Kids playing in the streets
 

I'm furious with my neighbors who seem to think the streets in our
subdivision are for playing. Several women who have nothing better to do
petitioned the county to put speed bumps in to slow cars down, yet the
speed limit of 25 mph is still fast enough to kill or injure a child. When
the sun is low on the horizon at evening rush hour, it often blinds cars,
reducing their visibility. Why is it that some parents feel it is fine to
impose inconveniences on the whole of society to make up for their laziness
in controlling their children? I teach my children to stay in the yard, and
would never trust thier lives to some speed limit sign or speed bump. We
teach them that the road is for cars and the yard where cars can't go is
for playing.

regards,
Mandy

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"Mandy Anderson" wrote in message
...
I'm furious with my neighbors who seem to think the streets in our
subdivision are for playing. Several women who have nothing better to do
petitioned the county to put speed bumps in to slow cars down, yet the
speed limit of 25 mph is still fast enough to kill or injure a child.

A speed of 0.001 mph is enough to kill a child.

When
the sun is low on the horizon at evening rush hour, it often blinds cars,
reducing their visibility. Why is it that some parents feel it is fine to
impose inconveniences on the whole of society to make up for their
laziness
in controlling their children?

So, children shouldn't be allowed in the streets at all? What if they want
to go visit their neighbors? Perhaps they should have their mommy drive them
two doors down?

I don't know if you noticed, but adults were kids once too.

There is no reason why kids whouldn't play on the streets, as long as they
get to the side of the road when cars come.

I teach my children to stay in the yard, and
would never trust thier lives to some speed limit sign or speed bump.

No one would. However, speed bumps do make it safer for kids. So I am in
favor.

We
teach them that the road is for cars and the yard where cars can't go is
for playing.

No problem here.

On quiet residential streets, I see know reason why kids should not play
games on the street that they cannot play in their yard, like street hockey.
And I see no problem with kids taking a game of tag or whatever to the
street so they can go from one yard to another, as long as they stop when
cars come.

Jeff

regards,
Mandy

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"Mandy Anderson" wrote in message
...
I'm furious with my neighbors who seem to think the streets in our
subdivision are for playing. Several women who have nothing better to do
petitioned the county to put speed bumps in to slow cars down, yet the
speed limit of 25 mph is still fast enough to kill or injure a child. When
the sun is low on the horizon at evening rush hour, it often blinds cars,
reducing their visibility. Why is it that some parents feel it is fine to
impose inconveniences on the whole of society to make up for their
laziness
in controlling their children? I teach my children to stay in the yard,
and
would never trust thier lives to some speed limit sign or speed bump. We
teach them that the road is for cars and the yard where cars can't go is
for playing.



You cannot ride a bicycle in the yard. My son is planning on riding his
bicycle with his Bubba (grandpa) in the street today. And I know that Bubba
will have his hawk eyes on to protect him from inattentive or speeding
drivers. It depends on the street and the neighborhood IMO.

regards,
Mandy

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.

"Jeff" wrote in message
.net...

"Mandy Anderson" wrote in message
...
I'm furious with my neighbors who seem to think the streets in our
subdivision are for playing. Several women who have nothing better to do
petitioned the county to put speed bumps in to slow cars down, yet the
speed limit of 25 mph is still fast enough to kill or injure a child.
I teach my children to stay in the yard, and
would never trust thier lives to some speed limit sign or speed bump.


No one would. However, speed bumps do make it safer for kids. So I am in
favor.

The advantage of speed bumps is they tend to deter cut through traffic, so
not only will the traffic be slower, but there will be less of it. This
means less cars for the children to vacate the street for. Downside of speed
bumps is the noise cars make going over them. Neighbors of speed bumps
often are not happy with the increased noise levels, the bump of cars
carries late at night and might wake folks used to sleeping in very quiet
neighborhoods. Neighbors need to get together with the traffic engineer to
come up with solutions that make everyone happy. There are other traffic
calming measures that can slow and deter traffic without adding to the noise
level if that is the concern.


We
teach them that the road is for cars and the yard where cars can't go is
for playing.

No problem here.

On quiet residential streets, I see know reason why kids should not play
games on the street that they cannot play in their yard, like street
hockey.
And I see no problem with kids taking a game of tag or whatever to the
street so they can go from one yard to another, as long as they stop when
cars come.

There are many activities such as biking, scootering, skating that work well
on quiet streets. Encouraging unstructured activities such as these that
are also good exercise will increase the children's life span in the long
run. These are skills they can take into adulthood, and lead to healthy
lives.

Mandy Anderson wrote:
....
would never trust thier lives to some speed limit sign or speed bump. We
teach them that the road is for cars and the yard where cars can't go is
for playing.

While staying with my neice in the pediatric ICU, a friends 5 year
old was brought in and put in the room next to ours. He'd been hit by a
car, and looked really bad. He had been playing in his yard, when a
teenager, learning to drive, lost control and backed across the street
into the yard, hitting and dragging him about 10 feet. My friend was
sitting on the front porch watching her kids play, but there was nothing
she could do to stop it.
My point is, cars often go where they "can't". Into yards, the wrong
way on highways, through windows and into buildings.
There is no truely, completely "safe" place for kids to play.

Let the kids be kids. Let them ride their bikes and get skinned
knees. Play baseball with tennis balls and see how many blocks they have
to go to find the ball. Run races, climb, wrestle, and play likes kids.
If they get bruised or scraped up, stand them up, brush them off, apply
bandages and love as required, and send them back for more fun.

But do what's sane to keep the risks at a minimum. As long as the
speed bumps arent too high, or too frequent, dont worry about the fact
that it'll take you all of 2 seconds longer to get home. It's 2 seconds
that could save someones life.

--Shaun
Uncle to Angel Amber, forever 17

In article , Jeff says...


"Mandy Anderson" wrote in message
. ..
I'm furious with my neighbors who seem to think the streets in our
subdivision are for playing. Several women who have nothing better to do
petitioned the county to put speed bumps in to slow cars down, yet the
speed limit of 25 mph is still fast enough to kill or injure a child.

A speed of 0.001 mph is enough to kill a child.

When
the sun is low on the horizon at evening rush hour, it often blinds cars,
reducing their visibility. Why is it that some parents feel it is fine to
impose inconveniences on the whole of society to make up for their
laziness
in controlling their children?

So, children shouldn't be allowed in the streets at all? What if they want
to go visit their neighbors? Perhaps they should have their mommy drive them
two doors down?


I guess the bikes, skateboards, and scooters should be relegated to up and down
the driveway, up and down, up and down, up and down.....

??

I don't know if you noticed, but adults were kids once too.

There is no reason why kids whouldn't play on the streets, as long as they
get to the side of the road when cars come.

I teach my children to stay in the yard, and
would never trust thier lives to some speed limit sign or speed bump.

No one would. However, speed bumps do make it safer for kids. So I am in
favor.

Right. What, aside from irritating the impatient, is the disadvantage to a
decently designed speedbump?


We
teach them that the road is for cars and the yard where cars can't go is
for playing.

No problem here.

On quiet residential streets, I see know reason why kids should not play
games on the street that they cannot play in their yard, like street hockey.
And I see no problem with kids taking a game of tag or whatever to the
street so they can go from one yard to another, as long as they stop when
cars come.

Street hockey, stickball, there are any number of kids' games which necessarily
happen in a street. And were developed on some of the busiest urban streets.

Banty

I haven't followed this thread since it's inception, but
will offer that playing in the streets, as with anything, is
fine in moderation and with caution. Most kids will use
their bikes, skateboards, inline skates, etc along the
roadways, but we do have the occasional group of ignorami
who use the yellow center line as their own personal brick
road.

As for the younger set, I have seen parents who allow
children to set up soccer nets and portable basketball hoops
*in* the road, necessitating a major production of removal
to the side of the road each time a car passes, which I
think is ludicrous. Using the street as an extension of a
play area, or in some cases as the only play area, can work
as long as their is sensitivity on both sides.

Personally, my residential street is like the Autobahn, and
therefore I never allowed my kids to play in the street. I
also have large front and back yards, as well as an ample
driveway, so it never was a big issue....
--
Ruth

Mandy Anderson wrote:
I'm furious with my neighbors who seem to think the streets in our
subdivision are for playing. Several women who have nothing better to
do
petitioned the county to put speed bumps in to slow cars down, yet
the
speed limit of 25 mph is still fast enough to kill or injure a child.
When
the sun is low on the horizon at evening rush hour, it often blinds
cars,
reducing their visibility. Why is it that some parents feel it is
fine to
impose inconveniences on the whole of society to make up for their
laziness
in controlling their children? I teach my children to stay in the
yard, and
would never trust thier lives to some speed limit sign or speed bump.
We
teach them that the road is for cars and the yard where cars can't go
is
for playing.

regards,
Mandy


It depends, I think, on the street. If you live in a busy urban kind of
setting, playing on the streets is very risky. But the point of quiet
residential streets is that they are quiet and residential, and I think
it's a reasonable expectation that kids will play there.

I'd much rather have kids playing on my street than people taking short
cuts through at 40 mph. Which is what's happening where I live. I think
we'll be looking for a stop sign, rather than a speed bump.

Rupa

Mandy Anderson wrote:
I'm furious with my neighbors who seem to think the streets in our
subdivision are for playing. Several women who have nothing better to do
petitioned the county to put speed bumps in to slow cars down, yet the
speed limit of 25 mph is still fast enough to kill or injure a child. When
the sun is low on the horizon at evening rush hour, it often blinds cars,
reducing their visibility. Why is it that some parents feel it is fine to
impose inconveniences on the whole of society to make up for their laziness
in controlling their children? I teach my children to stay in the yard, and
would never trust thier lives to some speed limit sign or speed bump. We
teach them that the road is for cars and the yard where cars can't go is
for playing.

regards,
Mandy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The original sender is unknown. Any address shown in the From header
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.

So we're all on the same page - How do you define "playing in the street"?

1) Using a bike, skateboard or other means of locomotion, or
2) Playing football, baseball, hockey, etc.

Also, is this a though street or cul-de-sac?

/dan

Banty wrote:
In article , Jeff
says...


"Mandy Anderson" wrote in message
. ..
I'm furious with my neighbors who seem to think the streets in our
subdivision are for playing. Several women who have nothing better
to do
petitioned the county to put speed bumps in to slow cars down, yet
the
speed limit of 25 mph is still fast enough to kill or injure a
child.




We
teach them that the road is for cars and the yard where cars can't
go is
for playing.


On quiet residential streets, I see know reason why kids should not
play
games on the street that they cannot play in their yard, like street
hockey.
And I see no problem with kids taking a game of tag or whatever to
the
street so they can go from one yard to another, as long as they
stop when
cars come.

Street hockey, stickball, there are any number of kids' games which
necessarily
happen in a street. And were developed on some of the busiest urban
streets.

Banty

Semi-hijacking the thread:

I'm wrestling with this issue (minus the speed-bump issue) in my
cul-de-sac lately. It's pretty typical for kids to play in the street
(four-square type of ball games, skateboard tricks, once a huge frisbee
game with almost every kid on the block, etc.) So far, I've told ds
(age 3.75) that he's not allowed to play in the street - that's for big
kids. But, I think soon I'll need to start letting him do it. He
knows to watch for cars, and he's as tall as many 5 year-olds (as far
as visibility is concerned).

It's a pretty quiet street, since it's a cul-de-sac in a residential
subdivision, and people expect to see kids playing.

So, at what age do you let a kid join in these games in the street? Or
even retrieve an errant ball that goes across the street? (I prefer
ball games in the front yard, since errant balls in the back yard go
into the marsh...)

Irene