Getting traffic to slow down!

Whats the best way in West Orange to get a traffic patrol to slow down traffic? Call police? Go to town board meeting? Show up with neighbors?

I'm about to get one of those "drive so if your kids live here" signs!

Yes to all. There is a big movement to slow traffic on Pleasant Valley Way by the high school. Drivers are nuts around here.

Do you live in West Orange?

Not sure if it will work for you but we leave our car parked on the street during nice weekends. Drivers seem to slow down more as it narrows the road.

fabulouswalls said:
Yes to all. There is a big movement to slow traffic on Pleasant Valley Way by the high school. Drivers are nuts around here.
Do you live in West Orange?

It's sad, but I like to keep the cars on the street during the weekend. Never had any issues except the time a guy jogged into one of our cars and left a nasty dent.

Yes, I'm in West Orange.

I also would park the car(s) in the street days when traffic seemed overly insane.

However, yesterday I was driving on my street, at 25 mph, and suddenly got passed on the right (and clearly its no passing!) by a car racing up the hill. Had I not noticed, it would have been an accident -- since my house is on the right.

thanks all /p

Some of these people are nuts. I had someone cross over onto the wrong side of the road to pass me on Friday. Now, I was going painfully slow...but I was just one in a long line of slow cars. So she got in front of me but wasn't getting to her destination any faster. It's like a mental illness.

I'd like to keep my car in the street to slow down traffic. But I prefer not to do that because of the risk of it getting hit. So, no thanks.

The day we moved into our house, we had to park the car on the street, in front of our house to allow the moving van to be in the driveway. Heard a huge noise outside, car was sideswiped, a week in the shop. The hitter never stopped.

Oh no, a sign! Don't do it. We put up one of those 'drive like your kids' signs and traffic slowed to a crawl in front of our place... eventually traffic backed up for 10 blocks... my kids made a killing selling lemonade to people though. We took it down eventually, Waze and Google maps even started routing people around our house.

May I suggest a remote controlled car attached to a cardboard cutout of a kid? Then just drive around the block once in a while.

SO_Dad said:
Oh no, a sign! Don't do it. We put up one of those 'drive like your kids' signs and traffic slowed to a crawl in front of our place... eventually traffic backed up for 10 blocks... my kids made a killing selling lemonade to people though. We took it down eventually, Waze and Google maps even started routing people around our house.

May I suggest a remote controlled car attached to a cardboard cutout of a kid? Then just drive around the block once in a while.

SO_Dad -- I'm going to expand on that -- take the RC car -- and add cut out of the cat, the dog, and alternate them. Perhaps use a drone to have crows dive bombing cars?

I've followed these discussions since I joined MOL in 2003. I've studied traffic problems myself. It's a serious problem, and suburban drivers lack the necessary mindset. I don't see any real solutions other than total street redesigns. These are expensive and often meet with opposition.

A stopgap measure that might work is creating squeeze points by parking your car opposite a parked car.

Not a great idea Tom. See above post.

How great is the risk of someone driving a car into a parked car? If it is significant, you have some serious problems, well beyond speeding.

I swear, some drivers wouldn't complain if you spray painted their windshields over.

It's the sideswiping and instant mirror removal I'm worried about.

fabulouswalls said:
It's the sideswiping and instant mirror removal I'm worried about.

Do people really drive that badly often?

A few days ago there was one of those trucks from a charity that picks up clothing, etc. parked down the block. In three foot letters it said "This Truck Stops Often".

Tom_Reingold said:

fabulouswalls said:
It's the sideswiping and instant mirror removal I'm worried about.

Do people really drive that badly often

The way people drive down my street I'm not taking any chances. We had our driveway paved this summer and had to park in the street for 4 nights. I put cones behind our cars and folded the mirrors.

If you're worried about damage to your car by horrendous driving, I think "How to slow drivers to make it safe for kids?" is a useless question.

certain designated portions of roadways allow passing on the left into oncoming traffic (assuming no cars are coming). I've been amazed to find some people (not here but in the real world) didn't know that.

Robert_Casotto said:
certain designated portions of roadways allow passing on the left into oncoming traffic (assuming no cars are coming). I've been amazed to find some people (not here but in the real world) didn't know that.

You can never never ever ever - never - pass into oncoming traffic. Never. Not ever. Don't ever. Never.

Unless you're really running late.

/Louis ck paraphrase

RobB, if I haven't said it before, let me say now that I really appreciate your presence and your humor. Thank you.

This is the reason I don't like to park in the street in front of my house.

These are not my vehicles.

I can't help but wonder why all those maniacs from New York and Pennsylvania come to be driving on our towns' roadways.

Amazing that we're being targeted like this.

TomR

RobB said:
It's sad, but I like to keep the cars on the street during the weekend. Never had any issues except the time a guy jogged into one of our cars and left a nasty dent.

How fast do you have to be "jogging" to dent a car? And how do you not see a car parked right in front of you? Was alcohol involved?

RobB said:
Some of these people are nuts. I had someone cross over onto the wrong side of the road to pass me on Friday. Now, I was going painfully slow...but I was just one in a long line of slow cars. So she got in front of me but wasn't getting to her destination any faster. It's like a mental illness.

gawd, I hate watching drivers make ridiculous, stupid and dangerous moves so that they can gain a 100 foot advantage. What makes people so clueless?

spontaneous said:

RobB said:
It's sad, but I like to keep the cars on the street during the weekend. Never had any issues except the time a guy jogged into one of our cars and left a nasty dent.

How fast do you have to be "jogging" to dent a car? And how do you not see a car parked right in front of you? Was alcohol involved?

He was jogging backwards.

When I pointed out the dent he ran away. I don't even know what I'd have done. It's not like his insurance is going to pay for a jogging accident.