{"id":11877,"date":"2024-04-19T16:07:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T16:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=11877"},"modified":"2024-05-20T16:50:50","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T16:50:50","slug":"reckless-roxboro-may-get-a-revamp-if-locals-can-persuade-dot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/04\/19\/reckless-roxboro-may-get-a-revamp-if-locals-can-persuade-dot\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Reckless Roxboro’ may get a revamp \u2014 if locals can persuade DOT"},"content":{"rendered":"
Chris Perelstein was working in the living room of his Roxboro Street apartment in early November when a cacophony of noises \u2014\u00a0squealing tires, a honking horn, and a loud boom \u2014 forced him outside.<\/span><\/p>\n A van barrelling the wrong way had hit an apartment building further down his block. By the time Perelstein arrived on the scene, the van had already run over a tree and destroyed a brick wall by the apartment. Perelstein watched as the car headed south towards downtown, still driving in the wrong direction.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey were gunning it \u2014 full throttle,\u201d Perelstein said. \u201cI think they panicked when they saw oncoming traffic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n While the incident was scary, it wasn\u2019t surprising. Since moving to Durham from Raleigh about a year ago, Perelstein has witnessed five crashes outside his own door.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In July, Perelstein set up a speed detection camera on his rooftop aimed at Roxboro below. And in December, the system began automatically tweeting to an X (formerly Twitter) account known as @Reckless Roxboro when a car drives over 62 mph. He\u2019s since seen people driving up to 101 mph on his 35 mph road and has measured<\/span> 33,250 speeders going 15 mph above the limit \u2014\u00a0over the threshold for legal recklessness \u2013 during daylight hours.<\/span><\/p>\n While the account has generated attention, Perelstein hopes it might catch the eye of the N.C. Department of Transportation, which owns Roxboro Street. And there\u2019s the rub. While Perelstein and others want big changes to Roxboro Street, the NCDOT, which owns the street, has the final say.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n