Strong language used to slow down neighborhood speeders - CBS46 News

There are signs in DeKalb County that have a bold message encouraging people to slow down. 

Paul cox has lived in East Lake a long time and says speeding is a problem.

"If you try to do the speed limit, or just a few mph over the speed limit, you are going to have people riding your bumper," neighbor Paul Cox said.

He has a normal slow down sign in his yard, but a sign created by his neighbor that says the same thing in stronger language is grabbing more attention.

"It just says in powerful language [to] slow down, and then we have a nice 'please' in parenthesis and Namaste," sign creator Ashley Derrick said.

 The powerful language gives the indication of a curse word.

"Clearly most adults take it as it is intended," Derrick said. "But you could say, 'Slow the fast down, or however you want to take it.'"

Derrick says the signs are needed because technology is pushing people onto their neighborhood streets.

"What's happened with the apps, they direct traffic off the major highways and through neighborhoods in our city," Derrick said.

According to Atlanta police, Zone 6 -- where she lives -- has seen 421 traffic violations in the past seven days. There have been more than 8,000 so far this year.

"Simply the slow down signs that we have had in our neighborhood have not worked," Derrick said. "This has clearly brought attention to speeding."

Neighbors have had mixed reactions to the signs.

"If it helps and gets people too slow down, maybe we don't have to have them up," Cox said. "I think we should focus on the speeding, for sure, rather than what the sign says."

"The people that are actually speeding, number one, they are probably going too fast to read the sign, and I'm not sure they are paying attention to it anyway," neighbor Alice Sloan said.

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