Country Jackson points to two damaged trees not far from his Akron home on Storer Avenue. Both trees are missing big chunks of bark because speeding cars crashed into them.
The 77-year-old man wasn’t home when the first crash happened, but he witnessed the aftermath of the second one.
“He wasn’t paying attention. He hit the curb and ran into the tree, flipped upside down and the police came and arrested him,” Jackson said.
The senior citizen said people often speed — sometimes up to 60 miles per hour — after turning onto his street from Copley Road.
Jackson said he even became a victim of a woman who was carelessly speeding.
“I was coming down the street making a left-hand turn into my driveway, and some lady passed me on the left and hit me right here in my driveway,” he said.
Frustrating and frightening stories like that partially prompted Akron city officials to launch pilot programs with temporary speed tables.
The first pilot program in 2020 was small and only involved two speed tables, but calls for more of the speed deterrents have been gaining momentum.