How to prevent speeding North Carolina style

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/18/r...aintball-guns/

Originally Posted by :
The suburban neighborhoods of Durham, NC has a speeding problem. Well, the neighborhood had a speeding problem until citizens in the area decided to take matters into their own hands. Instead of forming a tighter bond with law enforcement, the citizens of Durham decided it was better to take the Charles Bronson approach – but instead of using a Colt Police Positive .32 caliber revolver, residents are apparently threatening to use paint guns.

Local CBS affiliate WRAL reports that the group, Angry Neighbors with Paintball Guns, has posted signs throughout residential Durham warning speeders that they will be met with a hail of bullets of the Sherwin Williams kind. Needless to say, speeding in the area has been curbed significantly and the members of ANPG have become a sought after commodity on the local news. There is one problem, though: shooting paint balls at cars is illegal, and to our way of thinking, that's a good thing for the safety of speeders and bystanders. To our knowledge, no shots have been fired so far.

Meanwhile, the Durham police department has stepped up its game in-and-around the affected neighborhoods and speeders has reportedly all but disappeared. So, are the cops or the paint ballers keeping the streets of Durham safe? We've got our money on the boys and girls in blue, though paintball guns - like the .475 Wildey - make a real mess.

[Source: WRAL |

Now why didn't I think of that! Certainly better than speed bumps, humps or kidney punchers.
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Great idea until a speeder jumps a curb because their windshield was splattered with paint and kills someone.
Not to mention the fact that some of these "Angry Citizens" are liable to end up with a paintball enema after they trash someone's paintjob.
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Originally Posted by Kreth:
Great idea until a speeder jumps a curb because their windshield was splattered with paint and kills someone.

Yeah .. like maybe the person doing the shooting .. but the backing up and running them over a second time might be harder to explain.
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Originally Posted by Kreth:
Great idea until a speeder jumps a curb because their windshield was splattered with paint and kills someone.
Not to mention the fact that some of these "Angry Citizens" are liable to end up with a paintball enema after they trash someone's paintjob.

Paintballs are water soluble so no worries on the paintjob, though a pissed off driver is still likely. Also, the splattered windshield and diminished visibility is slightly more dangerous than speeding. Good points
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Its all fun & games until a speeding driver jumps out of the car with a real gun.
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Maybe the guy speeding should just slow down. :-)
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Originally Posted by poker:
Its all fun & games until a speeding driver jumps out of the car with a real gun.

:-)

Amusing on its face, but it's really not far removed from throwing a rock at a car. This article was brought up on another board I'm on, and it was claimed by a couple of guys that firing a paintball gun at a car is technically considered assault.
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I see all of your points...I still think it is badass!
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Originally Posted by poker:
Its all fun & games until a speeding driver jumps out of the car with a real gun.

Bingo!!
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While I don't agree with shooting anyone with anything as that IS assault. Keep in mind these people DIDN'T shoot anyone or anything. They came up with a novel idea to get the attention of the media, the police, and the perpertraitors. Without all three this wouldn't have ever worked, but it was unique enought to work, possibly just as they planned it too, without ever having to fire a shot.
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Originally Posted by ahc4353:
Maybe the guy speeding should just slow down. :-)

Slow down, from what 100 to 85? :-)

I personally would speed up if someone was shooting at my car.

Paint balls will do damage to a cars finish.

:-)
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Speeding cars will do damage to a child's finish.

:-)

Sorry, don't mean to seem like a smarta$$ but I couldn't help it. :-)

I don't condone shooting or throwing anything at a moving vehicle. While the speeders' excessive speed can be argued to be "interfering with your right to life, safety, etc" that exact same argument applies in the speeders' defense if you interfere with their driving.

I do feel the residents' frustration and their worries about their safety and I'm glad that it seems to have worked out. I live in a quiet neighborhood on top of a hill ... and at the inside apex of a major curve. I hear tires squealing and engines revving hard at least 5 or 6 times each night as people seem to treat that curve as a personal challenge. :-)
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Sounds like a bunch of dum azz hillbillys. Wait till some smart azz kids figure out they can taunt them into shooting and win a lawsuit.
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Originally Posted by kydsid:
...without ever having to fire a shot.

And NO shots have been fired.

The speeders have slowed down.

Y'all ('cept Sid) TOTALLY FAILED the PERFECT, TEXTBOOK Psychological Warfare Test.

:-)
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Originally Posted by tobii3:
And NO shots have been fired.

The speeders have slowed down.

Y'all ('cept Sid) TOTALLY FAILED the PERFECT, TEXTBOOK Psychological Warfare Test.

:-)

Yup. Looks like these two dumb hillbillies didn't miss the forest for the trees when they read that thar article with them fancy letters, words and sentences.

Btw tobii we gots to go back to school they got a new spellin for our rear ends cording to above.
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:-)

Well, ya know, 5th grade WAS my Senior Year.....

:-)
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Originally Posted by poker:
Its all fun & games until a speeding driver jumps out of the car with a real gun.

:-) and shooting at a vehicle is arrestable and a ticket too (heck throwing any object at a moving car is a ticket here in MI). Glad to see just signs were posted and my fellow boys/girls in blue stepped up patrols as well.
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Originally Posted by poker:
Its all fun & games until a speeding driver jumps out of the car with a real gun.

I was about to say, here in Louisiana we shoot back. With real guns.

And to those who say a paintball can't harm a vehicle, that's actually incorrect. Most paintball guns fire at a muzzle velocity of about 300 FPS, which is enough to cause damage to a car's paint job.

Having used old cars as bunkers before, I can personally vouch for this :-)
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You can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time......

:-)
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Originally Posted by :
To our knowledge, no shots have been fired so far.

Meanwhile, the Durham police department has stepped up its game in-and-around the affected neighborhoods and speeders has reportedly all but disappeared.

I think the message alone is what is deterring the speeders. The message brings the police into the neighborhood, which in turn, reduces speeding in the area. It's a bluff that has worked.
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