Will it take the death of a child for people to drive slower in residential neighborhoods?

I live in a residential neighborhood in Berlin, Connecticut, where the posted speed limit is 25 miles per hour; however, the majority of the cars driving in our neighborhood exceed that speed, typically driving 40 to 50 miles per hour.  Many of the drivers of these cars are mothers and fathers and have small children of their own.  Don't they realize how dangerous this excessive speed is, and how easily they can kill a small child in their very own neighborhoods?

I recall an incident from my youth where a 9 year old girl was riding her bicycle in front of her house.  She was behind a parked car and when she went out into the road, the driver killed her.  The driver was a mother of two children and subsequently suffered a nervous breakdown, and never recovered from her responsibility in killing that child.

The girl's parents never recovered either.  They were at the home at the time of death and saw their child dead on the road.  The mother, a beautiful woman, drank herself to death.  And the two older siblings shouldered the guilt of not watching the little girl more closely while she was outside riding her bicycle in front of their home.

We have three little adorable girls on our street.  They often chase a ball or their little dog out into the road, or ride their tricycles by the road.  We live at the base of a hill where cars accelerate to well over 50 miles per hour.  What chance do these little girls have if they accidentally cross the path of one of these vehicles traveling at excessive speeds?  It could take 200 feet for a car to stop after the brakes are applied.  Are not vehicles traveling at such excessive speeds in residential neighborhoods lethal weapons, and are not the drivers criminals?

So what will it take for mothers and fathers to abide by the neighborhood speed limits of 25 miles per hour, which speed in and of itself may be even too fast when children are outside playing?  Will it take the death of one of their own children to slow down their driving?

I have called the Berlin Police Department to enforce the speed limits in neighborhood areas.  But the police can only do so much.

When I see young mothers and fathers driving at these excessive speeds in their tankish SUVs in their own neighborhoods, I shudder at their insensitivity and irresponsibility for other children.