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Christina Dennis lives in the McConnell neighborhood, just off Concord Road, and watches daily as cars whiz past her house above the speed limit. So the Davidson Elementary School fourth grader decided to study the problem in more detail for a math fair project this spring.

Photo: Christina Dennis, with Police Chief Jeanne Miller, presents her project at Tuesday’s Town Board meeting. (Photo by David Boraks)

She found that 91% of the cars passing her house were speeding, some at 53.4 miles per hour, or nearly 20 miles per hour above the 35 mph speed limit. And she calculated that the time saved by speeding is minimal.

Her conclusion: Speeding is dangerous and not worth it.

Her project was good enough to advance through school and regional competitions, and now she’s taking it to the state math fair finals in Raleigh. She’ll be joined by three Davidson Elementary schoolmates whose projects also advanced.

As she prepared for the state finals on April 27, she took time out to present her findings at the April 10 town board meeting, accompanied by parents Laurie and Joe Dennis.

NOTICING THE PROBLEM

Police Chief Jeanne Miller introduced Christina and noted that her research concerned a topic that Davidson Police are trying to work on.

“My project is called ‘Speeding on Concord Road,’ ” Christina told the town board. “I was trying to figure out if cars were speeding along the road in front of my house.”

She explained how she measured a course from one telephone pole to another, then timed 119 cars as they went by. Using the formula Distance = Speed X Time, she calculated that most cars were well above the speed limit.

“Then I went to the police chief and asked if my findings surprised her. And she said that they didn’t,” Christina said.

That prompted roaring laughter from the town board and other guests at Tuesday’s meeting.

Chief Miller shot back: “You all know that you speed. Don’t be laughing at me.”
To help Christina check her findings, Chief Miller sent police Corporal James Stokes out to the neighborhood with a radar gun. Christina said he not only confirmed her findings, but determined that her calculations under-estimated speeds by 2.5 percent.
HOW MUCH TIME SAVED?

Next, “I wanted to see if speeding was worth it,” Christina said. So with a parent, she drove at exactly the speed limit from the edge of town on Concord Road to Main Street. That took 3 minutes and 2 seconds.

“Then I calculated if you drove 5 miles per hour over the speed limit, it would save 26 seconds, which is not much. And then I found if you drove 10 miles an hour over, you would save 52 seconds.

“So speeding really isn’t worth it,” she said.

Moreover, she said, “If someone was hit by a car going 40 miles per hour, then they would probably die, so it’s really dangerous.”

REMEMBER THIS

“I hope that the Town Board members will keep this in mind if there’s anything that happens that would help with this,” Christina said as she concluded her presentation.

Said Mayor Randy Kincaid: “Christina, I can promise you that not just the board, but everybody in this room, will long remember your project.”

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