Why is this man patrolling a Hilton Head neighborhood in a chicken suit?

Why does the man in a chicken suit stand in the middle of the road with a radar gun?

In the case of Logan Cambron, a resident of the Point Comfort neighborhood on Hilton Head Island, it's simply to try to slow speeders on the quite residential street that runs past his house.

As he sat in his costume in a chair by the side of the road Thursday, he said it all began when one of the chickens he keeps as a pet got out of its enclosure and tried to cross Point Comfort Road. It was injured by a passing car that didn't stop. It took the chicken more than a month to recover.

The incident launched Cambron on his crusade. He says it's more about protecting the children in his neighborhood than his pet chickens.

The speed limit on the stretch of the road that curves past his house is 30 mph, but he says people often race past at much higher speeds. The highest speed he has clocked with his radar gun was 44 mph.

He first tried to entice speeders to slow down with signs on the corner next to his house.

One reads "caution chicken crossing."

The other says, "Drive as if your kids were playing on this street."

More recently, he decided take a more direct approach.

On Sunday, he began patrolling the road in an old chicken costume he had bought a year ago. "I've used it for goofy stuff," he said of costume. "During the Heritage, I rode around on a jet ski past the 18th green of Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head."

He uses the speed gun to determine the speed of approaching cars and signals them to slow down when they exceed the speed limit by holding up a sign that reads "slow the cluck down."

The costume helps keep the mood light and avoid confrontations, he said.

"Some of the fathers used to run out and try to stop speeders ... and people wanted to get in a fight," he said. "But if you have a six-foot chicken stop you and tell you to slow down, not a lot of people want to get in a street fight."

He also hopes his unorthodox protest will call attention to the issue and get the speed limit lowered.

"We're here every day with our kids and our pets, and we're telling them we want the speed limit lowered," he said.

He says that ultimately, he and his neighbors hope that the speed limit can be lowered to 20 mph.

"We figure if we set it at 20, they'll do 25 at most and we can live with that," he said.

"That's better than the 40-somethings we've been having."

He said neither the state, which maintains the road, nor the Town of Hilton Head has been willing to lower the speed limit.

Until it is, he plans to keep wearing the costume and causing a roadside flap.

"I've got ample amounts of free time and resourcefulness to throw at this," he said.

Jay Karr: 843-706-8150

This story was originally published April 26, 2018 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Why is this man patrolling a Hilton Head neighborhood in a chicken suit?."