Dubbed Neighborhood SOS - or Stamp Out Speeding - the campaign centers around asking motorists to slow down.

"I used to speed," said Chari Hicks, one of the program's originators. "It dawned on me: The problem is us."

Hicks and others in the neighborhood near Academy Boulevard and Montebello Drive put together a flier along with a pledge card asking drivers to check their speeds on hills, wide streets and other areas. They sent it to hundreds of neighborhood residents.

About 120 people have already returned the pledge cards agreeing to slow down.

"This holds more promise than any other program I've ever seen - threats of enforcement, anything," said Dave Zelenok, head of the city's Public Works Department. "It gets right to the root of the problem."

The campaign includes posting signs in areas where people tend to speed, as a reminder to slow down. Residents are working with the city, which pitched in $3,600. If successful, the idea could spread to other neighborhoods.

City staffers say the campaign is cheaper and likely more effective than relying solely on police. Squad cars tend to slow people down as long as they are stationed in a particular place but don't typically have a lasting impact on driver behavior, Zelenok said.

Traffic engineers will monitor speeds in the SOS neighborhood to gauge the program's effectiveness. They will not issue tickets.

In 1998, the city temporarily closed a segment of Montebello Drive to slow down traffic. The move divided the neighborhood. Some residents strongly opposed the closure; others favored it.

In the end, city traffic engineers decided to reopen the road.

Speeding is among the top complaints City Council members receive from residents.

"We have such frustration with speeding in all neighborhoods," Mayor Mary Lou Makepeace said.

"It's refreshing to see people say, 'It's my problem,' because it is us that's causing the problem."