I think we ALL need to look at the speed we travel on the roads in town. I live on Parker Hill Ext. and am a speeder. You can all identify me because I have my name on the side of my vehicle. You feel I go TOO FAST... Yet what is your average speed on the roads? Are you going 30, 35, 40 mph? I feel you view speeding in degrees. You go 30 to 35 mph and feel this is alright. I may be going 40 to 45 and you feel I am speeding too fast. Guess what - we are all speeding!! If you get the resident trooper to patrol the roads of Killingworth, we will ALL get tickets!! I have been driving the roads of Killingworth for over 20 years. I have only followed vehicles a handful of times going just 25 mph.

About six months ago I made a conscious effort to slow down, after finding out driving in excess of 20 miles over the speed limit goes from speeding to reckless driving. If stopped for reckless driving you can be handcuffed, driven to the police station and have your vehicle towed. You may now be charged with a felony. Not something I want to happen to me!

I have started to use my cruise control. I will bet that 90% or better of the vehicles we are driving in Killingworth are equipped with cruise control. If you set them for 25... 30...35 mph - you can re-familiarize how the speed limit feels when you drive. Since I have been doing this, as I now get lost in thought as I leave my driveway and head down the road, I feel myself going too fast and break immediately. I have reprogrammed my driving to some extent.

How many young drivers do we have to see injured or killed before we realize that our children learn from us from the time they are in diapers? They sit in the back seat and in the passenger seat seeing and knowing we are going faster than we should. Do we tell them it is only speeding if you get caught? OR it's OK because you say so? Do as I say and not as I do was not a good deterrent for us when we heard it from our parents! But the first cars we had would shake and shimmy at 55 to 60 mph. The ones our children are starting with go like the wind... And they do not have the 20 plus years of experience behind the wheel to know how to get out of trouble in an instant.

I would like to address the residents walking, jogging , biking and riding their horses on our winding country roads. As I said, I reside on Parker Hill Rd. Ext. There are three access roads to get to my house. There are no less than two "dead men curves" on every access. No matter what speed you are traveling - even 25 mph - If you are walking on the "inside corner" and a car meets you there - what is the driver to do? 1. Swerve to miss you and take the vehicle coming the other way head on. 2. Hug the inside, possibly hit you to miss the vehicle coming the other way. 3. Stop dead and let you continue to walk and get out of the way. I am speaking of the corner on Parker Hill Rd. by the yellow house and the pond (approx. #70). If you are walking on this inside corner and two vehicles are approaching, where do you have to go? There is a row of pine trees in your way and YOU have no where to go. If you are walking the outside corner, (the side with the yellow house and pond) you would be seen sooner by traffic coming both ways and if you see traffic coming both ways you could attempt to get out of the way by getting off the road. But the more pressing question is why are you walking on this very dangerous stretch of road? If you live and walk on Parker Hill Rd. you are approx. 3 miles from a tremendous state forest loaded with trails. Why not go where it is safer??

I do walk for exercise. I do not walk certain parts of the road, due to this issue of road security. The upper end on Parker Hill Rd. Ext. that goes into Higganum is where I walk. I start out on the side of the road facing traffic. If a car comes from that direction, I cross the road. If there are cars coming in both directions I am four feet off the road. I know the speed the residents travel on my road and I want to be alive for the rest of the day.

Bikers are just as much of a quandary. They travel down the middle of our roads, travel in packs and do not follow the rules of the roads. They are not interested in going single file nor do they get to the right to let cars pass. They do not stop at stop signs or follow other rules of the road. I say this of the ones I have seen in the Parker Hill Neighborhood. When I have to honk my horn instead if swerving into the other lane, so they will go single file, they get visibly upset.

Equestrians are another face on the same issue. They ride or walk their horses down the road and always wave for any vehicle to slow down, even if they are already going the speed limit. I have paused to have the rider say their horse is not good with cars and traffic. WHY HAVE THEM ON THE ROAD?? It is unfair to the horse! Again there are miles and miles of roads and paths in the state forest. Why not exercise your horse there? (To get there they do have horse trailers).

In closing, why not set the cruise control and let the car help you go the speed limit and watch the great town around us? If we ALL work together and give each other some respect, we will all wake up tomorrow not regretting what happened yesterday.

Amy Perry