The curving portion of Redmond that has neighbors in a twist is between Camden and Almaden Expressway and has a posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour.

"I know it's just a matter of time before tragedy strikes," said Redmond Avenue resident Bridget Tapia.

But a study of the area conducted by the city's department of transportation—which included several levels of reviews and a two-day vehicle count using counting hoses—reported at a recent community traffic safety meeting showed that the average speed along Redmond is just above that posted limit.

"The average speed is 35.4 miles per hour," said Henry Servin, senior engineer for the department. "That means about 50 percent travel at that speed or below."

But those who live there believe differently, and it's the other half—the 50 percent who travel above the speed limit—who have them worried.

One day while holding the hand of her 2-year-old child and walking out to the car with her, Tapia said she dropped something. Reaching down to pick up the item, she let go of the toddler, who took the opportunity to sprint toward the street.

Tapia looked up to see a car traveling at least 50 miles per hour, headed around the bend. "My life at that moment stopped," Tapia said.

Nothing happened to the child or Tapia, but the fear she experienced that day was echoed by others at the meeting.

"We lost two cars and a tree there one night," said area resident Sheila Sawkins.

The city's statistics from the study, however, don't back up residents' claims of excessive speeding or high numbers of accidents. Less than one percent of the vehicles counted was traveling faster than 50 mph, and there were very low statistics in the "reportable crashes" category, according to Servin.

"If folks don't report [accidents], I don't see them [in reports]," Servin said. "I want to believe them, but I don't have the figures to back them up."

Still, Servin is looking for solutions.

Because they say the speedsters slide into the center turn lane while hurtling through curves, residents believe installing a median in the center lane will narrow the wide roadway and will force drivers to slow as they negotiate the turns of the road.

"It's been our experience that medians don't do that," Servin said.

Though he said he's not ruling out medians, he did say they are costly and there is a long waiting list for other roadwork in surrounding areas that would come first.

Vice Mayor Pat Dando said that funding isn't available, given the current economic conditions, for non-planned and non-budgeted items, but said she would get this project on the waiting list, though that list is long.

While not out of the question, Dando said special assessments such as this in California require a legislative process, a super-majority vote (66.7 percent in favor), and buy-in from all the neighbors.

Dando and Servin offered alternate options as interim fixes, including installing roll curbs or raised cross-hatching in the center lane, deploying an electronic message radar trailer that would tell drivers the speed at which they are traveling, and talking to community members.

Servin said they were guessing by the time frame of when most speeding on the street occurs, that the drivers may be traveling to or from Leland High School.

"I will be contacting the Leland High School principal," Servin said. "I'm going on faith it might do some good."

A more immediate solution, and one that is already in effect, is assigning police patrols to the area during the specifically high-speed volume times. Servin said units have increased patrolling Redmond since August.