For nearly five years, Young Leaders Society board member and PR chair, Chuck Isbell, has worked with his employer and peers to shape a brighter future for families throughout our community.
Last year, Chuck’s 13-year-old son, Nathaniel “Nate” Elijah Isbell, an eighth grader at Rock Springs Middle School, was killed on Halloween after being struck by a speeding driver on a residential street.
In memory of Nate, his father and mother, Janeesa Perkins, advocated to pass a resolution for the “Halloween Speed Limit,” which lowers the speed limit to 25 mph on all residential streets in Rutherford County on Halloween.
During the month of October, Janessa and Chuck have distributed yard signs that state “Keep a Kid alive. Drive 25” and reached out to elected officials, schools and community organizations to ask people to share their message of caution this Halloween.
“Please slow down, be alert and expect the unexpected on our roads. The speed limit on all residential streets this Halloween is twenty-five miles per hour,” said Chuck. “Driving slower means you can stop faster. If you hit a pedestrian at forty miles per hour there is an eighty percent chance they’ll die. At twenty miles per hour there is a ninety percent chance they’ll live. Nate’s death was not an accident. Nate’s death was preventable. If the driver had been going slower, Nate would be alive today.”
Nate was a smart, kind and generous soul. Nate excelled at playing electric and acoustic guitar. He is missed dearly. Janessa and Chuck are continuing their campaign for safer roads beyond Halloween and have launched a petition to make the speed limit on all local, residential streets in Rutherford County 25 mph every day, not just on Halloween.
*Sourced from October 25, 2021 press release from Walk Bike Nashville.