Drive Like Your Kids Live Here, or Like You Don't Want a Ticket

Pleasant Valley Avenue may just be a shortcut to get to Route 38 for most Moorestown drivers, but for the families who live on that residential street, it’s home.

And for some families, like the Dunnes, it’s a catastrophe waiting to happen. According to Larry Dunne, although the posted speed limit is 35 mph, too many of the cars traveling between Camden Avenue, Kings Highway and Route 38 are not only going appreciably faster, but may not be watching out closely enough for pedestrians.

Larry and Jonnene Dunne were reminded of just how bad the problem is in September as they walked two of their three young children to the first day of school at . Even as the crossing guard attempted to stop traffic, Jonnene Dunne says, she was unsuccessful as the cars moving toward Route 38 continued unabated. And that day, she says, was the last straw. 

They had been “challenged” during the 11 years they’ve lived on Pleasant Valley, says Jonnene, watching the drivers seemingly increase their speeds as they “rush to get from Point A to Point B."

“I get the point that it’s a 'cut-through’ road, but I’ve seen moms in their minivans on their cell phones barrelling down the road. They should know better,” she says.

So now, as you travel up or down Pleasant Valley, you might notice three lawn signs reading "Drive Like Your Kids Live Here." And the Dunnes are hoping drivers will do just that.

For years, they explain, they’ve been asking the to make more of an effort to enforce the speed limit. They’ve asked for center markers like the ones on Main Street to be placed in the two crosswalks students use to get to school. 

But those markers aren’t the answer, says Sgt. Randy Pugh, Special Operations Unit, who, at the Dunnes’ request, recently ran a traffic study on Pleasant Valley Avenue and will soon have the results. He says if the study warrants it, the police will be out in force.

“We will fish that pond dry,” he says, meaning tickets will be given to anyone exceeding the speed limit.

In the meantime, Larry says he wanted to “put his money where his mouth is” and went online in search of ideas. He found just what he was looking for on drivelikeyourkidliveshere.com, and bought three signs at about $10 apiece to place on his and neighbors’ lawns.

Bruce Carson happily agreed to post the sign even though his own three children are in middle and high school.

“My mother warned us about buying a house on such a busy road when we first moved here,” says Carson, who was rear-ended waiting to turn into his driveway in 2000. “We’re hoping to raise awareness with the signs.”

“People just think this is like a main street because it connects Camden and Kings Highway to Route 38,” adds Olivia Carson, 12. “They don’t realize how many kids live here.” 

So the next time you’re driving PVA, as Pugh calls it, try to drive like your kids live there. Or you might find yourself getting one of the many tickets Pugh and company are ready to hand out.