I am writing a a persuasive essay and need help?

Question

Hey I need help. My topic is that the residental streets have 35 mph speed limits and there has been 11 accidents and i am writing to the editor of the newspaper could you help with the introduction.. PLEASE

Answer 1

Before you write to the newspaper, you may want to simply make a couple of phone calls and find out who is responsible for posting the speed limit and the signs. In my town, it is the "Public Safety Officer" at the Police Department who, in turn, asks the DPW to prepare and post the signs. Go and speak with that person first. You can ask to speak with the officer at the location. Once you embarrass the department in the local paper it will be a lot harder to get their cooperation. In my area, sometimes the state has laws which deal with what a local department can do. So, you may need to go to whoever runs your town or even your State Representative. Exhaust those avenues before writing the letter. It won't take more than seven phone calls to find exactly who is responsible for making your situation better. If you need additional suggestions, email me.

Answer 2

Just an idea for your letter, feel free to tweak it. :) Good luck!

To whom it may concern,
As I’m sure it has been noted in the news, there have been a total of 11 traffic accidents in this one residential area alone.
Any accident is tragic, but I believe that this extreme number is unacceptable and I believe it is a direct result of this area’s high speed limit.
Of course, 35 mph may not seem like that fast to most drivers, but think about that speed in terms of lethality to children.
An average of 20% of children die when hit by cars going 35 mph--that is 1 out of every 5 kids.
Even a slight reduction of 5 mph, making the speed limit still a very high 30 miles an hour, cuts that death rate in half.
Almost every school district, playground, and even daycare areas require a drop to 20 miles per hour for safety.
If a drop of a mere 5 miles an hour can prevent a whopping 5 out of 10 kids from dying on the street, just imagine what a drop of 15 miles an hour could do.
Please for the safety of everyone -- the child darting into the road, the elderly woman crossing the street, or even the young man just learning to drive – please consider lowering this speed.
That way we all can accelerate through life.

Answer 3

America is the greatest country in the world because our government is based on laws that are by the people and for the people. However, when a law that is in place does not serve the people properly, it should be changed. Recently there have been 11 traffic accidents on residential streets where the current speed limit is 35 mph. It is time to reduce the speed limit to help reduce the number of traffic accidents on those streets.

Answer 4

You could start out with a dramatic example in the introduction - give a descriptive example of one of the car accidents. You could also give some startling statistics to grab the reader's attention. The introduction also needs to have the thesis of the paper which will give your position on the issue.