Petition grabbing attention to add speed bumps after horse dies on Assateague

ASSATEAGUE- Locals around Assateague Island are speaking out after a horse was killed by what police believe was a hit and run accident.

“As a person that visits the island a big permanent of the island and ponies, it breaks my heart as it does everybody’s when it happened,” Robyn Koons, organizer of petition and advocate, said.

Robyn Koons said after hearing what happened she created a petition.

“Instead, of everybody becoming a keyboard warrior and giving their opinions and creating negativity I think we need to spin this into something positive that we need to take a tragedy and effect change,” Koons said.

Koons said she wants to raise awareness about the speeding and is advocating to add speed bumps near Bayberry Drive where the hit and run happened.

And hopes to get the attention of leaders that can make a change.

“There’s going to be a lot of bureaucracy to go through to make those changes, but if we start drawing attention to it we can hopefully cut through some of the red tape and get some politicians on our side to make this happen,” Koons said.

But the Superintendent at Assateugue Island National Seashore said while they are looking at options to make the area more safe speed bumps are not one of them.

“Speed is not generally the major factor, we realize there are people that are speeding, but speed has generally not been a factor with our horse, car incidents,” Hugh Hawthorne, Superintendent at Assateugue Island National Seashore, said.

He also added that speed bumps can cause issues.

“They are very disruptive to emergency vehicles,” Hawthorne said. “It’s also an issue with RVS, for buses, and honestly for the heavy equipment we have to move around the park.”

While the park said they have no plans for putting speed bumps in place, they did say they plan on adding light up speed signs along Bayberry and plan on doing more public outreach.

Click here to sign the petition.