I have thought about writing this letter for the last couple of years. I live in downtown Elkins. The speed limit on most of the streets where families, retired neighbors, children and pets live is 25 mph . Some areas are 15 mph, others 35 mph. But mostly 25 mph .  

I have lived downtown for more than 15 years. My road is certainly a road drivers use as a short cut. They are typically in a hurry to get home or get to work. They often, without thinking about their speed, drive faster than 25 mph .

During lunch, I was accosted by a man driving his black SUV down my road. He was angry because I motioned for him to slow down. Today is the day that this letter is written.  

Many, many times, when I see someone picking up their speed or already driving way too fast on the downtown roads, I try to get them to slow down.  I use my hand to motion them to slow down. I do a 2- 5 (25 MPH) gesture and probably mouth “slow down, 25.”  

Most people slow down and nod. On more than one occasion, drivers have been so angry about this that they opt to pull over and berate me. They defend themselves and deny they were driving over the speed limit.  

As it was pointed out to me today, as I walked my dog during lunch, I am not, and my dog, Russell Crowe, is not a radar detector. No, this man berating me was right about that, he’s intuitive. Russell Crowe is a regular dog. I am a regular 62-year-old grandmother, who lives and has driven in downtown Elkins long enough to know when someone is going too fast.

True story: one day there was a baby, possibly 16 months old, running down the middle of the road, approaching an intersection. He was alone. He had learned to open the door of his home that day and took off. Up and down the neighborhood streets alone. We scooped him up and in no time, he was back with his family. You never know. Caution is advisable.   

Parents, children, babies, dogs and cats live in their homes on the busy streets of downtown Elkins. We live in a variety of homes, some more expensive than others, some townhouses and some apartments. We live here. Children play outside near the road and sometimes in the streets, riding their bikes, playing with balls.  

We pay our taxes, usually walk to visit the downtown merchants, chit-chat with our neighbors and these streets matter to us. I would guess more than those who do not live in downtown Elkins. We deal with many issues when we opted to live downtown. Please help us out with this one.

Slow down and if someone gestures to you to slow down, put your big boy pants on, slow down, don’t lose your head, and try to be understanding. Perhaps slow down to 15 or 20 mph on the town roads. You will still get to your destination and all who live downtown would be grateful for the reprieve of loud, fast-moving vehicles.  

It would make it much safer and quieter downtown for those of us living here. Thank you for this consideration.