(LINCOLN, Neb.) Over the weekend, residents of a downtown Lincoln neighborhood painted friendly street art encouraging drivers to slow down, AP News reported.
Residents painted street-sized yellow smiley-face with the words "Slow your roll!" on 11th Street in an attempt to slow passing drivers, according to South of Downtown Community Arts Organizer Kat Weise.
"This was just a low-hanging way we could try to slow traffic," Weise said.
The project comes after a July 21 crash where a boy was hit by a vehicle on nearby C Street.
Though he wasn't injured, some local children no longer felt safe riding their bikes in their own neighborhood, said Pepe Fierro owner of Pepe's Bistro on 11th Street.
From A to K streets, there are no stop signs and only one roundabout that drivers often go straight through, added Fierro
He and other residents have been asking the city of Lincoln to add more signs and safeguards to protect the high amount of young pedestrians in the area that includes Everett Elementary School.
Weise said the mural has brought excitement and the opportunity to improve the situation with public art, but the city still needs to make changes.
"I don't want to see another kid get hit by a car because of our failure to address this in a quick and timely way," said Weise.