To the editor:

City commissioners approved $114,000 to pay a consulting company to develop a slogan and campaign to slow down traffic in neighborhoods. A slogan and campaign won’t cause drivers to slow down. Inconveniences and money slow down drivers.

Drivers don’t like inconveniences that slow them down: brick streets, speed bumps, street imperfections, roundabouts, potholes, “bottom out” spots, etc. Drivers don’t like spending money on speeding tickets and vehicle damage due to driving too fast over the inconveniences. Let’s ask ourselves a question. Do residential streets need to be perfect? Or are imperfect residential streets part of the solution to slowing down drivers? What if residential sidewalks were perfect instead of residential streets? Neighborhood streets need maintenance but done wisely.

I lived in a neighborhood with a “bottom out” intersection. Drivers slowed down or lost pieces of their cars. The intersection was fine when driving the speed limit. The city fixed the “bottom out” intersection. Then later installed a roundabout nearby to slow traffic down. The money spent fixing the “bottom out” intersection and roundabout could have been spent elsewhere since the “bottom out” intersection actually solved speeding problems.

Lawrence should spend $114,000 implementing known solutions for slowing traffic down instead of paying a consulting company to develop a slogan and campaign.

Julie Heinz,

Lawrence