The internet has reacted to an unusual sign left by a neighbor urging cars not to speed in and around their neighborhood.
First posted to Reddit by an account, u/fluffersmcfluffface, the sign is found in Longwood, Florida, and says, “Watch your speed! Save lives. Don’t be like our animal-killing neighbor.”
The account who first posted the picture to Reddit claims they hadn’t seen any accident in the area. However, they surmise that the “animal-killing neighbor” may have accidentally killed their neighbor’s pet due to speeding.
Speeding is no joke, however. It increases the risk of accidents and severe or even fatal injuries in collisions. Forbes put forth some daunting figures this year, which surmise that close to 30% of all deadly car accidents are the direct result of speeding.
Forbes said, “Like drunk driving, speeding is more of a problem in some states than others. South Carolina is the highest-risk state for speed-related accidents. A total of 46% of deadly accidents in this state occurred due to excess speed.”
According to the same report, in 2020 alone, Florida saw 3,331 car-accident-related fatalities, with at least 285 of them occurring because one of the vehicles was speeding.
Certain factors contribute to the likelihood of such an accident—for example, the time of the day. Nighttime can be a particularly deadly time on the road, with over 35% of all fatal accidents occurring between sundown and midnight.
Accidents on the road can be prone to specific days also. Almost half of all accidents occur from Friday to Sunday. Holidays also dramatically increase the risk of a severe collision, with Independence Day being one of the deadliest days of the year, according to Forbes.
Various users on Reddit began leaving comments under the post of the sign. One user, Southern-Meeting6193, commented: “More likely, the animal escaped and ran right into the street. That’s a horrific event. And it is more common than you think. It doesn’t mean the owner was neglectful. Something as stupid as a 5-year-old pushing the door open, and the cat ran out. That accident could have turned out fine if someone wasn’t speeding.”
Another user, GuitarCFD, commented: “Animal killing neighbor.’ Honestly, that sounds more like someone didn’t keep their pet out of the street. That being said, I won’t even drive the speed limit down my street because I can’t count the number of times I’ve had small children just run out into the street without looking. Speeding down neighborhood streets is just a life-changing accident waiting to happen.”
One user, SIMPLE_C_AS_CAN_B, shared an unfortunate experience that occurred in his neighborhood. They wrote, “I like it. I would post the same thing in my yard if f****** neighbors ran over my pet speeding… probably do a lot worse than put up a sign, tbh.”
