This just pisses me off.

[LaraMN]

A little background: A live on a through-street. At our end of the block, there are three disabled children: my son, my good friend's eleven year old daughter (who is legally blind and mentally disabled,) and a boy who is in a wheelchair, with cerebral palsy, all of whom require considerable extra supervision, along with ten other children.

It's a residential street, and there are 4-way stops on every block.

Nevertheless, people drive like fucking bats-out-of-hell, and often run the stop signs. The police department has been repeatedly notified. They do nothing. My friend got the city to put a "blind child" sign RIGHT on our part of the block. It didn't even serve to slow people down.

Most of the kids play outside frequently, there is on-street parking, which blocks visibility, and in short, we're just *waiting* for something awful to happen, despite our best efforts at keeping them all away from the street.

I just looked outside and watched as a car swerved past our neighbor boy, a Kindergartener, when he wandered over the boulevard and stumbled off the edge, into the street. They were going way too fast, and his Mom was trying to unload her other two small children from her van in her driveway.

I am seriously so sick of these fucking people and their idiocy, in speeding through a residential area. I seriously want to go stand near the road and throw a ball out in front of the overt speeders, so they'll realize how easily a kid could dart out in front of them.

Yeah, that's probably illegal, huh? I suppose I could cause an accident and get sued.

What the heck can I reasonably do?

[Hissyspit]

1. Go to the city/town council and make an appeal/demand speed bumps.

[LaraMN]

4. I believe my friend tried that in recent years and was largely ignored.

Perhaps we'll just have to become a thorn in the side of the city council, until something's done about it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. Go to EVERY council meeting

and write a letter every week and call every council member once a week.

if you can't win through logic, win by making them want very badly to get you to be happy and just shut up.

:-)

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Y'gotta keep going back

Fill out a speaker card before the meeting so they have to listen. Get as many people as you can. Make enough noise and your local media will pick up on it, and then your voice rises exponentially.

Gonna raise hell, gonna raise hell, gonna raise HELL...

[Hissyspit]

18. Worse comes to worst, you can file suit.

Would help to get other citizens to show up and make the appeal, too. Strength in numbers/constituency.

[mzteris]

31. Get everyone on the street

to sign a petition - include their street number/address by each name so they know that the residents want this.

[Midlodemocrat]

9. Great suggestion.

Another thing is if they are repeat offenders, get their license plate numbers and HOUND the police.

I had the same problem in my neighborhood with a woman in a mini van, with three kids none the less who constantly floored it coming down my street.

I finally screamed at her one day; she backed up and got all attitude-y with me and I so got in her face that she never went past my house again.

Oh, and she cheated on her husband, got pregnant with this guy's child, moved back in with her parents.

And, tried to poison her kids with exlax in the chocolate chip cookies.

Probably voted for Bush, too.

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. You beat me to it

Some residents of a similar street here did the same thing a couple of years ago. They had to raise a bit of hell at more than one city council meeting, but they got speed bumps.

Residents in the town I grew up in actually got their street closed to through traffic.

Squeaky wheels and all. Civic action. ORganize. Powa to da people! :thumbsup:

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. Agreed. Become a pain in the arse and lay on the guilt trips

[anarch]

2. I'd lobby for some "sleeping policemen"

i.e. big-ass speed bumps. They put some of those in on the street behind my apartment, and it is now physically impossible to drive more than about 20 mph down the thing without seriously damaging your car.

[ET Awful]

3. Maybe a few of these strategically placed?

Or maybe some police style nail-strips/nail carpet :evilgrin:

[LaraMN]

5. That's what I FEEL like doing!

:grr:

[DS1]

6. Depending on the sentiments of the local parents

you could have the kids on a yard at the end of the street, and every time some asshole came flying down too fast you could have them each hold up a sign with a letter spelling out ASSHOLE

an adult nearby if it caused trouble would be a good idea, but if someone's going to threaten kids they've got some other issues and need arresting anyway

[LaraMN]

8. I'd be willing to BET the assholes wouldn't "get it."

The reason they're being called "assholes," that is.

Flicking people off is quickly becoming inadequately satisfying.

[DS1]

14. Have kinkos make a lifesize cardboard cut out of you in a short

skirt and boots ;-)

[gmoney]

17. Have them make two...

Would stop me in my tracks every time.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

7. Speed bumps and lots of them

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Or just go out late at night with some sledgehammers,

half the neighborhood, some beer and some barbeque, and pound the road into potholes and chewed up shit.

[Ohio Joe]

13. Some places around here...

Have speed bumps in the road. I was talking about it with some guys at work when I first came to Ohio and was told that these are generally neighborhood with lots of kids and the parents in the area petitioned the town to install them. Maybe getting enough people in the area to go at once to the town council and petition them for some speed bumps.

[leftofthedial]

19. time for the bush doctrine

find a house somewhere with a car in its driveway.

that could be one of the speeding cars, couldn't it?

burn the house down and kill everyone who lives there.

that'll show 'em.

[LaraMN]

20. There ya go! "fighting them over there, so they won't drive too fast

over here!"

"the Bush Doctrine of Traffic Control,"- I wonder if that's admissable in court.

[leftofthedial]

22. you might have to declare a war on speeding first

can you petition the city to put in speed bumps?

[SOteric]

21. We had some similarly challenged neighbourhoods around here

where the locals all got together and hired out to put in the speed bumps themselves.

I have no idea what the costs might be, or what your local, county and state legislators might have to say, but it's worth looking into.

[LaraMN]

24. We put cones and flags at the ends of our driveways last summer,

because it was getting SO out of hand. I wonder what a speed bump would cost? I may have to look into that. If it weren't too much, I bet the neighbors would happily kick in.

[SillyGoose]

26. I have the same problem on my street and when I asked about

speedbumps, they told me they weren't allowed because of ambulance access. I would be interested in knowing of any solutions you may come up with because I've struck out here with my council members and police.

[GalleryGod]

23. In South Philly-The residents close down the street by blockade

and alert the TV and Papers!

and Pre-educate the cause of the blockade.

[LaraMN]

25. Now that just sounds fun!

My friend and I were considering having a block party this summer, maybe we can an event of it.

[GalleryGod]

32. I Would Encourage you to do so, Lara ! No kidding.

It would be better than sitting in a venue where they've got "Home Court Advantage".

[Lisa0825]

27. I heard in my county that

the police departments would loan those machines that detect your speed and display it in lights to people for problem areas.

Here's a thought... go to a professional sign company and have them make a sign saying that speed limits are now being enforced by hidden radar/video camera. I saw a sign like that on a rural road once and always wondered if it was for real, but I never tested it too much!LOL

[sendero]

28. I agree with the others..

... that becoming a fixture at city hall until something is done is probably the best bet.

However, you might also consider telling the city, in writing, that since you have repeatedly warned them of this dangerous situation, should something happen you will consider filing suit against the city.

Lastly, I'd get a video camera and tape or pretend to tape every a-hole who barrels down your street.

[LaraMN]

29. Those sound like prudent suggestions.

I'm sure it's alot of repeat offenders, because of the nature of our location.

[miss_american_pie]

30. I've done that ball thing

but only to the obnoxious teenagers from the next block over. I might try a watermelon if I can figure how to throw it fast enough.

The dad next door yells really loud at the speeders.

Good luck.