A traffic cone appeared in the middle of my road

I was minding my business, and right in front of my house a giant traffic cone just appeared in the middle of the road. Its crazy!

I live in a subdivision, with a 25mph speed limit. Old guys with the reaction time of 0, think that the straightaway in front of my house is where you need to go 50. Ignore the blind hill, or the fact that they are too old to react when they see the old lady walking her dog every day. Doesn't matter. I've asked numerous times for people to slow down. neighbors put up signs saying slow down. doesn't matter. One guy started going faster when I asked him. I'm the shiny happy person for asking you not to go 50. 

Anyway. There's a cone in the middle of the road now. No clue where it came from, but I could sit on my porch all day and watch the old bastards hit the brakes and crawl around the cone. all. day. long. 

I find it best to brake at bit before the cone, get some brake oversteer going, and then power out past the cone.

(hopefully there are not too many AutoX people in your neighborhood)

Better than a speed bump, I suppose.

We had a 4in speed bump appear here last summer. Thankfully my village understands how many kids are outside and how fast the welfare drives down my street. 

Speed bump only killed 5 cars before they quit using this street. 

My street is a cut through to beat a light 1/2 block away.  It's a drag strip at 7:00am and 5:00pm.  Cone's a good idea but I'm more inclined to hide behind a tree with a bushel basket of soccer balls.

Caution Sink Hole , drive slowly around cone !

I used to live on a road that was a "short cut" around the light on the next road over.  The police eventually put up a "no right turn" sign, but it did not stop people from screaming down a residential street to miss the light.  The worst was one guy on a harley who used to go WOT through 3 gears in less than a tenth of a mile at 5:30 am

mad_machine (Forum Supporter) said:

I used to live on a road that was a "short cut" around the light on the next road over.  The police eventually put up a "no right turn" sign, but it did not stop people from screaming down a residential street to miss the light.  The worst was one guy on a harley who used to go WOT through 3 gears in less than a tenth of a mile at 5:30 am

That's the stupid solution my city is going to implement on my street (local drag strip). Right, so the people who already run double the speed down the road while blowing the stop signs will all now magically respect the "No Right Turn" sign. They already drive the wrong way (into the oncoming lane) to get around the concrete "Right Turn Only" curb at the end of the street.

The solution to my problem is replace the ignored stop signs with a tire eating roundabout like they put in on a nearby street. It is a thing of glory. The curbs are 8" granite and the speed limit is 15 mph. It is easily navigable at that speed, even in truck and trailer (tested by me). But trying to straighten out that chicane is a painful mistake you only make once. The first week after the roundabouts were installed there were at least 20 flat tires. The NextDoor posts were hilarious, mainly because the ones complaining were people who didn't live in the direct area. What used to be a high speed cut through is now just a normal neighborhood street again.

They tried some "traffic calming" on my street, which is also a pretty major cut through (note to 27-years-ago-me:  put another $20,000 in the house budget for a better location, trust me, it will work out).

After a lot of public input, they mocked up the proposed curb / island squeeze plays they were planning to make with those little white reflective blade things.

Within 3 days they were all mowed off flat, mostly by the city bus drivers who didn't even try to negotiate them.  The DOT never moved ahead with any of the proposed changes.

Hopefully, no one figures out that if you hit the edge of the cone just right it will land on your porch. 

I remember back in 2000 when I was around Phoenix, there were a few people I knew who would head out on the highway on their bikes and collect some cops to chase them, then when they got bored they'd dump out one of the three exits that had those traffic calming circles.   They could blast right through and of course the cops had to slow down significantly.

Don't be that guy.

People think my street is a cut through to the shopping center.

It's not. It dead ends.

So, what I get are people hauling ass down my street trying to save time, hitting the dead end, turning around then going TWICE as fast up the street because now they're behind on whatever imaginary schedule they had.

I'm tempted to install a speed bump myself.

Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) said:

People think my street is a cut through to the shopping center.

It's not. It dead ends.

So, what I get are people hauling ass down my street trying to save time, hitting the dead end, turning around then going TWICE as fast up the street because now they're behind on whatever imaginary schedule they had.

I'm tempted to install a speed bump myself.

 

thankfully the street I live on is a dead end, and it is quite obvious that the street dead ends.  If you went straight, they would be fishing your car out of the swamp

rustybugkiller said:

Hopefully, no one figures out that if you hit the edge of the cone just right it will land on your porch. 

Yes... but they will arrive 2 seconds late.  Unless they don't hit it good enough and it stays in the outline box of course.

I live in a sleepy little town but we just had the wife of a prominent surgeon kill two young boys while drunk driving.

Ventura County Star - October 1st, 2020

Couldn't be worse...she tried to flee with one of the boys on her hood but he fell off and she ran over him...parents and two other siblings were right there to witness everything.

Hug your kids - must have some dust in my eyes.

I kind of can't believe that in 2020 drunk driving is still a thing.

I would love a speedbump.  The downside I could see to a speedbump though is:  redneck blasts through neighborhood.  Slows to 5mph to cross speed bump so it doesn't berkeley up his carolina squatted truck. Now, he has to accelerate all the way back up to double the speed limit again with his open-piped V8 or Diesel.  My ears and lungs fear this.  Still, I would take a speedbump as 95% of the traffic is just typical drivers ignoring the speed limit and the fact that it is narrow road with lots of houses and no sidewalks.

Duke said:

I kind of can't believe that in 2020 drunk driving is still a thing.

 

As long as there are cars to drive and alcohol to drink, it will be a thing :(

Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) said:

I'm tempted to install a speed bump myself.

My grandfather did that in the late 70s. Did it at 2am one morning, the next night he redid where the trucks made grooves while it was soft. He would redo it every few years, no one ever said a word. 

County put in a pair of "traffic calming" chicanes on a road near me.  Problem is that the chicane is really not abrupt enough to make a difference.  

Steve_Jones said:

Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) said:

I'm tempted to install a speed bump myself.

My grandfather did that in the late 70s. Did it at 2am one morning, the next night he redid where the trucks made grooves while it was soft. He would redo it every few years, no one ever said a word. 

The ones from granger seem to last a while in the Midwest. 

My street is the entrance to a very popular mountain bike trail, a popular caving destination, free camping, shooting, off roading, dirt biking, wild desert parties, and general hoonery. It is never quiet. The city will not install speed bumps. The residents all signed a petition. we want a speed bump. The city refuses. We offered to pay for it. Nope. 
Much better to have cops sitting in front of my house several nights a week using it as a revenue trap for the stoned kids blasting back into the neighborhood at 2am. But no speed bumps. 

make a bump track like what they use to break in the suspension of a car when they drive it off the line. that would really slow things down

How good are you at sidewalk graffiti?

NOHOME said:

How good are you at sidewalk graffiti?

 

 

I LOVE it , can he come to my house ?