1. In my neighborhood, not only are the streets unsafe, but so are the parking lots. Too many times I've been walking my son to the market or book store and some a-hole comes speeding down the parking lot, talking on their cell phone or talking to a passenger. There's no reason to be going 20 mph in a parking lot.

Posted at 4:47PM on May 6th 2008 by eugene

2. This is a chronic problem in the small town quiet neighborhood where I live. I am currently lobbying the town council for a "Slow children Playing" sign, or anything to help. My kids yell at cars to slow down every day. It is very worrysome.

Posted at 11:21PM on May 6th 2008 by amanda

3. This occurs every once in awhile in our neighborhood. Usually it's just a teenager without a care in the world. Your post kind of took me back several years to my own childhood and a speeding motorcycle.

My Dad became so fed up with this guy that one night he decided to lay a track of tacks on the street. Around 2am we heard a powerful screech and saw the man lying on the sidewalk, somewhat confused, but he propped his bike back up and continued on his way.

We only heard from him once or twice after that and then nothing. Looking back it could've been a lot worse (for both him and us) but it just goes to show people will go to great lengths to silence an annoyance.

Posted at 8:28AM on May 7th 2008 by Erik Sagen

4. Something like this happened in the neighborhood I grew up in. Some guy would routinely roar through our quite suburban subdivision and the neighbors got tired of it. they put a chain up at neck height between opposite street lamps and close lined the guy.

At least thats the story they told me when I was 5...

Posted at 12:13PM on May 7th 2008 by eugene

5. I would suggest you go a step further and see how to get sidewalks. The issue of sidewalks has turned my husband into a community activist. In our case, there is a county fund and he is championing efforts to get our insufficient sidewalk situation fixed. He can be credited for completion of many sidewalks in our neighborhood b/c of his advocacy and learning the system. It's a headache - but as a taxpayer - you should have side walks.

Also - I think a polite note is a great first step. Always start out polite - we can all be clueless and unthinking at times. If you get a negative response, well you know - but you also know you began kindly.

Posted at 11:32AM on May 7th 2008 by maria

6. Your note isn’t lame, it’s polite and gets the point across. Hopefully he’ll respect what you had to say and slow down.

We live in a lovely little area close to a river and walking paths. Our neighbourhood was plagued by an influx of teenagers who hung-out at one house in particular. They drove like morons through our child infested streets. Several calls were placed by us and our neighbours to the police about their reckless driving. The police stepped up patrols and that seemed to help for a while.

The neighbourhood breathed a collective sigh of relief the day the ‘for sale’ sign went up on that house, things have been much quieter since they moved and our children are safer.

Posted at 12:23PM on May 7th 2008 by Allysen

7. What are children doing playing in the street to begin with? Streets are for vehicles, not children (or any other sort of pedestrian, joggers included). Any parent who allows his children to play in the street is guilty of negligence and child endangerment.

Incidentally, the term is "clotheslined" -- the idea, of course, being that a length of clothesline is employed for the prank. Some people were recently arrested in my area for doing that to a couple of motorcyclists for no apparent reason (they didn't have a habit of riding fast through the neighborhood or making excessive noise). Monofiliament fishing line was used in that case.

Posted at 1:54PM on May 8th 2008 by Geoff Miller

8. Thanks for the clarification on the term. Having never done it, nor thought about such an act, I hadn't done much research on it. What you say makes perfect sense though.

As to your question on "playing in the streets"... well, my street in the suburbs doesn't have signals or a crosswalk, so when we wanted to go visit our neighbors, we would "jaywalk". I suppose my parents should have been more diligent and driven us across the street.

Sarcasm aside... kids don't always play in the streets, sometimes they're just crossing the street... or sometimes, kids being kids, will run out into the street after a ball or cat or whatever. As a driver you should be aware of your surroundings and oh yeah, following the speed limit. So yes, kids shouldn't be "playing in the street" but drivers shouldn't recklessly be speeding down neighborhood streets.

Posted at 3:38AM on May 9th 2008 by eugene