Roadways Aren’t Playgrounds
I was driving back from the park yesterday with my kids and some people were out talking in front of a home with one of these signs. A woman turned to face us and glared while motioning to slow down and pointed to her sign. First off, I was going 18 in a 25, not exactly burning rubber. Second, roadways, aren’t playgrounds!
Parents should take responsibility. It doesn’t matter if your house has a street with a posted speed limit of 25mph or 55mph. It’s best to educate kids to assume the worst. I live on a street with a posted speed of 25mph AND non congruent intersections, but some people still fly through it.
Parents should always educate about worst case and not try to shift responsibility to others. You really want to trust some teenager listening to speed metal to see your sign and slow down? Would these same parents do the same with trains if they lived by train tracks? Or would they teach their kids, you don’t play on the train tracks! (That is a pretty hilarious visual… a locomotive running along and coming across a bunch of these little signs and a woman out waving to slow down!)
Here’s the thing, I understand it can be difficult to get through to some kids. One of my kids would zoom around blind street corners on his bike and it took many talks to get through to him that in a battle between 60lbs of flesh and 3000 lbs of steel, flesh will always lose. This is all coming from someone who nearly died as a child and spent three days in a coma after being struck by a car.
Speed bumps are a horrible solution too. Another form of shifting responsibility. They wreck car suspensions of ALL cars and are just plain annoying, meanwhile your kids are only in that street running phase for a short time. Why even have paved roads if you’re going to add bumps everywhere?
I think everyone loves their kids and wants them to be safe, but there are a ton of hazards in life besides cars that can kill. Kids have to be taught how to be safe in ALL situations. No parent should be running around trying to create “safe zones” everywhere for their kids because, well, it’s impossible. The sooner children realize that, the better.