Montana Woman uses hair dryer to stop speeders in her neighborhood

A grandmother in Montana is now an honorary state trooper after using a hair dryer as a fake police speeding radar. (Source: Tim Baumgartner/KPAX/CNN)

POLSON, Mont. – A grandmother in Montana is now an honorary state trooper. She wants cars in her neighborhood to slow down, so she took matters into her own hand with a hair dryer.

Patti Baumgartner's picture was made famous on social media. A mom and a grandmother, Baumgartner wants cars on her street to slow down for people's safety, according to WJHG.

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"They forget to slow down, and there are a lot of people that are complaining about that they can't walk or ride their bikes. I wouldn't even attempt riding a bike around," she said.

She took matters into her own hands.

"We were talking about maybe something would slow the cars down. So, we decided to put me in a chair and I guess use the hair dryer as a speed thing," Baumgartner said.

Baumgartner's son took the picture of her and tweeted it out to Trooper Noah Pesola, hoping to catch his attention. It did.

"I thought it was hilarious. I think that we have a speed issue in Montana, and I thought it was a great creative idea for the public to try and combat that a little bit without making people too upset," said Pesola.

Pesola liked it so much he gave Baumgartner a special title.

"It's not an official or anything like that for the honorary trooper, which is kind of what I called it. I didn't know what else to do for her, when she's doing something for the community and like she says, she's got grandkids in the area so she's doing something for her grandkids' benefit. The best thing I could think of was give her a trooper hat and a badge to make her look a little more official," he said.

Baumgartner says she can't tell if her white hair dryer really slowed cars down, but she plans to use it again to bring awareness to speeding cars in the neighborhood.