Dealing with moron neighbors

[Quicksilvre]

Man, this is life-tilting people worse than the thread about the guy who got arrested without ID.

Okay, I've been thinking about this on and off overnight, and the more I do, the more that I think that this needs a two-step solution:

1. Talk to the mom of the high-schooler and have her talk to her kids' friends. I agree 100% that they have to obey the stop sign, for no other reason than their own sake (they get used to running them and eventually get nailed by a cop).

2. Get the pre-schoolers out of the road. They may return when they are older, but corral 'em in the lawn for now.

A lot of people are resistant toward the idea of #2 because they don't want to assign blame to the little kids or the parents of the said kids. (Well, not the kids, at least.) So let me hit you up with an analogy:

Businessman Bob is petrified of flying. BB is also good at his job, so eventually BB's boss sends him cross-country to a seminar. The company allows BB to get there any way he wants. Assume it's not some place like Hawaii where you have to fly. Naturally, he drives. Halfway there, he gets off the highway, pulls into a drive-thru for dinner, and gets T-boned by a drunk pulling back onto the road.

I would assign the blame for this to the drunk, but there was a point where BB could have made a better decision. (I realize now that NT! and youtalkfunny are pretty much saying the same thing.) It is not at all unreasonable to expect the older kid's friends to obey the stop sign--in fact, the speed bump that someone suggested earlier sounds like a very good idea indeed. I'd call them in if I caught them running it. But consider that the average pre-schooler (in my experience) has the reaction time and reasoning ability of a halibut. Once they get maybe four or five years older, they will be much better at avoiding cars and keeping a lookout.

Just about everyone agrees this is a situation that is potentially dangerous, and something has to be done. I think it is important for both parties to do something. I don't want to get all CNN here ("Oh, these guys have a point, but OTOH so do these guys") but we've stumbled upon an incident where both you and your neighbor are close enough to being right to apparently convince yourselves that there's no middle ground. If you guys only moved the kids out or only yelled at the older kid's friends, I don't see how that would lead to much more than resentment.

Just my two cents.

[psuasskicker]

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Again the the main issue here that you're forgeting is that you're putting YOUR kids in danger by allowing them to play in the street given the history of drivers not stopping at the stop sign. Who gives a [censored] about the law???? The first time you saw someone run that stop sign shame on them, the second time shame on you. Does it take one of your kids getting hit by a car to get them in the yard where they belong????

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You're the kinda guy that tells a chick wearing a revealing outfit that it's her fault she got raped, right?

Do you think before you type/talk? Cause this is some pretty [censored] up logic.

- C -

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actually, it's completely logical. what consolation to you will it be that the law was on your side when your kid gets pancaked? what are you going to tell your wife? "well, sorry honey, i know kids drive too fast sometimes, but gosh, the law was on our side amirite?"

cars are supposed to yield to pedestrians crossing the street. nowhere in the law does it say you are supposed to be holding a block party in the road. are you familiar with jaywalking? the law is written the way it is because crossing the street illegally shouldn't mean cars are allowed to run you over. it doesn't mean you're supposed to be there.

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"Supposed to" has nothing to do with it. We've got as much right to be out there playing as anyone does. And in case you don't buy that, go find your nearest residential neighborhood with kids playing in the street, then run them down making sure you're obeying every traffic law, and let me know how the courts react to it.

You are out of your mind if you think I will feel me or any other parent is even a little responsible if my kid or one of the other neighborhood kids gets hit by someone doing what that kid did.

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no, but you can ride them on sidewalks

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There are no sidewalks in this cul de sac. Most cul de sacs in our area are built without sidewalks.

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the OP's kid is doing something that is not only not a guaranteed legal right, but in many places, explicitly illegal (playing in the street).

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Sorry NT, you have no idea what you're saying here. We have a right to be out there. Especially when you consider the kids are on bikes, which makes them legally operating a vehicle in the street which cars have to yield to, but that's beside the overall point that we are legally allowed to be playing out there.

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The only good thing about the situation is that there is a good chance that your kids will get run over and improve the gene pool.

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Very intelligent. Thanks for sharing. Winnar.

And anyone here that thinks allowing your kid to play out in a cul de sac is even close to the same as letting them play in a road is simply naive.

- C -

[hiho]

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You are out of your mind if you think I will feel me or any other parent is even a little responsible if my kid or one of the other neighborhood kids gets hit by someone doing what that kid did.

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Take a poll asking this ammong responsible parents and I'm sure you'll find that you're wrong here by a long shot.

I think that what you didn't get across very well is that you say you live on a cul de sac but there can be cars racing down at 25 mph. Based on this and the crude picture in OP I wouldn't call this a cul de sac. You might need to provide pictures or such about said cul de sac.

[garcia1000]

I have a suggestion that will deal with both the cars and the kids: caltrops.

[SmokeyRidesAgain]

Is this guy for real?

Right of way is not equal to right to have a party in the middle of a public road.

[StevieG]

psuasskicker,

It's natural to be centered on your own situation in the heat of the moment. But after time passes, most people are able to examine their own actions critically.

In contrast, the sense of entitlement you are projecting, and your inability to see through another viewpoint, grows worse as this thread gets longer.

Do you really think you share no responsibility for incidents involving children under the age of five being in the street?

Why are you talking about a speed bump when you should be working on getting sidewalks?

Why do you think this cul de sac is different from some other road? Is it a private road with some kind of easement?

[BPA234]

[deadbody]

Okay, I tend to stay out of threads where the stupid and entitlement quotients are this high, but here goes.

I feel qualified to comment on this because
1. I have 2 kids 9 and 23 months
2. I grew up living in a cul-de-sac

OP, you are the dum. Just because other people let their kids play in the street, in other neighborhoods, has no bearing on wether or not your kids should be playing in the street. You say there is an issue with people running the stop sign. So you know there is a potential danger, and instead of reacting to said danger (like making your kids ride their bikes in the driveway, a perfectly reasonable option) you insist that you have the right to be in the street.

WHY? the law says that cars should yield the right of way to a pedestrian, if you are playing in the street you are not a pedestrian, you are an obstacle. If your kids are riding their bikes in the street are they obeying all traffic laws, going one way, staying to the edge of the street? I doubt it, so they are breaking the law just as much as the asstard who ran the stop sign.

You seem to think your kids are entitled to play in the street, just because they do it, and you are there to see it, they are not. The street is not a park, it's not a play land, its a street, for cars to drive on. Teaching a 4 year old that it is OK to play in the street just reinforces to them that this is a place to play, and increases the liklihood that they will make a bad decision to play in a busier road and get hurt.

Is the driver who ran the stop sign right, hell no, stupid kid should be more careful, but your kids should not be in a position where a person using the road for what it was intended (to drive a car on) could hurt your child.

You are both wrong, the mom sounds like a fruitcake, and I won't discuss her, but you are not in the right here, get your kids the hell out of the road until they are old enough to understand the degree of resonsibility that playing in the street requires (FYI my oldest just turned 9 and this is the first year he gets to ride his bike in the street, in a residential neighborhood, with very low traffic).

[guids]

get your kids out of the street, that is ridiculous, and bad parenting. Call the city to have them put up a children playing sign/etc the HS kids shouldnt be driving like idiots though. Ill cut my balls off before I live in the suburb.

[blackize]

OP,

You are a moron. Stop drinking beers on the porch with Jo-Jack and take your kids to play in the [censored] park instead of in dangerous roads.