St. Louis Urban League Pushes for Safer Streets with its 'Slow Down Campaign'

It's another day for Brandon Rash and his team with the Metropolitan Urban League of St. Louis (St. Louis, MO) to pound the pavement, knock on homeowners' doors and ask if they may put a sign in their front yards.

"We spend at least three hours a day in the community. We're trying to get one sign in everybody's yard on every street, highways. We need it everywhere, " said Rash, the organization's Lead Urban Engagement Specialist.

Not just any sign, but one with an important message: "Slow Down St. Louis — our main goal is just trying to get everybody aware that we do have a speeding problem in St. Louis," added Rash.

In March, the Urban League kicked off its Slow Down Public Awareness Campaign.

Five days a week, its Urban Engagement Specialists walk through neighborhoods in St. Louis city and County and post these yard signs, in hopes of putting the brakes on what they call "vehicular violence."

"It's extremely bad. The police can't do it alone, so we have to put our best feet forward to help address this," said Rash.

In addition to slowing down fast drivers, they want those drivers to obey the law.

"We see so many innocent people either being injured or killed on the roads. We want those speeding drivers to take precautions and care about another person's life, " said Rash.

Since the Slow Down Program took off, the Urban League team estimates it's put out more than 5,000 of the yard signs in the city and county.

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