Rudy Karimi holds a “trophy.” Photo by Renee Umsted.
It’s only been days since speed cushions were installed on Santa Fe Avenue, and District 14 Park and Recreation Board member Rudy Karimi already has a trophy.
The “trophy” is a piece of a protective cover from the undercarriage of a vehicle that must have been going too fast over the new speed cushions.
Five speed cushions, made of recycled rubber, were bolted onto the road parallel to the Santa Fe Trail between Glasgow and Beacon to help slow down speeders.
For Karimi and East Dallas neighbors, it’s been a long time coming.
“We never gave up on this stretch right here,” Karimi says.
They have been pushing for safety improvements to this area — comprised of Willis Winters Park, Woodrow Wilson High School, J. L. Long Middle School, the Santa Fe Trail, Juliette Fowler Communities and the Mount Auburn neighborhood — since 2018.
A few years ago, the Dallas Department of Transportation installed a stop sign at Covington Lane, which was not the outcome Karimi and neighbors asked for. They wanted speed cushions. But they didn’t stop trying to get them.
One tactic they used was making and sharing YouTube videos. Karimi watched footage from his home’s Ring camera to approximate the speed at which some drivers were traveling down Glasgow. He estimated that some cars were going 40 mph, 50 mph or even faster.
Karimi says the city planned to install three speed cushions on the neighborhood road, but by August 2019, only two had been installed.
“My neighbors and I actually had a small gathering in front that first night and we watched. Immediately, immediately, the same cars that were speeding were now crawling. They were coming down to a crawl to go over those humps,” Karimi says. “And more people were also stopping at the stop sign.”
The speed cushions allowed Karimi to start a trophy collection. Every once in a while, he’d walk outside to find parts from vehicles, once even a whole bumper, left behind by speeders.
After that, Karimi brought some city staffers to the area one afternoon to see the speeders in action during school dismissal. One engineer with the Dallas Department of Transportation, Brittany Darrah, was instrumental in getting plans in motion to install the five speed cushions on Santa Fe Avenue.
“It’s a great addition,” says Mount Auburn neighbor Denise Knitch, who uses the Santa Fe Trail daily. “I hope we get more, and I think we need more stop signs.”
Karimi says in the future, he wants to see more speed cushions added along Santa Fe Avenue between Glasgow and Monte Vista Drive, as well as along Reiger and Paulus, near the schools.
He says he knows this isn’t a “silver bullet,” but so far, it seems to be working.
“I saw one truck hit it at a quicker speed, and he was swearing as he was driving down,” he says. “That’s exactly the change of behavior we’re looking for.”
