate media awareness about the issue of speeding and try to make it a local cultural norm NOT to speed in our neighborhoods. I have reporters from the Herald Sun, N&O and several television stations who have expressed an interest in doing stories about this. I've held off giving any comments about it until I'm sure there's some funding and definite city support. I think this would generate positive P.R. for the city and neighborhoods who are involved.

The program requirements:

Budget
$750 for graphic designer to create:
* Pace Car Pledge form
* Pace Car program brochure
* Pace Car sticker to display on car
* Four additional bumper stickers with slogans about obeying the limit (Ex: Drive the Speed Limit -- It won't kill you. Good neighbors drive the speed limit. My car is a mobile speed hump. etc.)
* Neighborhood Speed Watch signs for neighborhoods who get involved (If the city wants to go in this direction)

$1,000 to $1,500 for initial printing of promotional materials and bumper stickers ($1 to $3 per sticker...) (Would cover at least 250 stickers for first 250 drivers ($750) plus other costs of copying and postage.)

Some of this could be reimbursed to keep the fund going if individuals paid a small amount like $2 to join the program. Neighborhoods could give the city $50 per kit of 25 stickers, pledge forms, etc. that they get to sign up residents. The neighborhood could then decide whether the association was going to collect a small payment or just subsidize participation that way. Or the city could pay for it all and it would be free. This is one of those issues that neighborhood folks need to discuss.

Neighborhood Volunteers needed for:
* Coordinators for neighborhoods who want to be involved. Coordinators would get residents to sign up and explain the program and neighborhood meetings.
* Participation in perhaps two to three meetings a year of a "Pace Car Parternship" to touch base on how the program is going.
* Volunteer power for assembling kits with stickers and stuff that neighborhoods can get to start the program. Volunteer power if necessary to do a twice a year newsletter.
* Possibly some of us could work with local schools to get parents to sign up for the program, too.
* Possibly some of us could work with local businesses who we KNOW are offenders -- I'm thinking about Papa Johns drivers -- to invite them to be a part of the program and publicize it if they don't accept the invitation...

City participation:
* Point person for the whole program. Coordinate partnership meetings. Talk to the media. Help keep it going because neighborhood leaders will come and go.
* Create a website for the program. Possibly make it so that people can sign up on line and have materials sent to them.
* Maintain database of participants in the program. Possibly putting together and mailing them a newsletter eventually twice a year.
* Other possibilities done in other cities: Give Pace Car neighborhoods or streets who get 75% of their residents involved in the Pace Car program some priority in asking for traffic calming measures.
* Put up signs that say "Durham Speed Watch" on streets that have high participation in the program. Greensboro has this program where the city sets up a unit that displays the speeds of passing cars and neighborhood volunteers record speeds twice a year. The data is then shared with the police department with a request for additional enforcement if it merits that. Residents get a true picture of what the speeds really are, too, from participating...

To read more about Pace Car programs in other cities, check out these websites:
www.ci.greensboro.nc.us/Temp/Pace.htm
www.idahosmartgrowth.org/pacecar.htm
www.slcgov.com/transportation/TrafficManagement/PACEFORM.htm
www.peds.org/prog_pace.htm
www.cityofpaloalto.org/transportation/ntcp/pacecar.html



                                                                                              *  *  *  *  *
Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance. -- Bruce Barton


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