Clairemont speeding irks residents

Shortly after hearing about a 77-year old woman who suffered a hit-and-run in La Jolla while crossing the street last Saturday, I saw two Western tow trucks pull up in my neighborhood. I watched one of them tow away a neighbor's red truck. The other one sat for a minute before peeling out and speeding toward the Sorrento Towers crosswalk on Cowley Way. I assumed he had also been sent to tow the red truck, and was a little miffed that he didn’t have anything to actually tow.

This happens every day, all day long. Not with tow trucks specifically, but with just about everyone else. At least half the cars driving on Cowley Way are speeding. And none of them seem to be residents of this block. They seem to be using Cowley Way to bypass Clairemont Drive, where speeding would be much harder to get away with.

This morning, I counted 10 cars speeding within a 10-minute period: a white BMV convertible, a blue/gray Mercedes SUV, an apple red VW bug, a dark green compact Nissan, an old rusted out Ford truck, a dark blue Mustang, an old gold Chevy Malibu, a black Mercedes SUV, a blue four-door Toyota, and a motorcycle. They were all going an average of twice the speed limit of 25 mph.

The crosswalk sits in front of Sorrento Towers, where mostly elderly and handicapped people reside. I know of more than one pedestrian who has been hit by a speeding driver at this crosswalk. I even once saw a kid's bike laying there. I’ve almost been hit a few times myself.

The very long street curves so neither the driver nor the pedestrian can see the end of the street clearly from all areas. And because it's such a long street, pedestrians cross at all points.

Two weeks ago, I was walking my dogs when I saw a dark car come barreling down Cowley Way at what I would guess was 50 mph. The car stopped abruptly in the middle of the street and an attractive dark-skinned female in her 30s jumped out of the car and started frantically examining the back of her vehicle. I asked her to please slow down, mentioning that a lot of elderly people live on the street and that some have been hit by speeding drivers.

She apologized and said, "But you have to understand, someone just hit the back of my car."

Even though I heard and saw no signs of this, I very nicely replied, "I'm so sorry to hear that, but please be more careful and watch your speed."

She apologized and said she would slow down. She then got into her car and made a screeching sound before speeding away even faster than she had entered the neighborhood.