PrompTuesday, Or Friday

No I didn't forget about it. No, I haven't been ignoring it. Okay, I have been. I just haven't been feeling creative enough to write something, well, creative.



But this week's prompt is something I can handle. PrompTuesday #108









I live in a quiet residential community that happens to back up to a main thoroughfare in my town. The thoroughfare is pretty much the only way to get from the north end to the south end of where I live. And the speed limit is something like 30 or 35 miles per hour. The stop lights are never ending, and the people here in New England really need to revisit that drivers test they should have failed when the turned 16.



There are times during the day when the thoroughfare backs up. And backs up. Like when people are heading home from work. And going to work. And rushing around at lunchtime. I get it. It sucks to be stuck in traffic when you've got somewhere to go. So, you get to thinking, surely there's a way around this major street that is set up to be a minor street. And you make a turn, and another one and you realize that you can cut through this quiet little residential area.



Sure, the speed limit is only 15, and there are a bazillion stop signs and speed bumps. The stop signs -- the ones with the white rims are optional, right? And those speed bumps? Eh.. As long as my car is big enough I can plow on over it, no harm done. Mythbusters even says the ride is better the faster I go over it. They did, right? Oh well.



Right.

That's all well and good. Except that the stop signs? They are NOT optional. The speed limit is NOT a suggestion. Why are there so many stop signs and speed bumps? Because there are a bazillion kids running around in this neighborhood. There is no public easement between the sidewalk and the street, so if I kid ditches on their bike, they're ditching into the street right in front of the car, YOUR car. Not to mention the streets are curvy, narrow, and this is NOT a public thoroughfare!

I've taken to sitting out front and yelling at the cars that whiz past, missing stop signs and catching air over the speed bumps. As a neighborhood, we've complained and complained to the community managers, called the police, and exhausted ourselves trying to get people to slow down. And, you bet that if you drive by my house, in a company vehicle, I'm calling your boss. Especially if you're a cab driver and when I ask you to slow down (because my kids are running around in the front yard near the road you consider to be a race track) and you FLIP ME OFF. YOU FLIPPED ME OFF! Because YOU were breaking the law and I called you on it. In the vehicle you use for work.

Um, this was supposed to be about etiquette. My tip:

It's extremely rude to drive really fast in a residential neighborhood ignoring speed limits and stop signs because you are using it as a detour, short-cut, or escape route from the local police. Even if you are going to go the speed limit, slamming on the brakes at the last second and slamming on the gas to get to the next stop sign a record 2 seconds faster? That's rude too. Also, driving through with your windows down and radio at full blast. Absolutely asinine. My kids don't need to hear about smackin' yo b!tch up. Really.

So, keep to the speed limit. STOP at the stop signs, slow down for the speed bumps. Save yourself some gas by accelerating decently, and if you have to listen to your music crazy loud, roll up the windows.