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More Than Growing Pains: Frisco Neighbors Worry About Speeding

In Collin County, a group of neighbors is petitioning the city for changes to the streets in their subdivision after they complained of speeding and reckless driving near their homes.

People who live in Frisco's Shaddock Creek Estates said drivers often sped through their subdivision to access a shortcut between Legacy Drive and Teel Parkway. Some neighbors described seeing young drivers racing down Shaddock Creek Lane, traveling to and from nearby Wakeland High School.

"It's just reckless driving," Michelle Pescosolido, who lives in the neighborhood, said. "You're seeing a lot of kids pass each other, honking the horn and it's scary. I worry about the kids and the dogs out there."

"We don't want something to be reactionary -- after it's too late and a child's life has been taken and something drastic has happened," her husband Bill Pescosolido said.

The couple has lived in the neighborhood for five years. Michelle Pescosolido said she shared her concerns on social media and learned others have voiced similar complaints.

"What surprised me is the neighbors in this neighborhood have been fighting this for many, many years. That inspired me to do something," Michelle Pescosolido said.

Neighbor Sofia Raymond said cars sped past her kitchen window, which has a view of Shaddock Creek Lane.

"What causes it? It's a great speedway," Raymond said. "There's no stop sign, it's a really long drag here on Shaddock Creek and I think it's a temptation."

"I get the city is growing and we have a lot of people here, but there's got to be some sort of control within the neighborhoods to avoid any kind of accidents that may happen," Michelle Pescosolido said.

The city of Frisco said it is conducting a speed study this week, in response to neighbors' complaints.

Transportation Planning Manager Joel Fitts said the city would put out equipment to track the speed of drivers over a 24-hour period to confirm is speeding is a problem and if there are certain times of day that are more dangerous.

"It gives us the data we need to see: Is there a problem? Where is the problem? Also, it gives us the data during the course of the day. Maybe the problem is only during this time and that lets us focus and ask the police department to do focused patrols," Fitts said.

After the speed study, Fitts said the city would share the findings with police if additional patrols are needed. If speeding is confirmed, Fitts said the city would explore adding striping or modifying the curbs on the road to make it appear more narrow in hopes of slowing traffic.

But when it comes to speed humps, Fitts said the city has studied the option and determined it won't use them. Fitts said the humps could slow down emergency vehicles or move the speeding problem onto adjacent streets.

The city also planned to study whether there was enough cross traffic in the subdivision to warrant a stop sign on Shaddock Creek Lane.

"One of the big rules in traffic engineering across the entire country is you don't use stop signs to control speed," Fitts said.

"They know what you're doing: this stop sign isn't here because I have to give the right of way to anybody. So people begin to subconsciously run those stop signs and that creates an unsafe condition," he said.

Fitts suggested neighbors park their cars on either side of the street. He said that creates a "natural friction" that would slow traffic.

Michelle Pescosolido said that solution isn't a permanent one.

"What's it going to take? I don't want to see a kid get hit for them to finally come up with something we can do here," she said.

Police said they're aware of the neighbor's complaints in the Shaddock Creek Estates subdivision and would boost patrols in the area.

Officers have reached out to school resource officers at Wakeland High School to help identify young drivers neighbors said persistently break traffic rules.

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