Kids playing in the streets

Mandy Anderson wrote:

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.

Whew... take a deep breath here. Life is full of inconveniences, and
part of living in a society is learning to deal with them. If you want
no inconvenience, then go live as a hermit far away from anyone.

There's nothing wrong with kids playing in the street if:

a) they are old enough and observant enough to watch for cars, and GET
OUT OF THE WAY if a car comes. This is for their safety, and as a
courtesy to the cars (though cars BY LAW owe right of way to
pedestrians).

b) it's not such a busy street that it's a danger no matter what.

As for speed bumps, the street I lived on was VERY narrow, with curves,
trees and low visibility. It had a section of gravel and even though
the speed limit was 25 miles per hour, people would come off the gravel
and accelerate to 45 or 50.

Now, the nature of the street was such that as long as a kid were
careful, and kept to the side, 25 mph was fine for traffic to see and
avoid a kid biking or walking along the side of the road (there was no
shoulder to speak of). But at 45 mph, it was a serious hazard.

Speedbumps would have made it from a serious hazard to one that was at
least reasonable for a kid to ride their bike to the neighbor's, or
walk along the side of the road (once they were old enough and savvy
enough to do it safely). So here's an example of speedbumps merely
enforcing the LEGAL speed limit.

This isn't a matter of me wanting to inconvenience the drivers - they
are already inconveniencing the neighborhood kids by going so fast.

Have you asked the locals who want speedbumps why they want them?
Could it be that the drivers in the area were speeding dangerously? If
so - they were inconveniencing the residents, and putting everyone at
risk.

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis 12/01