SAN ANTONIO — Fast and erratic driving has neighbors near Camp Bullis up in arms. They say their street has become a hot spot for high-end vehicle test drives.
Neighbors say over the last few months, auto dealership salespeople from Ferrari, Lexus, Tesla and the Audi Dominion dealership have taken customers down Camp Bullis Road to tryout vehicles.
Robert Barner captured at least two different test drives where cars sped off from the dead end of the street. Barner says the test drives happen ‘all hours of the day.’
The speed limit on Camp Bullis Road is 40 m.p.h. and Ashley Burkholder says dealership drivers fail to follow the rules of the road.
"They are doing donuts, they are speeding up and down," Burkholder said.
The mother of four says she worries her children or her neighbors’ kids may one day get hurt.
"We have families here on this street, several children, children walk home from school,” she said.
With the support of neighbors, Barner set up two signs in cement buckets that read, “Drive like your kids live here.”
Barner says he has stopped sales drivers in their tracks and reached out to managers of the auto companies. Some dealerships have re-routed their customers, but Barner says just this weekend Audi customers were back on the road.
Audi Dominion Dealer Principal Rick Cavender released the following statement:
We understand that there have been concerns raised over possible test drive behavior from our dealership. We want to be responsible to this neighborhood and to this community. We are responding with immediate communication and direction to our sales team. We will follow all traffic laws posted on our local streets and highways. We will initiate and monitor all test drives with responsible sales professionals who will follow strict guidelines. Responding to neighbor concerns our sales management has altered the test drive routes to conform more to highway settings. These test routes appear below.
We apologize for any concerns.
Residents hope their message resonates before a tragedy occurs.
"It's incredibly dangerous and it needs to come to an end," Burkholder said.