Steve Buchtel says he rides his bike nearly every day from his Homewood home to his job as a manager at GoodSpeed Cycles in the village.
An avid bicyclist, he’s also acutely aware of the need for bikes and vehicles to share the road, so he is a proponent of a new Homewood program that aims to instill better driving habits.
The Pace Car program, introduced Dec. 13, asks drivers to sign a pledge to obey traffic laws and place a magnetic sign on their car identifying themselves as being part of the effort. The hope is the reminder will encourage other drivers to do the same. So far, according to the village, 18 people have signed up.
It comes at a time when the village says it is ticketing more speeders, particularly on main streets such as 183rd, while complaints about speeding in the village remain a concern among residents.
“We were getting a lot of complaints about speeding,” said Napoleon Haney, village manager.
He, like Buchtel, bikes to work each day and they talked about the speeding complaints.
“I was trying to find something creative to do with speeding,” Haney said.
The magnetic signs and pledge sheets are available at Village Hall, 2020 Chestnut Road, the village’s police station, 17950 Dixie Highway, and at GoodSpeed, 21250 W. 183rd St. There is a $2 charge for the signs.
Buchtel said he has a sign on the back of his bike as well as on his car.
“Drive respectfully, drive within the law, that’s what the program asks,” he said.
There are a few similar programs scattered around the country, and including one in Hinsdale, which the Homewood program is modeled after.
“I really don’t know of any other area communities that have done this,” Buchtel said.
He said 10 signs have been distributed by his shop, and he hopes it will make village streets safer.
“People take cues from other drivers around them,” he said. “It’s going to raise mindfulness of other drivers.”
He and Haney said they believe the vehicle signs are more effective than signs posted in many neighborhood yards asking drivers to act as if their children live there.
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“If you are driving behind a car, the first thing you look at are the taillights, and that’s where the sign is,” Haney said. “Plus, the sign is reflective, so you can see it when you are driving at night.”
Buchtel said he thinks the yard signs residents place in an effort to slow traffic have a negligible impact as drivers pass them without notice.
“Those signs are almost meaningless, almost nonrecognizable,” he said.
Buchtel said he thinks the mobile reminders are also more effective than digital signs posted along streets showing drivers how fast they are going.
“They are only effective around that sign,” he said.
On Homewood’s Facebook page, the village’s announcement of the Pace Car program drew comments about the need for police to be doing more as far as ticketing speeders.
Haney said they have been doing just that.
“Our officers are stopping people, our officers are aggressive,” Haney said.
Citations issued by police for traffic stops along 183rd Street, one of Homewood’s busiest thoroughfares, have increased in recent years, although the numbers do not break out citations specifically for speeding.
In 2020, 296 citations were issued while that number rose to 457 in 2021, according to the village. Through the end of October of last year, the figure was 789 citations.
Haney said the village will continue to promote the program on social media, and said the initiative will “be a consistent theme” at village sponsored events.
He said he doesn’t know how effective the campaign will be, but that it is a step.
“We don’t have all the solutions,” Haney said. “This will put the conscious thought into people to follow the rules.”