GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — A West Michigan neighborhood is on a mission to get people to slow down. Many people who live there say it's so bad they call a stretch of road in Ottawa County a "racetrack."
We've all seen slow-down signs in neighborhoods, but there seemed to be more on this drive out to Grand Haven.
"I'd say easily above 50, maybe, even approaching 60 miles an hour down this road," Tim Reeves told FOX 17.
On Grand Avenue, on your way to the beach, drivers can expect to see signs that read, "Not your racetrack, it's our neighborhood!"
In less than a mile, it's one sign after another, after another. In total, there are seven signs asking people to slow down.
"Calling out to people that are driving through, please don't use this as a drag race. This is our neighborhood. This is where we live, where we choose to live. And we want you to slow down," Reeves added.
Reeves has lived on this road for a few years and often walks his dog down to the beach.
"There's this drag race effect that occurs along here where a lot of people come around the corner, they're heading out to the beach because they're cruising, and they just gun it in the speeds that they get up to are, they would be fatal for anybody that stepped out into the road," he added.
That stretch of road right before the beach has a 25 mph speed limit.
"You can get a string of eight tuner cars that race up and race down in a line. I've never seen anybody go side by side in the race, but they just are going out of speed that they shouldn't be traveling down that road," Reeves said.
Grand Haven police tell FOX 17 they know about the complaints. They also say a study was done years ago and, at the time, didn't show that speeding was an extensive problem in the area. According to police, in 2021 out 61,000 drivers, 14 vehicles went over 50 mph.
The Grand Haven Police chief told FOX 17 Thursday that a study done between May 23, 2021 and June 1, 2021 saw the lowest number of cars: 5,907. He added Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday saw around the same of 6,640. Then on Saturday and Sunday, approximately 1,000 more because of beach traffic.
"So we talked about a variety of solutions, anywhere from more crosswalk signs to installing speed bumps, to maybe a reduction in speed, we were given pretty good answers as to why they couldn't do that for some of those features, and just really wanted to get more of local law enforcement look at what was going on along grand avenue with all the speeding," Reeves said.
Grand Haven police add they put police out there during certain times to monitor the area and issue citations. Something Reeves hopes to see more of.
"Just make an awareness, maybe pull one or two of them over? Let them know that they can't do that just a presence would allow us to feel safer if it just controlled and slowed the group down as a whole," Reeves said.
Several people say they deal with more than people speeding. They add people often rev up their engines as loud as they can.
Grand Haven does have a noise ordinance in place, and speeding does come at a cost.
According to Ottawa County’s website, those start at $105. Once someone gets 12 or more points on their license within a two-year period, they must undergo a driver assessment reexamination.
