Wwyd? Neighbor driving too fast.

[thejen626]

Question!

I was almost run over (again!) by a neighbor today, while walking to the pool with my kids. This is the 3rd time she's been speeding around me while I'm walking in our neighborhood and I'm done. Our neighborhood is a typical suburban development, 25 mph speed limit, sidewalks, crosswalks, etc.

Today I was standing at the crosswalk and my older daughter (6) crossed the road ahead of me. I was pushing the stroller and holding my 2.5 year old's hand, so I looked behind me to check for cars and saw her truck coming. She drives a huge truck with a large logo on the side. Well I expected her to stop and wave us through the crosswalk, she didn't stop or even slow down, just drove right through. I was literally standing on the very edge of the sidewalk, it was obvious that I was about to cross, and that my other kid was on the other side of the road.

I was talking to DH about how to approach it. Do I go to her house and nicely introduce myself and ask her to please slow down? Post on the next door website a general "everyone please remember to drive carefully in our neighborhood, school will be out soon and kids are playing" message? Or post a "someone in a silver truck with (MLM company) logo is driving too fast, please slow down" message?

I've never met her. I am friends with her next door neighbor and have mentioned that she drives aggressively and the neighbor said "yes she does drive too fast". I don't care to be her friend, but I'm worried that she's going to drive right into someone, and not sure the best way to go about it. I don't want to be a bitch, but also, don't want to get run over while walking.

As an aside, am I expecting too much by expecting her to stop her car and yield to pedestrians with young kids? I always stop and wave people through, but not sure if that's normal or not.

Thanks

[Deleted]

It is the law she should let you pass so I don't think you're expecting too much.

I doubt talking to her will help in this case. She wil probably just get defensive.

You could call your local police department ask if there's anything they can do like increase patrols in the neighborhood.

[ssmjlm]

Do you have an HOA? Maybe ask them to send out a reminder about the speed limit and crosswalks since the pool is open now and there will be more people out and about.

[6fsn]

We get at least one post a week on our facebook page about people speeding, blowing stop signs, or being general assholes. General consensus is to call the non-emergency number and report it. You have enough information for them to go on. I do think people posting is getting more people to call but I don't think more calls has actually amounted to anything productive happening.

[littlemermaid]

Write down her license plate number and call the police's non-emergency number. Ask them if there is anything they can do.

[Deleted]

Oh hell no. Police. Plus website where I note who the driver is and that it has been reported to the police.

[aspentosh]

I don't think I'd talk to her. Just based on this post (which is only your side, of course) she doesn't seem like the type to stop what she's doing based on a chat.

I'd post on the board and then report to non-emergency line.

[ECB]

I agree, I wouldn't talk to her. ANd I wouldn't do a general "please slow down" message either. They don't work. Post the vehicle and/or call the police.

[LoveTrains]

There is no way re police would come to my neighborhood if that happened. Yes the law states yield to pedestrians but in practice no one does in my city.

[Deleted]

If this woman has almost ran you over 3 times, she is not going to care if you talk to her or shame her on Next Door. She's likely be confrontational and bitchy. I would get her license plate and call the police non-emergency line. I'm sure they'd love to give her a ticket.

[VillainV]

Police non-emergency line. If it's more than just this one woman, then I'd also see if the HOA would put out a reminder, place signs, etc.

[Deleted]

If there are lots of kids walking to school, I would also talk to the school district and see if they can have crossing guards at key neighbor intersections.

[Cicero]

My parents have this problem in their neighborhood. Periodically someone calls the police non-emergency line and they send out a squad car to sit in a blind spot at the bottom of a hill and hand out tickets for doing things like driving 50 in a 25.

ETA: The main offenders are people cutting through the neighbourhood and a professional athlete with a bit of a wild reputation so the police are pretty much the only thing that will help.

[pinotgrig]

We had this problem in my neighborhood. We happened to be outside talking to another neighbor when fast-driving neighbor came barreling down the road. The neighbor we were talking to tossed a ball into the street and scared the crap out of the driver. It was a dangerous thing to do, though she always drove much more slowly after that (at least when I saw her).

We've also had neighbors put these signs at their driveway / slightly in the road.

[djc315]

I would be calling the non-emergency line and letting the police know. We've had to do this before, and are ready to call again, because people speed down our street (it leads to a main road).

[jeaniebueller]

Well I expected her to stop and wave us through the crosswalk, she didn't stop or even slow down, just drove right through. I was literally standing on the very edge of the sidewalk, it was obvious that I was about to cross, and that my other kid was on the other side of the road.


Although I think this is a jerk move, I don't think she did anything illegal or technically wrong. Maybe she didn't notice that your DD had already crossed? I mean, if you were still standing on the sidewalk, she didn't nearly run you over, right? I am honestly not trying to be contrarian, just trying to understand.

[countthestars]

May 27, 2015 8:21:32 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

Well I expected her to stop and wave us through the crosswalk, she didn't stop or even slow down, just drove right through. I was literally standing on the very edge of the sidewalk, it was obvious that I was about to cross, and that my other kid was on the other side of the road.


Although I think this is a jerk move, I don't think she did anything illegal or technically wrong. Maybe she didn't notice that your DD had already crossed? I mean, if you were still standing on the sidewalk, she didn't nearly run you over, right? I am honestly not trying to be contrarian, just trying to understand.

It's the law to stop for pedestrians, though, so she should have stopped regardless of whether OP's daughter was on the other side of the street.

[cincodemayo]

I'm dealing with something similar. The guy has 2 strikes and I'll be calling the non-emergency line with his license plate next time I see him. We live on a cul-de-sac and he is always driving WAY too fast and being a huge douche.

[glitzy07]

When I was growing up my dad used to yell at people who drove too fast up our cul-de-sac. I doubt it was effective, but it made him feel better. lol I used to think he was being ridiculous, but now as a parent I totally see why it pissed him off.

I don't think I would talk to her, but I'm not exactly sure what I WOULD do.

[jeaniebueller]

May 27, 2015 8:25:27 GMT -5 countthestars said:

May 27, 2015 8:21:32 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

Well I expected her to stop and wave us through the crosswalk, she didn't stop or even slow down, just drove right through. I was literally standing on the very edge of the sidewalk, it was obvious that I was about to cross, and that my other kid was on the other side of the road.


Although I think this is a jerk move, I don't think she did anything illegal or technically wrong. Maybe she didn't notice that your DD had already crossed? I mean, if you were still standing on the sidewalk, she didn't nearly run you over, right? I am honestly not trying to be contrarian, just trying to understand.

It's the law to stop for pedestrians, though, so she should have stopped regardless of whether OP's daughter was on the other side of the street.

I guess my brain was turned off and I wasn't thinking about it in terms of being a legal crosswalk. I get it. I have speedy drivers going way too fast through our neighborhood when I am running. its annoying but I don't really know what you can do about it. I guess OP could confront the neighbor since she knows who it is.

[bearbaby]

I support taking her plate numbers, calling the non-emergency line (My only experience with this is when I was 16 my bf was busted in our neighborhood with a hefty ticket b/c neighbors called to complain about his douchey 17-year-old driving...so...anecdotes) AND definitely seeing if there's a way to complain to the company that is listed on the side of her truck.

[auntie]

Another vote for the non-emergency number.

[ECB]

I just have to add this anecdote- we have a speeder in our neighborhood. She runs a daycare in her home! She takes the kids for walks. of ANYONE, I'd expect her to be more mindful.

But then to add to it- her DH is the president of our community association and over the years, she tends to do some of the community work for him, like writing up the newsletter that includes a FRIENDLY REMINDER to DRIVE slow and be mindful of kids and other people walking!!!!

She's the one writing it up and she STILL is one of the worst offenders.

[bowies]

This is a common problem in our neighborhood too. There's a teenager who guns his 4Runner past me whenever I'm weeding the flower beds by the mailbox. Just lovely. The city is doing a bunch of road construction in the area now so it's lessened somewhat.

Is the road owned/maintained by the city? You could petition for speed bumps to be put in. i thought these were ridiculous when I was a teenager myself but now I see them in a different light.

I'd also ask your HOA to install "pedestrian has the right of way" signs either on the side of the crosswalk or on a placard in the middle.

[drloretta]

I'd also talk to the HOA or the town and see if you can get a speed bump installed

[livinitup]

My parents have a stop sign in front of their house, a school 2 houses down and a park around the corner. No one stops for the stop sign.

Sometimes it helps when the cops set-up a patrol car and issues tickets.

[redheadk]

I'd just start calling police non-emergency and being a general PITA about it until they start doing something (increased patrols, set up a speed trap, etc). Any chance you can start jotting down the times to see if it's the same time of day, such as on her way home from work?

[Marmee]

I would YELL "Slow down" loudly at her....but that's because it'd immediately set me off & I couldn't help myself...lol. I do this a lot.  The older I get, the less I am able to hold in my feelings. Ha!  I'd talk to the HOA if you have one for signs (& put up one of those "Slow Children PLaying signs" right by where she speeds by. If she continued to do it, I'd call the cops.

[thejen626]

So, I am very much the type to yell "slow down" and I would have yesterday, but her windows were up. I thought about just following her home and yelling at her, but didn't want to scare my kids or take away from pool time.

The logo on her truck is a MLM company that sells workout shakes and supplements. It's A.dvo.care and she also has her name and phone number on her truck.

I live on a side street so luckily she doesn't drive down my street

There aren't a lot of speeders in the neighborhood, there aren't any other specific cars that come to mind besides her car.

I will ask about speedbumps, that's a great idea!

If there's a next time, I will call the non emergency line and report her.

[oswin]

Yeah, I'd try the police non-emergency. I'm not sure they'd do much in my town though, we're still trying to figure out how to deal with the street we live on. The speed limit was 30 when we moved in, but they raised it to 35 which means people actually go 40-45. They used to have speed traps on it all the time, but now they don't. For 1.5 miles, there is not one stop sign or marked crosswalk, and I have never seen a car yield to a pedestrian waiting to cross. Just last night, DH and I had DD in her stroller and were very obviously trying to cross at an unmarked crosswalk and several cars went on by with no indication that they even knew they were doing something wrong. Cars are king here, and as my DH likes to say "violence is the supreme authority", which in this case means they're bigger and can kill us, so we have to yield to them even though they're the ones breaking the law. People also pull shit like passing on the sidewalk (because there are no curbs on my street, the gutter and sidewalk are level with the street) and no one seems to care. And yet this is a road with a fair amount of pedestrian and even some bicycle traffic, where it's completely residential (though most of the driveways face into their subdivisions, whereas ours is directly on the street).

If you can't tell, I get very worked up about how little respect pedestrians get in general. According to what I've read, installing mini traffic circles is actually one of the best ways to get people to slow down. Stop signs either get ignored or people will accelerate and decelerate too aggressively to make up for stopping, but traffic circles are a physical barrier that you have to slow down a bit to navigate. Unfortunately, convincing whoever maintains your street that installing a traffic circle would help make things safer can be extremely difficult, and there are bound to be people who would fight against anything slowing down their driving.