PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) — Chewy, a nine-year-old Shih Tzu mix is slowly on the mend after his owner, Cortney Robinson-Booth said he was hit by a speeding car two weeks ago in Port St. Lucie.
Chewy broke his pelvis and now walks sideways.
“He’s not even 75% but he’s a hardy little dog, so he’s trying his very best,” Robinson-Booth said. “The guy literally clipped him, and he flew up in the air and went that way.”
Robinson-Booth said she was walking Chewy on his leash in front of her home on Southwest Airview Avenue in the Canal Pointe neighborhood when the car slammed into the dog, nearly hitting her, and kept going.
“It was a thunk and (yelping noise),” she said. “He was literally run down. The guy didn’t slow down. I didn’t see a brake light.”
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Neighbors said speeding has been a problem on the street for years, and it’s only gotten worse.
“You could hear the cars flying down the street,” said neighbor Lucia Spagofora.
Marta lives a block over and says speeding is a problem on her street, but it’s worse on SW Airview Avenue as she walks her dogs.
“It doesn’t feel safe at all because you’re walking your dogs, you have to be very careful. People are speeding all the time,” she said. “It’s pretty bad and close calls all the time.”
The speed limit along the half-mile stretch is 25 miles per hour and is often used to get to Bayshore Boulevard, a main thoroughfare.
Police put up a speed limit sign to slow drivers, but neighbors say it’s not enough.
“They don’t care. They do not slow down at all,” Spagofora said. “This can’t keep going on. Somebody is going to get killed here.”
Robinson-Booth has been pushing for change since last year.
“On the weekends, you literally hear people revving engines and whish, shooting down the street at the speed of light,” Robinson-Booth said.
She’s now renewed her focus on calling for a stop sign or speed bumps.
“Anything is better than doing nothing, which is what they’re doing now,” Robinson-Booth said.
Robinson-Booth and other neighbors say they’ve called and emailed city leaders about the problem, but haven’t heard back
“I’m beyond frustrated. I’m hurt. I’m angry,” said Robinson-Booth. “I just want somebody to take notice before this turns into a tragedy, until it’s something that can’t be fixed when it can be fixed now.”
CBS12 reached out to city leaders. A spokesperson said they were not available for an interview and sent a link on the city’s traffic calming policy. The spokesperson said neighbors have to collect signatures on a petition to call for a study as long as it meets certain criteria.
Robinson-Booth claims she already did that, but was told by the city that their petition was lost.
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