When a county road speed limit is 30 mph, residents leaving their property know to beware cars and trucks traveling twice that speed if not more.

Local city, county and state law enforcement officers sometimes monitor traffic and pull over speeders, but most drivers know they are unlikely to be apprehended.

Some county residents fed up with the danger are now approaching their local officials to do something about it. They are asking county officials to lower the speed limits even further to protect their families.

The Henderson County Commissioners Court scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday, July 19, at 9:15 a.m., to hear concerns of residents of County Road 4912, also known as Crystal Drive, in Kay Estates. The residents want trucks prohibited on the road and the speed limit reduced to 20.

It would be the first county road to be posted with a speed limit less that 30.

Such action formerly required a study conducted by the Texas Department of Transportation, but the state now allows a county to take the action if enough residents of the road sign a petition asking for it.

Such action requires that the county road be located in a residential district. Many of the county roads in both Henderson and Kaufman Counties contain many residential neighborhoods where children and other pedestrians sometimes walk on the roads.