SAN ANTONIO — Reckless drivers street racing and doing burnouts at all hours of the night are raising safety concerns among neighbors on the south side.
In February, one driver lost control and nearly hit a family walking down the sidewalk.
This is happening in the Southton Meadows neighborhood, off Southton Road near I-37 on San Antonio's southeast side.
A neighbor, who interviewed with KENS 5 under the condition of anonymity, said a previous report we aired Monday from a neighborhood across Southton Road prompted her to reach out about issues on her side of street.
Southton Road serves as a divider between the City of San Antonio and Bexar County. The Southton Meadows subdivision falls in the county, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO).
In Southton Meadows, the main road is a straight shot through the neighborhood. There are no speed bumps, crosswalks or flashing lights that help drivers slow down. This, neighbors say, is the perfect recipe for dangerous hobbies: street racing and reckless driving.
"It can be in the middle of the day. It could be at 1 in the morning,” said the anonymous resident in an interview Wednesday afternoon.
The neighbor says street racing and burnouts wake up families at all hours, even on school nights.
The most recent incident around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday was caught on surveillance video.
"This neighborhood has a lot of little kids in it. It's kind of a beginning neighborhood,” said the resident.
Southton Meadows, a neighborhood of 1,077 homes, was built three years ago.
On a nice day, Southton Meadows, the main road through the subdivision, is packed with people. That’s why neighbors requested more sheriffs deputies on patrol.
“We’re just not seeing [enhanced patrol],” said the neighbor. “Our main concern is somebody is going to get seriously hurt."
In February, a white sedan was driving recklessly down Southton Meadows and came within inches of hitting a pedestrian, who filmed the close encounter.
"It was at a fence near my house,” said the neighbor. "God forbid there were children playing on the other side of that fence. Tuesday night, that car was actually involved in a single-car accident."
The anonymous resident, who worked in law enforcement, says neighbors are trying everything to slow people down.
"Whether it's stop signs or it's roundabouts,” she explained. “We were hoping for speed bumps but I guess you can't do that because we don't have any driveways off [the main road]."
Even flashing lights or a crosswalk would would be a start, neighbors said.
The next, most crucial step, in her opinion, is holding drivers accountable.
"If BCSO does not respond and continues not to respond, how much liability do they have when someone actually gets hurt over here?"
In October, the Southton Meadows HOA reached out to the county to do a traffic study for multiway stops at neighborhood intersections. The study is in progress now.
Monica Ramos, a spokeswoman for Bexar County, says the study should be finished by the end of June.
BCSO is looking into KENS 5’s inquiry involving more patrols and calls for service in the neighborhood. We will update this story as soon as we hear back.