How do I get cars to slow down on the road I live on?

Put some flowers by the side of the road, so it looks like someone died there from a car crash, you will be amazed how well it works at slowing people down.

Ask your city if they could set up speed cams at that location.

@ragingloli We already talked to the police about a speed camera or them using a radar gun there for a while, but they are not interested in policing a no exit road.

The neighbourhood has about 180 houses in it and all the residents come and go through this one access. It’s a narrow residential road, but that doesn’t seem to stop the speeders.

Present your story to the local TV News….make sure you send a carbon copy to the city, town, village and I bet you see some changes very quickly.

@Cruiser That sounds like a very good idea. I have a brilliant view from my upstairs balcony down to the bus stop and I hear and watch the cars whiz past. I think some video footage to the police and local news office is a very good idea.

When you contact the press, be clear that the police and council have already declared that they are not interested. You can stress that they are refusing to save lives and that sort of emotional “blackmail” once it reaches the public eye, may well “persuade” them to take some action.

When this happened on our road, the cops had this portable sign that showed the speed limit and a computer screen that showed YOUR speed as you were driving past. An article in our local paper said these really do serve as reminders (for people who really care, not sure that applies to someone who passes a car stopped at a crosswalk). It involves no police staff time.

I completely agree with @Cruiser‘s suggestion of taking it to the media with @downtide‘s caveats!

@Kayak8 that is exactly what we suggested the police do, but they aren’t interested. We have those here.. they’re called… ‘Din Fart’... (which means, ‘your speed’) They didn’t think it important enough. Frankly, I’m not willing to sacrifice a neighbour kid so that something is done.

My daughter ha the same problem. One of the neighbors puts up signs like this and it always reminds ME to think, “Oh yeah, there are a lot of kids on this street. I better slow down.”
Yjey also have this one
these and cones might get their attention and remind them to slow down for the kids.

I really do want something, in practical terms, to do now, though, not just bring it to the Kommune’s attention… but actually slow the bastards down, NOW. I don’t understand when people here have kids of their own playing around and yet they’ll still speed hell for leather down the road.

a fake speed cam? probably not legal though.

You can’t just talk to the police. You have to talk to the local government (a city council?). There are lots of speed mititgation techniques that could be employed.

A series of speed bumps.

A series of traffic calming islands in the middle of the street.

A sign showing people;s speeds a someone mentioned above.

Have you talked to your neighbors? Are some of them also concerned? Get a group together and go to a city council meeting. Get this as an item on the agenda. Go door to door and get a petition.

@marinelife The neighbours at the back who have two children my child plays with.. they are very angry about this too.

The way the police etc works here is they are our local police and this is meant to be their concern. Our kommune (city council if you like) does do road planning and the like, but the safety is mainly up to the police.

I’m thinking about purchasing one of these: http://www.radarguns.com/bushnell-radar-guns-101921.html

Talk to the local Television station, we had a similar issue in a local town and the film crew came out at the highest volume part of the day and set-up cameras. Big time surveillance with “video at 6 PM”.

Oh by the way they were rolling when someone “ran the stop sign” and “T-boned a van.

hey, Does Apple have an app for monitoring speed?

This week, I’m going to go visit the Lensmanns office and see what they can suggest. If they don’t at least come see the problem in mufti so they can see what I see, then I’ll get something to record and film the speed and take it to the TV station.

@cazzie; You were typing when I put up my links so I don’t know if you saw them. Those signs are a lot cheaper than a radar gun and you don’t have to stand outside looking official.

@Judi I live in Norway. The signs you linked to are in English and won’t even get noticed here. And if I had to pay shipping,... it would work out the same price. BUT, that is an excellent idea about the traffic cones. I could easily get some of those and put them out before, and after school and on the weekend. BRILLIANT… and I can do that now. Thanks for that idea!

We have a new campaign on our roads about keeping speed down. Perhaps I can get one of those signs put up here. Here is a short video from You Tube that shows the sign currently used to promote careful driving. That also reminds me that there is another government agency I can try, and that is Vegvesen. (bonus that I have a friend who works in a nearby office of it.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQOJKbBlRak&feature=player_embedded

write a letter to the police, and cc: the mayor and the local news station. that way, they all know that if they continue to ignore the issue and someone gets hurt or dies, you and your letter will be featured on the news, saying how you tried to warn them but they ignored it.

@jca I don’t want a ‘I told you so.’ moment. Not at all. I think I’m going to go to the Sheriff’s office tomorrow… (I can bike there with my son.) and see what they have to say about it. I’m going to tell him, either way that I am buying traffic cones to put out when the kids are playing, and when there are going to and coming home from school.

This will take a minute of your time but will bring about the change you wish to achieve without any dependency upon city council.

This solution depends upon the likelihood that those who speed down that road are regulars.

For a few days, make a sign that says, “Children at Play. Please don’t Speed”. It would be great if a bunch of kids could be holding them and waving them around.

YOU stand there with a video camera and make it obvious that you are recording the drivers as they pass by. I guarantee you that will sink into the minds of the regular offenders and affect a change upon their driving habits. People don’t typically break the law if they think they are being recorded. If it doesn’t stop, then you’ll have a nice tape to hand over to the local news crew who will be very pleased with a new human interest story of one person trying to get the attention of the sleeping negligent powers that be.

Again.. things are different here. It’s the police and vegvesnen who are responsible for road safety, not the council.

I think once I explain to the Lensmann that there is a problem, he will allow me to use the traffic cones when the kids are playing or gathering for school in the morning at the bus stop until Vegvesne get better signs up about kids playing (Barn Leker) and 30km/t zone. I live right here, I’m happy to play crossing guard in the mornings. As it has been, me and the mother of the two boys my son plays with are the de-facto safety guards every morning and we see some stuff that makes us pretty irate.

As you hear people picking up speed and coming down your street, roll a ball out into the middle of the street. It might be enough to get them to realize that there is the potential for kids to run out in the street.

Also, I used to live in a neighborhood that had this problem. I would note the car type and license plate and then go up and confront the people where they lived. Warning: Be prepared for some potential fisticuffs if you take this approach.

@tom_g I want them to slow down, not be an arsehole and make enemies in my neighbourhood. It’s a small place.

The professional signs look as though they would be easy to make with some plywood, hinges, a sawhorse and paint. You could paint the same warning message in Norwegian. It is factual, after all. There are children playing everywhere.

I have a new neighbor, whom I do not know, who put a sign out that reads, “This is not a &#$@!! racetrack. Slow down.”

The road is dirt, his house abuts it and a lot of dust is, indeed, kicked up when guys speed by. But I think that the sign would be much more effective if he had said simply, “Please drive slowly. Children at play.”

http://shop.euroskilt.no/p/1/120/12010808100/Skilt%2060%20x%2050%20cm%20Type%201,%20Hvit-r%C3%B8d%20%22Barn%20leker%22/

This is a typical sign that people put up, but my husband reminded me that there is a ‘slow down, children playing’ sign already up, a bit further down the street, but it faces the cars when they are going up the hill. We really need something for when the cars come down the hill as well, with perhaps, something painted directly on the road, but that is useless for half the year because we get a permanent coat of ice and snow…. I’ll post what the Lensmann says tomorrow.

The ball idea could be a last ditch resort though. Scare the -assholes—. (oops.. sorry… ) neighbours that are speeding carelessly.

@cazzie: “I want them to slow down, not be an arsehole and make enemies in my neighbourhood. It’s a small place.”

That’s fine if you want to take a different approach. I’m not sure “arsehole” and “make enemies” is really appropriate though. The way I look at is this…

If someone decides they want to risk killing my kids, confronting them is not being an arsehole – it’s being a responsible parent and citizen. If someone decides that they want to risk killing my kids, I am not the one who has decided that we are enemies.

@tom_g Can you imagine how a conversation like that would go? I walk up to the 18 year old kid who just pulls up in his parent’s drive way and I say, ‘Hi, I’d like to tell you that you drive too fast down the road and you are putting the kids in danger.’ The kid says, ‘No I don’t!’ and then his parents come out and ask what’s going on. The kid turns to his parents and says I’m harassing him, the parents ask me to leave the driveway and I’m branded with a big scarlet letter with a capital K for Krazy Woman in the Neighbourhood.

What do I do about the people who don’t live here, who I wouldn’t have the opportunity to talk to? Best I leave it to the pros. If I tell them how many cars go up and down here and the speed, they should see Kroner signs in front of their eyes. KaChing!

Run for town council, bring it up at your next town council meeting, or talk to your city councilman. The councilman will get a better response from the police than you will, even if the police don’t directly report to the council.

The council probably has a say in how much they get paid.

@WestRiverrat Not a chance. This has to happen before school starts in a few weeks. And did you hear the part where I said the city council isn’t responsible for road safety here?

@cazzie – I’m sure you’ll find your own way of handling it without “making” enemies. My approach probably isn’t for everyone, and might not work in every neighborhood. It worked in mine, however.

I’ll admit that I’m a serious mofo when it comes to perceived threats to my kids. Serious as cancer. I am a pacifist in practically every other aspect of my life. When I see people speeding down my street while my kids play outside, I would have no problem ending those people.

Going to the local media seems like the best idea, especially if the council doesn’t have any power over the roads.

I hesitate to mention this, but I knew someone with a similar problem who did something you might consider using as an interim measure. People would speed down her road all the time, so she put orange cones in the middle of the street. The road was wide enough that you could easily get around them on both sides, and it wouldn’t damage anyone’s car to hit them, but people would still slow down to avoid driving over the cones. This might be illegal where you are, but it did work.

@CunningLinguist The idea of the orange cones is exactly the idea I got from @Judi.

I think I should be able to do this, but tomorrow, I’m going down to the sheriff’s office in person, to talk to them and tell them my plans for the traffic cones and see if I can get someone to sit on my front porch with a cup of coffee and see for themselves what transpires in the middle of the day, on the weekends, when the kids are playing.

My thought is to use the cones only when the kids are assembling for the school bus and then when they are out there playing on the weekends.

IDEALLY, I want a policeman with a speed camera posted near there off and on for a month or so, so people realise that the speed limit IS 30km/h, with or without kids present.

I somehow missed the end of @Judi‘s response. Sorry! But at least you now know that it has worked for someone!

I’m not sure how things work in your area, but in some neighborhoods, they have home owners associations and sometimes those groups can put speed bumps in the neighborhood. Maybe you could bring the idea up if you have such a group as well.

If not, as much as it’s a pain, keep putting pressure on the town. Video footage of the people driving like idiots could definitely help.

Whatever you do, do not throw something out in the street in front of them. That could possibly land you in a bunch of trouble if they were to wreck.

Nope… we don’t have a home owners association. And I was kidding about the ball thing.

If I don’t get a positive response from the Sheriff tomorrow, I’m taking video footage and seeing if I can borrow a speed meter from a sports team.