There are lots of roads in places like Lonoke County where drivers are more than a little tempted to put the hammer down, but those country roads aren't as country as they used to be. That’s leading to speeding complaints and concerns, which deputies found out about when they reached out on social media.
Part of the problem is no one knows exactly what the speed limit is because there are no signs. Now the sheriff’s department is mapping the hot spots while trying to avoid writing tickets.
“Just mainly been a lot of speeding, complaints of speeding and no posted speed limit signs,” said Sgt. James Hall, the community patrol coordinator for the Lonoke Co. Sheriff’s Dept. “There are a lot of places where it's posted 45 miles per hour on the road and then there's a residential area that's popped up in the last couple years.”
Signs of that are apparent just five minutes into a patrol when Sgt. Hall detects a driver doing 69 mph in a 55 mph zone. He said that driver admitted to his lead foot after handing over his papers. For the rest of the quick tour, Sgt. Hall would periodically flash the lights of his unmarked vehicle as other speeders approached.
Along the way, the same road becomes surrounded by about a dozen houses with people crossing the two lanes to check mail. Since the GPS mapping is still behind in Lonoke Co., Hall and his colleagues are doing it the old fashioned way.
“What we're going to do we take our 911 book and drive down roads like Lewisburg Road,” Hall says pointing to a red line with a few x’s spaced apart. “I've driven down it. I've gone down Cooper lane. There's no sign on cooper lane.”
The speed limit is 45 mph on county roads if there isn't a sign, but no sign leads to temptation.
“This road going 45 miles per hour? It's tough,” he said, noting that a hyped up teenager, trucker in a hurry or even a rookie deputy might give it a little too much gas down this stretch. Sgt. Hall insists he only has your safety at heart.
It's not wanting every cop to hide behind a sign. That's not what we're looking for. The signs are to warn people so that they know and they don't accidentally think that it's a 55 miles per hour road,” he said. “Does enforcing the law mean you have to write a ticket every time? No it doesn't. Not until it gets to the point where we have to say we're going to have to go to a zero tolerance.”
Sergeant Hall mapped the northern part of the county and a colleague spent Monday mapping the southern half. They already have an arrangement with the county roads department to make the signs and get them in place.