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Speed Demons

When I was in my early twenties I used to drive through a neighborhood where one of the streets had a speed limit of a whopping 5 MPH.  I was just learning to drive a stick back then and frankly coasting along in the lower gears at such a low speed tended to send me on a one way trip to Stallville.  I confess I tended to speed on that street, riding in second gear a little more comfortably at five miles per hour over the speed limit.  One day as I was passing through on a fine summer day there was a woman walking down the street who proceeded to scream at me that I should slow the #*%@ down.  I marveled at this woman. My God. I was driving 10 MPH.  Certainly my actions did not warrant that level of frustration.

In later years my path to work took me down a lovely side road that had a 30 MPH speed limit.  It was a rather windy road and I was more than happy to adhere to the traffic laws.  There was a family that lived on that street with children, and I would often see them standing in their driveway awaiting their school bus.  These parents were apparently unhappy with their town’s designated speed assignment for their street, because they would regularly stand at the edge of their driveway shouting at people, including myself, to slow down.  I would become frustrated by these people, especially when they put a “Slow Children” sign in the road, making it nearly impossible for two cars traveling in opposite directions to pass each other in front of their home. 

“What is wrong with these people”, I would say to myself.  That road is so narrow it is almost impossible to speed over the limit in the first place.  The family eventually moved.  I discarded them as crazy suburbanites and went along at my happy little 30 MPH way. 

Then I became a parent whose children just LOVE to send their balls flying into the direction of our street despite my threats of impending doom.  I live in a quiet neighborhood teaming with young families.  The speed limit on our road is a respectable 20 MPH.  I’ve been noticing a trend this summer; we’ve got a number of lead foots passing through as of late. 

Now I do not have my own pocket friendly radar detector on hand, but I can gage their speed well enough, and there are quite a few offenders who pass through at more than double the speed limit.  I stare at them and scowl as they zip past. Depending on how close we are to the road at the time my husband and I might even scream at them with a few choice words, akin to the encounter I had in my early twenties. 

I’m quite close to calling the police and letting them know that if they are looking to fill their quota I have nice and shady spot for them to sit in wait, just beyond the turn where my home is situated and my children play.  There are a number of repeat offenders so their time would certainly not be wasted. 

I am probably all talk and likely wont call, but hey you…pedal to the metal chick with the Honda…

I Am Watching You

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July 26th, 2010 | Category: Post
  • Mary

    Maria, how true–the Indian proverb “until you walk in my shoes” does seem to apply. I really didn't notice as you were growing up in Natick because our street was a main road and you and your sister were allowed to play only in the yard; but when we moved to Nottingham I realized how important it was to slow down when the family at the end of our street yelled to me that there were kids there. It really came home to me when I walked with Sofia and Dominic on your street and worried about the cars going too fast. I think until people actually have a vested interest in slowing down that it will sink in. Human nature again, I guess. Keep watching out and and speaking out and hopefully it will be enough

  • Simone

    Ask the city to post a larger sign. Plus, there are a few places that you may find online that have speed bumps that you can lay out in the street. If you can't find it, then call your city and ask how you can go about having one put out there. I lived on a long street where the same thing happened and people would flip me off when I yelled slow down. I also had an incident where a kid darted out right in front of me on his bike. I had to pull over from shaking. I wanted to take the kid to his house and tell the parents what had just happened.

    I hope you can get some results.

  • http://www.capricornsoapco.blogspot.com Christina

    Yeah, I used to do the same thing. Now I cringe when the cars zoom by at the alotted 15 MPH and I grit my teeth, praying they'll slow down. When I was younger, 15 MPH was a suggestion only – meant to encourage my foot to find the floorboard.

    I totally understand what you mean. Great article!

  • Erin@MommyontheSpot

    Great post!

    We live on a street that people use to cut through to get to the main road. And it's right next to a high school. Speed demons at the speed of light! Makes me crazy!!

  • Jess

    So funny…I called our city last month to complain about our street. It's a residential area but they put an on-ramp to the expressway a couple of blocks away so our street is a cut through now to avoid the main road. I used to go that way all the time before I lived on the street. Anyway, they put speed humps…if you can even call them that…but they are useless barely raised little lumps. You can't see them either because they are made of brick so they blend into the street. People FLY down the street and take the useless humps at 40 MPH!!! A few of us sometimes stand out there during traffic hours and glare at the offenders….we have even put a traffic cone in the middle of the street to slow people down. There are eight kids on the street, four are toddlers (including Roman). I called the city and told them it was going to end in disaster if they didn't get a grip on it. They said they would do a “speed study”….but I haven't heard back yet. Good luck.