Teen conducts traffic study after fatal crash

Posted: 11:35 PM, Mar 29, 2016
Updated: 2016-03-30 11:27:54-04

It was a science project for school that took on a whole new meaning for one 13-year-old boy in Wheatfield.

Joshua Walter, who lives near Krueger Road wanted to know, how fast do people actually drive down that street above the 30 mph speed limit?

In November 2014, 16-year-old Ryan Fisher was killed by a hit and run driver on Krueger. Joshua hoped that by conducting the study, he could prevent such a thing from happening again.

"I felt really bad for Ryan, and I wanted to make sure it didn't happen to anyone else," said Joshua.

With the help of the Niagara County Sheriff's Office, Joshua was loaned a radar speed sign to put on Krueger Road. Joshua and his dad watched what happened.

"I found that people actually speed, even without the sign," said Joshua. "Even though there's a memorial on that street, people still choose to speed and it's a little scary."

Joshua also tracked vehicle speed with a baseball radar gun, and recorded his findings. Even though the speed limit is 30 mph on the street, he found drivers average speed to be 38 mph throughout his week-long study.

The 8th grader even did a presentation in front of the Wheatfield Town Board.

"You just can't believe it. It's in your own neighborhood. This is my community it's scary to see all this and see how fast people are going."

He's hoping that people slow down, and pay attention to their driving to prevent another tragedy in Wheatfield.