I know this is not about motorized bicycles but had to share. great stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ZwbDj7sQM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ZwbDj7sQM
how to handle people speeding down your street
- Thread starter paul
- Start date
Or this one.
http://blog.powerblocktv.com/tennessee-grandmother-posts-warning-sign-for-speeding-drivers/
http://blog.powerblocktv.com/tennessee-grandmother-posts-warning-sign-for-speeding-drivers/
Attachments
I want one of the spring board speed bumps. The speed limit in our neighborhood is 25mph. I will guarantee you that over 80% of the drivers do over forty on most of the streets. They also totally ignore stop signs. I've watched everything from trash trucks, delivery trucks, UPS, Fedx, socker moms, even school buses and in two cases marked cop cars blow through a four way stop without even slowing.
The problem seems to be getting worse every year. I've complained to the county sheriff's department, the state patrol, our homeowner association to no avail and I'm not alone in my battle with speeders and stop sign violators.
One of my neighbors actually started videoing the four way stop at her corner and turned the videos over to the state patrol and the sheriff. Do you think anything came of it? No!
What is it about these people that makes them think that speed limits and stop signs don't apply to them? Do they think they are 'too important, too busy? That they are above the laws?
I've concocted all manner of devious ideas to combat these morons; hiding behind bushes and rolling a child's ball out into the street, maybe a dummy on a string that I could pull and make it appear that a child or an animal is running out in front of them. B-B guns, rocks, a mannequin dressed as a cop standing near the intersection. The battle goes on, but I'm loosing.
How do I order a spring bump from the German gentleman?
Tom
The problem seems to be getting worse every year. I've complained to the county sheriff's department, the state patrol, our homeowner association to no avail and I'm not alone in my battle with speeders and stop sign violators.
One of my neighbors actually started videoing the four way stop at her corner and turned the videos over to the state patrol and the sheriff. Do you think anything came of it? No!
What is it about these people that makes them think that speed limits and stop signs don't apply to them? Do they think they are 'too important, too busy? That they are above the laws?
I've concocted all manner of devious ideas to combat these morons; hiding behind bushes and rolling a child's ball out into the street, maybe a dummy on a string that I could pull and make it appear that a child or an animal is running out in front of them. B-B guns, rocks, a mannequin dressed as a cop standing near the intersection. The battle goes on, but I'm loosing.
How do I order a spring bump from the German gentleman?
Tom
Last edited:
I've been actually contemplating rigging up some kind of sprinkler hose that I could string along the street where people speed most, and hooking one end to a rather large tank filled with CO2. I'd need a sizable valve which could dump all that CO2 down the hose as fast as possible. The idea is to see if it would either smother the speeder's engine and stall it, or at the very least rob it of a great deal of its power. It sounds like a fun experiment to me, and you'd be hard-pressed to do any harm with it.
Maybe in your neck of the woods they have something similar to the guy that does "People behaving badly)?
KRON TV has Stanley Roberts show these people. Maybe it has an effect?
KRON TV has Stanley Roberts show these people. Maybe it has an effect?
Yup! That was a great video.
To expand a bit on what 2Door had to say; another problem with the fact that everyone speeds, runs stops, etc., is the fact that they get creepy with you if you don't.
It's bad on the interstates and on the 4-lane 45 mph arteries. I mostly drive at about the average speed of the traffic around me. But there's almost always some fool nearby who's acting dodgy. Looking for some little gap to squeeze into, then floor it, etc. These are the people who cause wrecks. And they need to be watched. And when they do get by, then another one pops up. It's nerve-wracking. What makes it worse is that I can tell by watching that most of the other drivers around me deal with this by sticking their heads in the sand. They simply don't watch them and assume that everything'll be all right. Maybe it works for them. But I can't do it.
My neighborhood has two north-south main drags. One is a 35 mph commercial street. The other is a 25 mph residential street. It's wider than many. But that just means that people park further from the curb and use up the extra space. I'm most comfortable (in a car as opposed to a bike) at about 22 or 23 mph. At that speed I know that I'm not going to run over a child or a pet or a squirrel. And I know I'm not going to startle the little old lady who's coming out to her mailbox. Yet even there I get fools right on my tail acting as though they're going to pass. One time I actually was passed. By a neighbor. A nice guy. We knew each other for nearly 25 years before his death. We always got along great. But in that situation he was so antagonized by being forced to go 23 on a 25 that he literally floored it and looked at me like he wished I was dead as he went by.
I'm pretty sure that was the only time I was passed on that road. But I've had high school girls give me the finger over my 'lagging'. And it doesn't happen every day on this road. But it's outrageous for it to happen even once.
This is one of the main reasons that I drive, literally, as little as I possibly can. I don't want to be amongst such people. I ride a bicycle to work and on errands.
I'm the only one I know. Every now and then I get a chance to explain my reasons to some auto-addict. But not often. Because people don't ask and I don't offer. They don't want to know about it.
They want to live like the people described above and they want to continue to believe that the (few) people like me are the ones with the brain abnormality.
To expand a bit on what 2Door had to say; another problem with the fact that everyone speeds, runs stops, etc., is the fact that they get creepy with you if you don't.
It's bad on the interstates and on the 4-lane 45 mph arteries. I mostly drive at about the average speed of the traffic around me. But there's almost always some fool nearby who's acting dodgy. Looking for some little gap to squeeze into, then floor it, etc. These are the people who cause wrecks. And they need to be watched. And when they do get by, then another one pops up. It's nerve-wracking. What makes it worse is that I can tell by watching that most of the other drivers around me deal with this by sticking their heads in the sand. They simply don't watch them and assume that everything'll be all right. Maybe it works for them. But I can't do it.
My neighborhood has two north-south main drags. One is a 35 mph commercial street. The other is a 25 mph residential street. It's wider than many. But that just means that people park further from the curb and use up the extra space. I'm most comfortable (in a car as opposed to a bike) at about 22 or 23 mph. At that speed I know that I'm not going to run over a child or a pet or a squirrel. And I know I'm not going to startle the little old lady who's coming out to her mailbox. Yet even there I get fools right on my tail acting as though they're going to pass. One time I actually was passed. By a neighbor. A nice guy. We knew each other for nearly 25 years before his death. We always got along great. But in that situation he was so antagonized by being forced to go 23 on a 25 that he literally floored it and looked at me like he wished I was dead as he went by.
I'm pretty sure that was the only time I was passed on that road. But I've had high school girls give me the finger over my 'lagging'. And it doesn't happen every day on this road. But it's outrageous for it to happen even once.
This is one of the main reasons that I drive, literally, as little as I possibly can. I don't want to be amongst such people. I ride a bicycle to work and on errands.
I'm the only one I know. Every now and then I get a chance to explain my reasons to some auto-addict. But not often. Because people don't ask and I don't offer. They don't want to know about it.
They want to live like the people described above and they want to continue to believe that the (few) people like me are the ones with the brain abnormality.
Above I mentioned a four way stop intersection in my neighborhood. The only one in fact and it is notorious for being ignored.
Last spring I was walking my dogs and was three houses from that intersection. It was near dark and a car came down the street, well above the posted 25mph limit and blew through the stop as if it wasn't there.
I never actually put myself or my dogs in jeopardy but I made it appear that I was going to walk out in front of this idiot. He slammed on his brakes, came to a stop and yelled out his window, "What the H**l is wrong with you?" I stepped in front of his car and shined my flashlight on his tag and told him I was checking to see if he had brakes because I noticed that he'd blown the stop sigh right behind him.
He jumped out of his car and came around into his headlights. He was in full uniform. A county sheriff's deputy. He points to his badge and says, "Do you see what I do for a living?" I shined my light on his badge and his name tag and told him I didn't care where he got his paycheck but the next time he came through my neighborhood he'd better start observing the stop and speed limit signs. I went on and said I had his name, badge and tag number and if he wanted to pursue it we needed to start then.
He stared at me, his jaw muscles working and then he went back, got in his car and drove off at a very respectful speed, out of the neighborhood.
I never reported the incident to the sheriff's department, I don't think I needed to. He got the message and knew he's stepped in poo-poo.
Sometimes you just have to step up, speak up and stand up for what youi believe is right. I wish more people would do it.
Tom
Last spring I was walking my dogs and was three houses from that intersection. It was near dark and a car came down the street, well above the posted 25mph limit and blew through the stop as if it wasn't there.
I never actually put myself or my dogs in jeopardy but I made it appear that I was going to walk out in front of this idiot. He slammed on his brakes, came to a stop and yelled out his window, "What the H**l is wrong with you?" I stepped in front of his car and shined my flashlight on his tag and told him I was checking to see if he had brakes because I noticed that he'd blown the stop sigh right behind him.
He jumped out of his car and came around into his headlights. He was in full uniform. A county sheriff's deputy. He points to his badge and says, "Do you see what I do for a living?" I shined my light on his badge and his name tag and told him I didn't care where he got his paycheck but the next time he came through my neighborhood he'd better start observing the stop and speed limit signs. I went on and said I had his name, badge and tag number and if he wanted to pursue it we needed to start then.
He stared at me, his jaw muscles working and then he went back, got in his car and drove off at a very respectful speed, out of the neighborhood.
I never reported the incident to the sheriff's department, I don't think I needed to. He got the message and knew he's stepped in poo-poo.
Sometimes you just have to step up, speak up and stand up for what youi believe is right. I wish more people would do it.
Tom
That was hilarious. I want a few of those now.
Over here they take speedbumps pretty seriously when they make them on the street. They're usually 4 or 5 inches high, and the flat section across the top is 3 to 6 feet wide. Perfect for the little Civics etc that have been wrapped in another car's worth of custom spoilers and skirts etc to get stuck on. (Saw it, it was funnier than.. well, y'know.. front wheels spinning, back wheels off the ground, both no where near pavement...)
Harley laughs when one of these folks who races and zig-zags through traffic goes by us. I'll switch to a white knuckle grip the wheel for a sec and grit my teeth and say "MUST! RECREATE! FASTER! Ahh! It's 10 minutes later than it was ten minutes ago! Ahhhhh!"
I love it when someone who would rather be speeding along at 80 kmh (in a 50 kmh zone) is frothing at the mouth in my rear view mirror because I've set my cruise control at 55 and traffic/parked cars won't let them pass.
It's the same here, if a street is signed for 50 kph (30 mph), they'll do 70 (43 mph). Where I used to live, if you got on Highway 401 (signed for 100 kmh) doing less than 120, you were 'impeding traffic' (It was so much fun having to use that road with a truckload of dangerous goods and a governor set to 107 kmh max).
The lane behind our house is pretty straight and level, but just past us it's a blind curve going uphill to the next street. Lane speed limit is supposed to be 20 kmh (just over 10 mph) and they come flying down and around that curve, or use the straightaway like they need to build up speed for the (minor) hillclimb. Our next door neighbour's back fence post is mangled because someone missed the turn coming down there. Fortunately his kids weren't in the yard, the SUV ended up almost halfway across it.
There are speedbumps in the lane, but not in our section of it, they start after the next crosslane east.
Sometimes I want to put one of those "Your Speed:" radar signs up back there, but it would probably only encourage them. After watching many seasons of "Canada's Worst Driver" I would love to have a few styrofoam cutouts that could 'dart out' from the side of the garage toward the lane.
Over here they take speedbumps pretty seriously when they make them on the street. They're usually 4 or 5 inches high, and the flat section across the top is 3 to 6 feet wide. Perfect for the little Civics etc that have been wrapped in another car's worth of custom spoilers and skirts etc to get stuck on. (Saw it, it was funnier than.. well, y'know.. front wheels spinning, back wheels off the ground, both no where near pavement...)
Harley laughs when one of these folks who races and zig-zags through traffic goes by us. I'll switch to a white knuckle grip the wheel for a sec and grit my teeth and say "MUST! RECREATE! FASTER! Ahh! It's 10 minutes later than it was ten minutes ago! Ahhhhh!"
I love it when someone who would rather be speeding along at 80 kmh (in a 50 kmh zone) is frothing at the mouth in my rear view mirror because I've set my cruise control at 55 and traffic/parked cars won't let them pass.
It's the same here, if a street is signed for 50 kph (30 mph), they'll do 70 (43 mph). Where I used to live, if you got on Highway 401 (signed for 100 kmh) doing less than 120, you were 'impeding traffic' (It was so much fun having to use that road with a truckload of dangerous goods and a governor set to 107 kmh max).
The lane behind our house is pretty straight and level, but just past us it's a blind curve going uphill to the next street. Lane speed limit is supposed to be 20 kmh (just over 10 mph) and they come flying down and around that curve, or use the straightaway like they need to build up speed for the (minor) hillclimb. Our next door neighbour's back fence post is mangled because someone missed the turn coming down there. Fortunately his kids weren't in the yard, the SUV ended up almost halfway across it.
There are speedbumps in the lane, but not in our section of it, they start after the next crosslane east.
Sometimes I want to put one of those "Your Speed:" radar signs up back there, but it would probably only encourage them. After watching many seasons of "Canada's Worst Driver" I would love to have a few styrofoam cutouts that could 'dart out' from the side of the garage toward the lane.
Last edited:
Now we are on my favorite subject. A-- Hats. We have a little ^%$(*& who lives down our side street a ways and likes to travel to travel about 45 or 50 miles an hour up or down it. All the other side streets in the area have speed bumps except ours so we get the traffic for the area. He followed me about a year ago and I was going the speed limit which is 30 mph. His pick up was about 4' off my bumper or less the whole way and as luck would have it I caught the only light as it turned green.
The next light turned red as we got to it and I locked the brakes up like it was a panic stop. When I looked at the side mirror the junior racer was crossways in the other lane and trying to reverse his mini truck back in behind the camper.
When we got to the next light it went into two lanes just before you got to the light and it was yellow. I stopped and junior racer passed me on the right side and through the light just as it turned red and the traffic camera went off. Word got back to me that he lost a lot of money and his license for a while but he is back at it again.
My dream is to be pulling out of the driveway just as he is coming up the street and I pull the doddering old man pulling out of his driveway stunt. I'll bet the little A Hat rolls over at least twice before he stops.
Steve.
The next light turned red as we got to it and I locked the brakes up like it was a panic stop. When I looked at the side mirror the junior racer was crossways in the other lane and trying to reverse his mini truck back in behind the camper.
When we got to the next light it went into two lanes just before you got to the light and it was yellow. I stopped and junior racer passed me on the right side and through the light just as it turned red and the traffic camera went off. Word got back to me that he lost a lot of money and his license for a while but he is back at it again.
My dream is to be pulling out of the driveway just as he is coming up the street and I pull the doddering old man pulling out of his driveway stunt. I'll bet the little A Hat rolls over at least twice before he stops.
Steve.
Sorry, but I have another story from my past or rather my Dad's past. Tom made me think of it when he mentioned having dummy on a string. It's one of my favorites.
My Dad's mother was one of those saintly grandmothers who set the perfect table with nary a fork out of place and was never heard to have a drop to drink. Your typical Victorian lady. We always asked if she would like a drink and it was always politely refused except one New Years eve when I asked and she said she wouldn't mind a sherry. Well Grandma got a sherry alright, a large sherry and a second one as well.
Now Grandma is getting pretty well oiled and she starts talking about my Dad and uncles. There were three boys, two girls and a boy in the family and the first three weren't that far apart in age so they were pretty tight as friends.
Where they lived was in a then remote city in western Ontario, Canada. Kenora for those of us who live in Canada. The city was served by rail year around and lake freighter in the summer. The city had about a mile or so of paved road and when that ended it went to a rutted wagon track.
There was the scene of the crime. This is about 1918 and the cars had very poor lighting. There were reports around town about people running over a drunk lying on the wagon track and when they got out to look they weren't there but they had seen him and felt the bump as they ran over him. This went on for most of the summer and try as they might there was no proof. The victim was never found. At least not until my Granddad noticed one day that one of his old suits was missing from the back of the clothes closet and the boys always spent summer sleeping over the boat house.
I can't tell you how much fun it was to watch three men circle their mother trying to tell her that, that was enough and the smug look on her face as she kept the stories coming. And the cousins and my brother and I kept asking for more.
Steve.
My Dad's mother was one of those saintly grandmothers who set the perfect table with nary a fork out of place and was never heard to have a drop to drink. Your typical Victorian lady. We always asked if she would like a drink and it was always politely refused except one New Years eve when I asked and she said she wouldn't mind a sherry.
Well Grandma got a sherry alright, a large sherry and a second one as well.Now Grandma is getting pretty well oiled and she starts talking about my Dad and uncles. There were three boys, two girls and a boy in the family and the first three weren't that far apart in age so they were pretty tight as friends.
Where they lived was in a then remote city in western Ontario, Canada. Kenora for those of us who live in Canada. The city was served by rail year around and lake freighter in the summer. The city had about a mile or so of paved road and when that ended it went to a rutted wagon track.
There was the scene of the crime. This is about 1918 and the cars had very poor lighting. There were reports around town about people running over a drunk lying on the wagon track and when they got out to look they weren't there but they had seen him and felt the bump as they ran over him. This went on for most of the summer and try as they might there was no proof. The victim was never found. At least not until my Granddad noticed one day that one of his old suits was missing from the back of the clothes closet and the boys always spent summer sleeping over the boat house.
I can't tell you how much fun it was to watch three men circle their mother trying to tell her that, that was enough and the smug look on her face as she kept the stories coming. And the cousins and my brother and I kept asking for more.
Steve.
I find I'm piggy in the middle. Some geriatric wreck going into adrenalin overload 10mph under the limit in front, and the banzai Subaru or whatever behind me. Banzai is doing everything except climb over the top in his attempts to go by, regardless of there being no space to do it. When he finally manages it, I see the mentally deficient gerbil effing and blinding at me, then he suddenly has to stand on everything because of the fossil in front of both of us, as if, on a public highway, there was never, ever going to be anybody but themselves on it.
1917 and Grandad had a new T Model Ford touring car. He never owned a closed car in his life. He came home for lunch and the car is missing. While he stood there wondering who stole the car he could hear a car going around and around in the stone quarry about a mile away.
Playing a hunch he walked over to there and watched my rather ashen faced uncle driving around in circle as my father and the younger uncle offered advice as how they had seen Granddad shut the car off but nothing worked.
Granddad wasn't well known for his sense of humor and apparently they were getting ready to bail out of the car when they saw their father sprinting across the quarry after them. He jumped onto the running board of the car as it went passed and told my uncle Jim how to put the car into neutral and turn it off.
He told them since they were now going to be drivers he would show them how to do it properly and spent a couple of hours while letting each one of them have a turn as he sat in the passenger seat instructing.
The uncle who was driving was the oldest and he was 13. Those were the good old days I guess. There were less that a dozen cars in town and the owner of the livery stable owned a few of them.
Steve.
Playing a hunch he walked over to there and watched my rather ashen faced uncle driving around in circle as my father and the younger uncle offered advice as how they had seen Granddad shut the car off but nothing worked.
Granddad wasn't well known for his sense of humor and apparently they were getting ready to bail out of the car when they saw their father sprinting across the quarry after them. He jumped onto the running board of the car as it went passed and told my uncle Jim how to put the car into neutral and turn it off.
He told them since they were now going to be drivers he would show them how to do it properly and spent a couple of hours while letting each one of them have a turn as he sat in the passenger seat instructing.
The uncle who was driving was the oldest and he was 13. Those were the good old days I guess. There were less that a dozen cars in town and the owner of the livery stable owned a few of them.
Steve.
I sometimes wish that the auto had never advanced beyond the model T.
I can't think of a good reason for them to be as fast as they are. And I can think of some good reasons that they should be more slow.
I can't think of a good reason for them to be as fast as they are. And I can think of some good reasons that they should be more slow.
That's a really great video clip Paul
With holiday traffic travelling much too fast through our little rural township we could certainly use a few of those.
I took a ride in my brother in law's dad's Model T race car and went over 80 mph on the highway, bucket seats, no roof, roll bar, or seatbelts! Scared the living crap outta me but it was awesome! There's slow cars out there, like those electric city cars, but I'd consider them to be more dangerous because they impede traffic.
The real problem is with stupid people, a car is just a machine.
