Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We live in a residential neighborhood, but there is a medical center on the street. It is not even far from the entrance to the street. I am the first house on the block, and I can see the medical center from my house. But people turn on to my road, and slam on the gas just to speed down to the medical center. It appalls me. Keep in mind these speeders may be parents too, probably going to their kids appointments! And we have kids on our street. Cops do nothing.They sit to catch speeders at the most ridiculous times, like sundays at 5 pm. When the center is CLOSED and my town is basically dead anyways. I have two young kids, and I fear some idiot hitting them one day when they are playing outside. Geez people, have some g'dam consideration! Is there anything I can do, besides just teaching my kids how to be safe outside?
Do you have a community alderman or councilman that represents your neighborhood specifically? If so, I would talk to them about 'improvements' to the street or streetscape that will cause people to slow down.
•speed bumps or humps.
•traffic circles
(these two may be implemented after an emergency entrance, if there is one, to the medical center; they would slow down thru-traffic but not impede emergency services)
•introducing or altering stop lights or signs so that either entering your block or passing through it are more of a hassle
•one-way traffic if it isn't already.
•painted lines on the roadway (perpendicular to the direction of traffic). Wider stripes getting gradually narrower with the spacing between also getting narrower. It creates an optical illusion that the road is getting narrower when in fact it is not. But drivers tend to slow down on narrower streets so if they think the road is getting narrower they will drive slower.
•Introduce parallel parking. If parallel parking already exists, introduce angled parking on one side of the street. This makes the roadway physically narrower and gives drivers more to pay attention to, which also slow down the driving
•Build and plant streetscaping. Sidewalks (brick if possible). Wrought iron benches. Antique-style street lamps. With hanging plant baskets. Flower beds and tree boxes. Encourage residents to landscape their yards nicely, with particular attention to the portion of the property closest to the street. It creates the effect of an intimate street and community rather than just a breezeway that drivers are passing through.
Sometimes these latter things are more effective in affecting change because they are less obvious and adversarial than things like speed bumps.
And none of these things should replace teaching your children to watch out for cars.
I would not suggest doing this cause my sister got a stern warning from a police officer for it but anyway , she went and purchased a used big wheel from a yard sale and when she saw a teenager speeding down her street she threw it in front of him and he hit his brakes really hard and he started cursing her and she told him "now what if that had been one of our kids ? " Since that time she has had no speeders on her street . She is also now deemed the crazy lady of the block too LOL !!!
Put a large sign in your yard.... one that says something like "We have children, please slow down so you won't run over them" or "I know you're in a hurry, but please drive carefully" (if you have neighbors who are willing, have them place a similar sign in their yard)
Ask the local police dept to put one of those electronic speed detectors on your street
Speed humps
Go to the medical center and put reminder fliers on the windshields of cars. (polite fliers)
I remember when I was a back roads speeding teenager, (I was one of many, twisty rural roads are fun to speed on)
Anyway, a whole bunch of families had their kids (or at least it looked like kid handwriting and coloring) make big signs that they posted on the side of the road.
"please slow down we're playing outside here" etc. etc.
I've always remembered those.
I think the personalization is key.
Are there other families on your street that are as unhappy about the speeding as you are? Get everyone together and brainstorm.
See this link for an amazing community building intersection transformation project that's been going on in Portland for some time now....you may glean some ideas:
I don't think pushing for speed bumps is the answer since you are dealing with a medical center....speed bumps have been removed in the town where I used to live due to the many people in wheelchairs and who have other medical conditions which make driving over the speed bumps even at a crawl speed extremely painful....
How about getting some of those neon yellow.green plasctic guys that look like traffic cones. I see them all the time in the streets when kids are playing outside, kinda warning drivers to slow down kids are here. I don't mean they are directly in the street but the sides.
I have the same problem. I wrote to the county sheriff and public works and suggested additional speed limit signs, speed bumps, and/or more frequent patrols. I was told that there are speed limit signs at the entrance to the neighborhood and that is standard; speed bumps don't work well with snow plows. I did get a patrol officer to come out a few times but usually not at the right times. I also got a temporary "your speed is" trailer. It helped temporarily, but the problem still exists. I have some orange cones I put out along the side of the street when the kids are playing. It slows some down, some not. It is very frustrating.
I would not suggest doing this cause my sister got a stern warning from a police officer for it but anyway , she went and purchased a used big wheel from a yard sale and when she saw a teenager speeding down her street she threw it in front of him and he hit his brakes really hard and he started cursing her and she told him "now what if that had been one of our kids ? " Since that time she has had no speeders on her street . She is also now deemed the crazy lady of the block too LOL !!!
My neighbor keeps talking about buying an old baby carriage and pushing it out in front of someone speeding down our street. lol! I think she also wants to put a doll in it to really freak the driver out.
I used to put large "Construction" type orange cones in front of my driveway. When I had a teen that was constantly speeding I moved one of the cones to the middle of the street so he would have to slow down to drive around it. I know I had no approval by my town to do it - but no one ever complained except the speeder!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.