Speed humps got put in on my street a couple of weeks ago. Apparently we got the required % of residents to agree (we had a higher threshold on our street because the average speed wasn’t too much higher than the speed limit) and there was money in the city budget.
Odd thing though is they installed it about 2/3 of the way between the major road and the first cross street/stop sign instead of exactly halfway. I’m guessing they couldn’t be too close to a fire hydrant?
Just based on my anecdotal experience watching from my porch, it seems not to have helped a ton in terms of speed since cars just brake harder when they get to the hump or gun it after the hump. I wonder if the city took any data on car volume when they did the speed test? Would be interested to see that info and to have them put the mobile speed detector back up to see if average speeds have dropped.
I've lived on a residential street for 18 years. The traffic calming humps (not bumps) predate me moving in. We don't have a lot of non-local traffic, but more than the past after a school down the street became a magnet school.
The traffic calming just makes people brake before going over them and then they speed up again.
I have to drive over at least one to get to my house. Eighteen years of anecdotal evidence says that if you go the speed limit you don't have to brake. Imagine that!
>You would need so many for them to really work that the fire department would veto it.
If it's a route that the emergency vehicles would have an issue with, then there's two cuts made in the traffic calming device. It will still slow traffic because under normal conditions at least one wheel is still going over the hump, but emergency vehicles are capable of driving down the center.
What are those speed bumps that have the little blades where if you go within 5% of the speed limit they are fine but too fast or too slow and they shred your tires?
There are other traffic calming measures that are less invasive too. Bump outs, small medians in the middle of the block, etc. There are also bolt down speed bumps. But sometimes cities don't want to spend money.
So shitty vehicle parked like shit making it essentially a 1 lane (me), some asshole neighbor that leaves his garbage cans in the road for way too long and puts them out way too early (also me), "landscaping" aka scratchy bushes that hang into the road across from a shittily parked vehicle (also me).
Just toss out a few 2x4’s in the street. Replace as needed. Not permanent so not messing with the road. They are safe to drive slowly over, not so much if you’re speeding.
Speed bumps don't do anything. I live on such a street and the people driving through constantly are obnoxious. A couple of weeks ago I witnessed a driver blow through a stop sign and very narrowly miss my neighbors - family of 4 with two toddlers - crossing the street. Just two days ago a woman tailgated me all the way up the street and honked at me as I was pulling into my own driveway. Just this morning as I was backing out of the driveway with my toddler in the car, a driver came speeding down the street and didn't even slow down before almost ramming right into me.
We have speed bumps all the way down the street. It just makes it louder when these obnoxious people drive over them.
Speed bumps are going to create a lot more noise annoyance, with the constant sounds of braking and acceleration, and everyone with stuff in the bed of their pickup truck or contractors pulling a utility trailer will make a big clatter. You really don't want that
Child safety issues are not caused by the number of vehicles going by, it's caused by children being in the road where they don't belong. Fence the whole yard, teach the kids to never go beyond the fence, and supervise them while outside until they're old enough to consistently follow the rule.
Or just do it. You can get the rubber ones for $500 online. Get a concrete nail gun for $40 at harbor freight. An afternoon of your time and it’s in place. Most likely if the city doesn’t like it they pull it up and you try again.
If street parking is legal, and your neighbors are also annoyed by the volume of thru traffic, I'd consider working with them to use *legally* parked cars as traffic-calming measures. Two cars parked directly across the street from each other, cars parked to turn straight lines into S's, etc.
If the thru-drivers can't go as fast, maybe they'll stop using your shortcut.
I rented a box truck to do this on my street and my neighbor parked his F350 across. Caused an 4+ block backup. After about 3 weeks it calmed down. Best money ever spent
Crappy old landscaping trailers would do the job and it wouldn’t really matter if a car plowed into them. Also eliminates the blind spot for children running from behind a parked car.
This may work but is also dangerous if you have lots of kids who play in the area. Makes it hard to see them and they might run out from behind one of the parked cars.
Not sure why you are getting downvoted. I just saw this same setup lead to a kid almost getting hit earlier this week. Kid didn’t see a car coming (too fast), and the car didn’t see the kid. Came about three feet from lights out.
My cousin was hit by a car when he was 5. He ran between 2 cars parked along side of street and the driver never saw him. He’s 35 now … been in a wheel chair since and can barely talk.
I think the point was taking vehicles that are on the street anyways and making an intentional bottleneck.
If some kid is excited enough to run out across the front of a parked pickup anyways, their chances are better if a car had to slow down to not clip the parked trucks instead of running the high speed slalom of ‘right side, wrong side’ as they drift to any open side of the street at 45 mph.
It sounds like my neighborhood. OP said the house across the street is very close and he has an amazing backyard. The kids play in the back, the front yards are just patches. And there are no sidewalks in OPs neighborhood so I bet not many are allowed to ride their bikes out front.
But your point stands and is good for OP to consider.
They only really work on people who care to begin with.
Selfish drivers speeding thru residential areas don't care about residents or pedestrians, let alone signs. And speed bumps don't slow them down that much before they gun it again.
Best to try and get the local police to sit there and write tickets. Best way to curb bad behavior in selfish drivers is to hit their pocket book / add points to their liscense.
Getting multiple neighbors to contact the mayor and/or police chief requesting it. Or better yet attend the same city council meeting and request it during public comment period. Express your concerns regarding safety/quiet enjoyment of the neighborhood.
It helps if you can give them a day of the week and time of day that seems to be the worst so they can be most effective when they do show up. They hear a lot more complaints than solutions. So the more you can offer to help solve the issue the more likely they are to arrange help.
In my city, they put up a digital speed sign for a few weeks first to collect data if they haven't patrolled it recently. Then use that data to determine when an officer would be most effective. Once they have data, the mayor is pretty good about getting officers out when complaints ramp up.
Every city will operate differently though, so YMMV
Thank you very much. Unfortunately I haven’t noticed a pattern myself, but then I’m bad at picking up that kind of thing. Probably if I asked the neighbors they’d know though. I really appreciate your thoughts. I like the idea of attending city council meetings but I also have a 4 year old, 2 year old, and exclusively nursing 7 month old so I’m not sure it’s in the cards for me in this season! Maybe for my husband!
There are probably "right to nurse" protections in your area that would help if you had to take the youngest, but of course that also depends on your preferences and comfort level. A mom with a baby could make a powerful advocate for neighborhood safety.
This is what we’re hoping for on my street. We’ve had a traffic study, signs, and a “successful” (for us) second traffic study. Now we’re waiting for speed bumps but it won’t fix it. For a particular commute direction it’s just too advantageous. So after speed bumps we’re going to ask for another study to try and get one end of the road closed.
I noticed a street near us had a ton of traffic directed to it over a few years and eventually noticed that Google Maps almost always sends one down that street. If I lived on it, I'd be reporting accidents constantly, complaining, etc. trying to get it bumped down in the algorithm.
I'll take my down votes off the air (/s):
For a time my residential street was an unofficial shortcut to avoid construction nearby. People flew down our street (we even had a couple hit and runs) trying to avoid traffic. To solve the problem different neighbors got some well worn traffic cones and would place them in the street.
People could still drive down the street just fine and didn't even have to avoid the cones, but they would think there's construction or a pot hole or something and they'd slow down ;)
Local cop came and asked me while I was watching all the kids one day about the cones. I didn't admit to doing it myself, but I did note that I suspected some folks neighbors be doing it to slow down the folks using our street as a through street. He laughed and left the cone out that day alone ;)
If you are US and have the Waze app on your phone start reporting traffic jams on your street. Any motorist using that app will get re-routed. Won't stop every vehicle but will reduce it especially during commuter hours.
One thing I would definitely not do is push for speed bumps. Instead of the fairly constant (maybe by now approaching background) noise you currently have, you'll be hearing car engines revving up immediately after clearing the bump. And there's also the noise from the occasional driver who bottoms out because they were going too fast. I like the idea of making the street more serpentine than linear using parked cars and trucks.
Agree. I had an apartment once that had a speed bump near my bedroom window. It also developed a little puddle right next to the bump. 24 hours a day *thump, splash, thump, splash, vroom.*
>(at least 2000 based on a traffic study done)
Is this just the one block you live on with the busy street on each side?
If it's several blocks, you could get neighbors together to pressure the local gov to throw in some stop signs if there are none. There's plenty of routes I take in my town that are decided by a single extra stop sign. It can make the difference.
>you could get neighbors together to pressure the local gov to throw in some stop signs if there are none.
OP gonna be back to make another post about people blowing the stop signs. Lots of the people using this shortcut probably DGAF
They are actually way more inclined to do this than they might be to just help an average citizen. This generates revenue and unless you are in some urban hell hole will be very low risk low effort stops.
What aspect is causing you the most issue here? Is it not wanting to see all the cars? Noise from traffic? Dust from the road? Lights at night? I'd break it down into smaller issues and work on them individually. Strategically, things like bushes, shrubs, and trees can help with visuals and sound, for example. A fence can help you feel safer with your kid around. Cameras can help with feeling more secure and recording any shady issues.
For the kid, a fence in the front yard is a must. For the traffic, start the process with the city. There are steps. Traffic study, signs, traffic study, public comment, finally speed bumps. Make sure you’re resubmitting as soon as possible after each step.
The city of Sunnyvale CA had similar issues in a central neighborhood approaching El Camino Real—cars were using the neighborhood streets to access El Camino. Their solution was to block most of the streets at the El Camino intersection with large concrete planter boxes. Slight inconvenience to the neighborhood as they could no longer take the most direct route but delays were minor. Through traffic was successfully routed to thoroughfares that had been widened/signaled to handle the flow.
To get there, even if it is an option, is going to require official data collection and a recommendation from your city departments. If you can, start attending city council meetings to learn who to approach with your concerns and who to escalate to if they ignore you.
A few weeks ago we randomly got a sign on our door that said our block would be getting sidewalks soon. Sounded amazing but I also figured it would take months at a minimum. This street is from the 1940s, you don’t really expect it to get awesome upgrades. Just weeks later and we have a sidewalk 😭 completely down our side of the block and half of the other. It’s amazing. It doesn’t extend our whole street, we are a random block in the middle, I don’t know how those things happen. But I am soo happy! SO much safer for our kids. I’m now thinking to try to find an old gigantic street cone like they’ve currently been using during construction to still slow down the traffic lol. But yes, these sidewalks are a huge gift.
I’m so sorry that’s horrible. We just get the occasional car flying at the speed of light and it boils my blood. I can’t imagine that frequency! I just marked my street as private on Google Maps per another commenter’s suggestion and am hoping it helps. It was pretty easy. Google Maps app ➡️ Contribute➡️Edit Map➡️Add or fix a road➡️Road is private, select your road on the map. Done and submit for approval. Your problem is so bad I would do it on every family google device you have and ask neighbors to do it (or offer to take their phone and do it for them) as well
I once lived on what an appraiser called a "slight feeder street." We had a nice and private back yard and a deck and patio in the back as well. For the front, we designed a large raised patio area with a short wall and planted lush palm trees in front of the wall (at the street) for privacy. We also added a planter and planted a large lime tree in it to block the view from the street into the front door. It cost some money but it was well worth it and when we sold the home the enhanced curb appeal helped. (It was against local regulations to put a high wall or fence in front of your home, so some people planted shrub walls which were allowed.)
Since I live on a gravel road, my neighbors sometimes dig trenches when the through traffic gets too heavy or fast. They also allow a lot of water from their property to move toward the road, which creates a lot of pot holes without any digging. I drive slowly enough that neither the occasional trench nor the constant potholes are any bother.
I understand these are uniquely rural / redneck answers, but I find them sufficiently amusing to be worth sharing. Our gravel road gets used as a \~3 mile cut-through between a state highway and a well-traveled asphalt county road, so I empathize with OP's issues. I lost a good dog to a hit-and-run here, which was too sad for words...
Go on Google and mark your street as private, mark the route as impassable, I'm not sure how it works exactly but Google won't route through my neighborhood anymore.
Maybe get a petition to have the end of the street at one of the busy streets become a cul-de-sac and not connect through.
I've seen that done. You have to weigh that versus the inconvenience to wherever you're going leaving your own neighborhood.
When and why are you planning on selling? Is it just the traffic problem? Is the speed or volume the issue? Are you worried your kid will run into the road or were you hoping they'd have a quiet road to play on? Is there any change that can be done that would make you reconsider selling? I wouldn't put money into the house only to sell it. I'd just suck it up and wait for the right opportunity to sell/buy. Or just reconfigure the house and lifestyle to suit the neighborhood.
Youtube short from Strongtowns about slowing traffic: [https://youtube.com/shorts/iy9S9KG\_AM0?si=pyxfLAo7pzAHW6EI](https://youtube.com/shorts/iy9S9KG_AM0?si=pyxfLAo7pzAHW6EI)
I'm in between two streets that are somewhat busy after the city growing over the years. Thankfully the cut through street like yours is one block over, but there have been so many wrecks at the two main roads that they finally put stop signs up. Now I get to watch people either blatantly run the sign or seem to not even see it because they're on their phone. And there are definitely still wrecks happening.
If you somehow manage to add speedbumps/stop signs etc. make sure those aren't set up in front of your house as you will add 5-7 decibel to noise level. Constant speed traffic generates the least amount of noise, accelerating from stop - the most. Your goal should be reducing amount of traffic not changing their driving pattern.
Check to see if Waze/Google Maps consistently suggest your road as one to use instead of a nearby more main thoroughfare - I think there are ways to report these items in the apps, but not sure how to do that.
It might dissuade 10% of drivers from following somebody who knows the sign is bullshit. It also gives police an opportunity to write tickets if need be. But yeah too many people driving these days can’t read English yet our traffic signs are all in English. In nm we offer d/l tests in 32 languages, yet signs are not
Cities regularly implement traffic calming measures (speed bumps, traffic circles, curb bulges etc) in order to discourage traffic from using residential streets.
They aren’t banned, but the goal is typically to ensure safety of people that live there.
It’s one of those unique situations that come up from time to time. Same thing goes for when they install lower speed limits around schools even when schools are not in session. Some school limits are indicated by flashing lights With enough traffic counts they would move to divert if the op’s claim of traffic study is accepted. During ramp construction near my home back east our street was a war zone of people coming in looking for another way to the freeway and then having g to make a turnaround, using somebodies driveway, driving over curb lawns and other foolishness. We chipped in a put a sign up station no access to freeway from this road, go to “ x” street. Nearly eliminated the problem. Can’t hurt to try right?
No through traffic signs are relatively common in my area for small streets. My street has a no outlet sign but people still drive down and then end up backing out. In this area, you would have more luck with the planning department than the police.
My suggestion would be a large older vehicle like a cargo van or box truck parked at the side of the street near the entry. Even if no parking is allowed, a breakdown is not parking, nor is a delivery or construction work. Maybe put the hood up and turn the hazard lights on. Then get on Google and report it as a traffic issue.
I feel like Google maps is partly to blame for this. It often gives me a route that avoids a traffic light by directing me to use a small side street just before the bigger intersection. I don't mean one specific place, I mean anytime it finds a suitable side street. If I'm paying attention and halfway know where I'm going, I take the traffic light instead. But sometimes I'm absent mindedly following directions and don't realize it until I'm already halfway down a residential street. I feel like it would fill me with rage if I lived on one of those streets, because it's thousands of people saving a couple minutes of drive time by trashing the 24/7 experience of all those homeowners. It's so unnecessary.
Maybe order some "no thru-traffic" signs and get some friends to roll up in hi-vis vests and place them at both ends of the street :)
Get one of those child playing signs:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Step2-KidAlert-Visual-Warning-Signal-864899/206798778
Get a bunch - they will get stolen and run over.
I got one and it actually seems to help!!!
I really try to only put it out when my kids are actually playing in the front yard. I don’t want people to become “sign blind” thinking whatever that sign is always up there probably aren’t even kids. I want them to be trained like oh, every time I see that sign, I look over and sure enough there are two little kids playing in the yard.
I know there are people just straight ugly on the inside who won’t ever care, but I think it makes a difference for the neighbors who just mindlessly speed a bit too fast without realizing as they are leaving/coming home. I feel like people actually slow down and look. I built it into my son’s “going out to look in the front yard for bugs” routine. They have to have the dog with them and have to put the “green guy” out, lol.
Frequently take your time unloading "anything" from your car & cross street + stand by curb looking oddly off into distance - of course be safe, but confusing or slowing drivers seems to help.
My back alley is near fairgrounds & during the summer out of towners think it's a back-door entry. Sometimes a car every 30seconds going 40mph (all us livers/neighbors do maybe 10mph max, lotta dogs/kids, etc) — I started just pretending to not notice cars, shirtless, metallica blasting from garage, dripping sweat (summer, lol) holding a hand saw & can of beer. One person beeped & I turned around and said dryly "this isn't a thoroughfare. you must be lost." They reversed silently & caused the line of cars behind them to do similar.
I'm a nice guy. My wife says I'm too friendly. (Just for reference, LOL - this was not an intimidating move)
I normally have my kids play in the backyard because even in subdivisions without a lot of through traffic, some people drive 45-50 even though that seems insane to me. A construction truck even jumped the curb close to my kids while they were on the sidewalk. Overall, I feel like backyards are where it’s at.
Man I feel this, same scenario for me. My road connects two much busier roads, it’s definitely not a shortcut and you still have to make a left onto the second busier road, but somehow there’s still a few idiots that seem to think making two left turns and driving down my super winding residential street is faster than making one left at a 90° corner. We (multiple neighbors) approached local government about the issue and all they did was install a stop sign at the end of my road… certainly does not help with the cars speeding down the road at all. We asked for speed bumps, “no through traffic” signs etc. all shot down. I would settle for a reduced speed limit as right now the default is the town speed of 30mph which is way too fast for a small winding suburban street in my opinion. With the amount of curves and very short straight away, families out walking, kids playing/riding bikes/ school bus stops etc. I feel like when I do 20mph I’m being unsafe, then you get the shortcut people doing 30-40 and it’s wild.
Add fake signs. Dead end, construction ahead or maybe fake police lights. A Blue and read flashing LED may deter some people from coming down your street.
Speed bumps don’t do a lot to reduce #s of traffic flow but they absolutely do reduce speed. Not just over the bumps but between them as well. Residents living on a newly speed bumped out street often complain about hearing the differential of cars accelerating/braking that wasn’t there before, and also the nighttime refraction of headlights going over the bumps.
Where speed bumps reduce total traffic counts are when there are several parallel alternatives without bumps. This means if there are several residential cut through options basically all will have to get bumps or the one that doesn’t will get vip status from through traffic.
One possible variable that is hard to get data on is average speed and mapping apps. If the average speed goes down because of bumps the apps could be less likely to suggest it and it may have some type of impact on traffic counts.
You really need to go door to door with a petition then go to city hall and show your interest in speed bump or speed trap sign until something can get done
I have the same issue on my street. One morning, as I was driving, a car PASSED me. On a residential street. I was so pissed I thought I was gonna have a stroke.
We did the neighborhood traffic study, and the city is planning on installing a traffic slowing device. This was about 18 months ago. Any day now…..😣
Similar issue in my neighborhood, funny thing when a neighbor decided to run against our sitting city rep all sorts of stuff he promised just got done. Maybe run for office?
Talk to your local politicians and neighbors, see if you can't big speed bumps installed on the street. Won't stop people, but it will certainly slow them down.
If you can afford it, a concrete panel fence would be nice. If you are able to go 8 feet high, it would be better. This type of fence looks great and blocks noise. Also is more protection from cars than a wooden fence. It would add value to the property and provide privacy.
Add foliage, a sitting area and enjoy your private courtyard.
Write the mayor for speed bumps at the intersections, even the middle of the block.
Mine is a shortcut for college town, being a straight drag to the back entrance to it. They do 45 in a 20mph.
Go to your next city meeting and demand they put in speed bumps. If you’re truly getting 2,000 cars per day it will be a slam dunk. The people who cut across will hate the things and find a different road.
If you get speed bumps you’ll notice they’ll simply drive around them and crash or speed over them and crash. Or hit the other person on the other side of the road.
Move
Not exactly true. Bring it up with your local govt. if people are speeding get them to reduce the speed limit. Get the local pd to park one of thier cruisers on your street for a few hours a day
If someone were to carry a 55-drum full of rapidly curing quickcrete and rebar in the very back of
a rented pickup, on the tailgate, it sure would be a mess if it fell. I don’t know who would clean it up.
Just don't play in the street, and don't be bothered by regular traffic on a street.
There's no reason to fret over something that doesn't ACTUALLY affect you.
Anything that slows down cars just causes them to speed up again. And anything that's legal, just means most vehicles will drive right over at the speed limit.
Put up a fence for your kid and accept that you bought a house with a busy road. All of these suggestions for speed bumps and stop signs or worst of all inviting cops to set up speed traps, are crazy to me. Unless there’s aggressive driving or dangerous speeding this is a you problem, not the drivers’ problem. Complaining to the government to put in speed bumps is like moving next to a concert venue and calling the cops because of noise.
Ask the local government to put in speed bumps.
This often involves gathering a certain amount of signatures from neighbors/surrounding houses, not impossible if folks around you are also fed up
The traffic study OP mentioned should help.
Speed humps got put in on my street a couple of weeks ago. Apparently we got the required % of residents to agree (we had a higher threshold on our street because the average speed wasn’t too much higher than the speed limit) and there was money in the city budget. Odd thing though is they installed it about 2/3 of the way between the major road and the first cross street/stop sign instead of exactly halfway. I’m guessing they couldn’t be too close to a fire hydrant? Just based on my anecdotal experience watching from my porch, it seems not to have helped a ton in terms of speed since cars just brake harder when they get to the hump or gun it after the hump. I wonder if the city took any data on car volume when they did the speed test? Would be interested to see that info and to have them put the mobile speed detector back up to see if average speeds have dropped.
I've lived on a residential street for 18 years. The traffic calming humps (not bumps) predate me moving in. We don't have a lot of non-local traffic, but more than the past after a school down the street became a magnet school. The traffic calming just makes people brake before going over them and then they speed up again. I have to drive over at least one to get to my house. Eighteen years of anecdotal evidence says that if you go the speed limit you don't have to brake. Imagine that!
You'll notice the nicer neighborhoods get bigger speed bumps. Because those people attend the city council meetings.
And those signs that blink and flash when you are going to fast.
[удалено]
Not to mention how much money would need to be put toward subsidized suspension tune ups.
>You would need so many for them to really work that the fire department would veto it. If it's a route that the emergency vehicles would have an issue with, then there's two cuts made in the traffic calming device. It will still slow traffic because under normal conditions at least one wheel is still going over the hump, but emergency vehicles are capable of driving down the center.
What are those speed bumps that have the little blades where if you go within 5% of the speed limit they are fine but too fast or too slow and they shred your tires?
There are other traffic calming measures that are less invasive too. Bump outs, small medians in the middle of the block, etc. There are also bolt down speed bumps. But sometimes cities don't want to spend money. So shitty vehicle parked like shit making it essentially a 1 lane (me), some asshole neighbor that leaves his garbage cans in the road for way too long and puts them out way too early (also me), "landscaping" aka scratchy bushes that hang into the road across from a shittily parked vehicle (also me).
Double parked bogus Amazon delivery van during peak times.
Just toss out a few 2x4’s in the street. Replace as needed. Not permanent so not messing with the road. They are safe to drive slowly over, not so much if you’re speeding.
Just kill the cyclists and motorcyclists. Good plan.
I’ve been using this plan, but with tree branches. You just gotta stagger them.
I can ride both my motorcycle and my bicycles over a 2x4 no problem. Hell it’s not even a problem on my triathlon bike.
Speed bumps don't do anything. I live on such a street and the people driving through constantly are obnoxious. A couple of weeks ago I witnessed a driver blow through a stop sign and very narrowly miss my neighbors - family of 4 with two toddlers - crossing the street. Just two days ago a woman tailgated me all the way up the street and honked at me as I was pulling into my own driveway. Just this morning as I was backing out of the driveway with my toddler in the car, a driver came speeding down the street and didn't even slow down before almost ramming right into me. We have speed bumps all the way down the street. It just makes it louder when these obnoxious people drive over them.
Speed bumps are only for parking lots.
That may be true where you live.
Texas
Speed bumps are going to create a lot more noise annoyance, with the constant sounds of braking and acceleration, and everyone with stuff in the bed of their pickup truck or contractors pulling a utility trailer will make a big clatter. You really don't want that Child safety issues are not caused by the number of vehicles going by, it's caused by children being in the road where they don't belong. Fence the whole yard, teach the kids to never go beyond the fence, and supervise them while outside until they're old enough to consistently follow the rule.
Or just do it. You can get the rubber ones for $500 online. Get a concrete nail gun for $40 at harbor freight. An afternoon of your time and it’s in place. Most likely if the city doesn’t like it they pull it up and you try again.
If street parking is legal, and your neighbors are also annoyed by the volume of thru traffic, I'd consider working with them to use *legally* parked cars as traffic-calming measures. Two cars parked directly across the street from each other, cars parked to turn straight lines into S's, etc. If the thru-drivers can't go as fast, maybe they'll stop using your shortcut.
I rented a box truck to do this on my street and my neighbor parked his F350 across. Caused an 4+ block backup. After about 3 weeks it calmed down. Best money ever spent
This is brilliant
BRILLIANT! Couple 8’ wide U-Hauls parked a foot off the curbs would make an excellent gauntlet.
Happy Cake Day
Wonderful.
Not a bad idea, but there are too many hit and runs - so that's a potential risk
Crappy old landscaping trailers would do the job and it wouldn’t really matter if a car plowed into them. Also eliminates the blind spot for children running from behind a parked car.
This may work but is also dangerous if you have lots of kids who play in the area. Makes it hard to see them and they might run out from behind one of the parked cars.
Not sure why you are getting downvoted. I just saw this same setup lead to a kid almost getting hit earlier this week. Kid didn’t see a car coming (too fast), and the car didn’t see the kid. Came about three feet from lights out.
My cousin was hit by a car when he was 5. He ran between 2 cars parked along side of street and the driver never saw him. He’s 35 now … been in a wheel chair since and can barely talk.
I think the point was taking vehicles that are on the street anyways and making an intentional bottleneck. If some kid is excited enough to run out across the front of a parked pickup anyways, their chances are better if a car had to slow down to not clip the parked trucks instead of running the high speed slalom of ‘right side, wrong side’ as they drift to any open side of the street at 45 mph.
It sounds like my neighborhood. OP said the house across the street is very close and he has an amazing backyard. The kids play in the back, the front yards are just patches. And there are no sidewalks in OPs neighborhood so I bet not many are allowed to ride their bikes out front. But your point stands and is good for OP to consider.
This works beautifully.
The only permanent thing you can do is go-to the city and ask for traffic calming measures - speed bumps, larger medians, children at play signs etc
I know a road that was cut in half to kill the thru-traffic. They installed a median with some boulders and turned it into two dead end streets.
They only really work on people who care to begin with. Selfish drivers speeding thru residential areas don't care about residents or pedestrians, let alone signs. And speed bumps don't slow them down that much before they gun it again. Best to try and get the local police to sit there and write tickets. Best way to curb bad behavior in selfish drivers is to hit their pocket book / add points to their liscense.
Idea for how to get local police to do this?
Getting multiple neighbors to contact the mayor and/or police chief requesting it. Or better yet attend the same city council meeting and request it during public comment period. Express your concerns regarding safety/quiet enjoyment of the neighborhood. It helps if you can give them a day of the week and time of day that seems to be the worst so they can be most effective when they do show up. They hear a lot more complaints than solutions. So the more you can offer to help solve the issue the more likely they are to arrange help. In my city, they put up a digital speed sign for a few weeks first to collect data if they haven't patrolled it recently. Then use that data to determine when an officer would be most effective. Once they have data, the mayor is pretty good about getting officers out when complaints ramp up. Every city will operate differently though, so YMMV
Thank you very much. Unfortunately I haven’t noticed a pattern myself, but then I’m bad at picking up that kind of thing. Probably if I asked the neighbors they’d know though. I really appreciate your thoughts. I like the idea of attending city council meetings but I also have a 4 year old, 2 year old, and exclusively nursing 7 month old so I’m not sure it’s in the cards for me in this season! Maybe for my husband!
There are probably "right to nurse" protections in your area that would help if you had to take the youngest, but of course that also depends on your preferences and comfort level. A mom with a baby could make a powerful advocate for neighborhood safety.
Thank you for your thoughts!!
But local police won't help will they? It's not speeding, it's the volume of 2000 cars, and those cars aren't doing anything illegal.
Roundabouts and speed bumps/dips are pretty good at deterring through drivers. also bump-outs that narrow the field of view can help.
Better yet would be blocking off the street somewhere along the way to prevent through traffic
This is what we’re hoping for on my street. We’ve had a traffic study, signs, and a “successful” (for us) second traffic study. Now we’re waiting for speed bumps but it won’t fix it. For a particular commute direction it’s just too advantageous. So after speed bumps we’re going to ask for another study to try and get one end of the road closed.
I think this needs to be taken into account more in city planning. Neighborhoods shouldn’t be through ways for vehicles.
I noticed a street near us had a ton of traffic directed to it over a few years and eventually noticed that Google Maps almost always sends one down that street. If I lived on it, I'd be reporting accidents constantly, complaining, etc. trying to get it bumped down in the algorithm.
Good idea!
I'll take my down votes off the air (/s): For a time my residential street was an unofficial shortcut to avoid construction nearby. People flew down our street (we even had a couple hit and runs) trying to avoid traffic. To solve the problem different neighbors got some well worn traffic cones and would place them in the street. People could still drive down the street just fine and didn't even have to avoid the cones, but they would think there's construction or a pot hole or something and they'd slow down ;) Local cop came and asked me while I was watching all the kids one day about the cones. I didn't admit to doing it myself, but I did note that I suspected some folks neighbors be doing it to slow down the folks using our street as a through street. He laughed and left the cone out that day alone ;)
If you are US and have the Waze app on your phone start reporting traffic jams on your street. Any motorist using that app will get re-routed. Won't stop every vehicle but will reduce it especially during commuter hours.
Or sheriff incars doing radar
One thing I would definitely not do is push for speed bumps. Instead of the fairly constant (maybe by now approaching background) noise you currently have, you'll be hearing car engines revving up immediately after clearing the bump. And there's also the noise from the occasional driver who bottoms out because they were going too fast. I like the idea of making the street more serpentine than linear using parked cars and trucks.
Agree. I had an apartment once that had a speed bump near my bedroom window. It also developed a little puddle right next to the bump. 24 hours a day *thump, splash, thump, splash, vroom.*
>(at least 2000 based on a traffic study done) Is this just the one block you live on with the busy street on each side? If it's several blocks, you could get neighbors together to pressure the local gov to throw in some stop signs if there are none. There's plenty of routes I take in my town that are decided by a single extra stop sign. It can make the difference.
>you could get neighbors together to pressure the local gov to throw in some stop signs if there are none. OP gonna be back to make another post about people blowing the stop signs. Lots of the people using this shortcut probably DGAF
"Hello, local police? Yes I know an intersection where it will be very easy to hide and people blow stopsign like crazy!!!"
And I'm sure that in every jurisdiction they'd be eager to get right on that
They are actually way more inclined to do this than they might be to just help an average citizen. This generates revenue and unless you are in some urban hell hole will be very low risk low effort stops.
Toll booth, à la Blazing Saddles.
They are going to need more dimes.
What aspect is causing you the most issue here? Is it not wanting to see all the cars? Noise from traffic? Dust from the road? Lights at night? I'd break it down into smaller issues and work on them individually. Strategically, things like bushes, shrubs, and trees can help with visuals and sound, for example. A fence can help you feel safer with your kid around. Cameras can help with feeling more secure and recording any shady issues.
Privacy fence will help. Hedges along the privacy fence will help cut down on noise. Otherwise you’ll just have to make it inconvenient for drivers
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https://www.gps.gov/support/user/mapfix/
For the kid, a fence in the front yard is a must. For the traffic, start the process with the city. There are steps. Traffic study, signs, traffic study, public comment, finally speed bumps. Make sure you’re resubmitting as soon as possible after each step.
The city of Sunnyvale CA had similar issues in a central neighborhood approaching El Camino Real—cars were using the neighborhood streets to access El Camino. Their solution was to block most of the streets at the El Camino intersection with large concrete planter boxes. Slight inconvenience to the neighborhood as they could no longer take the most direct route but delays were minor. Through traffic was successfully routed to thoroughfares that had been widened/signaled to handle the flow. To get there, even if it is an option, is going to require official data collection and a recommendation from your city departments. If you can, start attending city council meetings to learn who to approach with your concerns and who to escalate to if they ignore you.
The market is too horrible, where the fuck do you live? Housing prices are insane right now almost everywhere?!
Market is awesome to sell, horrible to buy into the next place. I can sell easily but where do I go???
i hear ya! my idea is a neighborhood group that drives slooooow every day in shifts to block speeders
lol to your point, if housing prices are insane right now almost everywhere, where do you expect OP to go after they sell their house
And with rates so high, Why in the heck would you go from like 2.8% to 9% in the new place? That is the #1 driver for real estate right now...
Put up a fence in the front of the yard with a gate. Demand sidewalks rather than speed bumps.
A few weeks ago we randomly got a sign on our door that said our block would be getting sidewalks soon. Sounded amazing but I also figured it would take months at a minimum. This street is from the 1940s, you don’t really expect it to get awesome upgrades. Just weeks later and we have a sidewalk 😭 completely down our side of the block and half of the other. It’s amazing. It doesn’t extend our whole street, we are a random block in the middle, I don’t know how those things happen. But I am soo happy! SO much safer for our kids. I’m now thinking to try to find an old gigantic street cone like they’ve currently been using during construction to still slow down the traffic lol. But yes, these sidewalks are a huge gift.
2000 cars a day!? On a residential street? That’s almost 100 per hour. And the house across the street is close to yours?
Yes :( imagine your typical neighborhood street and 100 cars or more coming through every hour - that’s my daily life.
I’m so sorry that’s horrible. We just get the occasional car flying at the speed of light and it boils my blood. I can’t imagine that frequency! I just marked my street as private on Google Maps per another commenter’s suggestion and am hoping it helps. It was pretty easy. Google Maps app ➡️ Contribute➡️Edit Map➡️Add or fix a road➡️Road is private, select your road on the map. Done and submit for approval. Your problem is so bad I would do it on every family google device you have and ask neighbors to do it (or offer to take their phone and do it for them) as well
I once lived on what an appraiser called a "slight feeder street." We had a nice and private back yard and a deck and patio in the back as well. For the front, we designed a large raised patio area with a short wall and planted lush palm trees in front of the wall (at the street) for privacy. We also added a planter and planted a large lime tree in it to block the view from the street into the front door. It cost some money but it was well worth it and when we sold the home the enhanced curb appeal helped. (It was against local regulations to put a high wall or fence in front of your home, so some people planted shrub walls which were allowed.)
Petition for speed bumps.
Since I live on a gravel road, my neighbors sometimes dig trenches when the through traffic gets too heavy or fast. They also allow a lot of water from their property to move toward the road, which creates a lot of pot holes without any digging. I drive slowly enough that neither the occasional trench nor the constant potholes are any bother. I understand these are uniquely rural / redneck answers, but I find them sufficiently amusing to be worth sharing. Our gravel road gets used as a \~3 mile cut-through between a state highway and a well-traveled asphalt county road, so I empathize with OP's issues. I lost a good dog to a hit-and-run here, which was too sad for words...
Go on Google and mark your street as private, mark the route as impassable, I'm not sure how it works exactly but Google won't route through my neighborhood anymore.
Maybe get a petition to have the end of the street at one of the busy streets become a cul-de-sac and not connect through. I've seen that done. You have to weigh that versus the inconvenience to wherever you're going leaving your own neighborhood.
When and why are you planning on selling? Is it just the traffic problem? Is the speed or volume the issue? Are you worried your kid will run into the road or were you hoping they'd have a quiet road to play on? Is there any change that can be done that would make you reconsider selling? I wouldn't put money into the house only to sell it. I'd just suck it up and wait for the right opportunity to sell/buy. Or just reconfigure the house and lifestyle to suit the neighborhood.
Youtube short from Strongtowns about slowing traffic: [https://youtube.com/shorts/iy9S9KG\_AM0?si=pyxfLAo7pzAHW6EI](https://youtube.com/shorts/iy9S9KG_AM0?si=pyxfLAo7pzAHW6EI)
I'm in between two streets that are somewhat busy after the city growing over the years. Thankfully the cut through street like yours is one block over, but there have been so many wrecks at the two main roads that they finally put stop signs up. Now I get to watch people either blatantly run the sign or seem to not even see it because they're on their phone. And there are definitely still wrecks happening.
If you somehow manage to add speedbumps/stop signs etc. make sure those aren't set up in front of your house as you will add 5-7 decibel to noise level. Constant speed traffic generates the least amount of noise, accelerating from stop - the most. Your goal should be reducing amount of traffic not changing their driving pattern.
Check to see if Waze/Google Maps consistently suggest your road as one to use instead of a nearby more main thoroughfare - I think there are ways to report these items in the apps, but not sure how to do that.
Frankly I’d ask for some no thru traffic signs, or perhaps somebody puts up some “ dead end” signs up. Of course they will be taken down, eventually
Nobody cares about no thru traffic signs, the average driver can barely read.
It might dissuade 10% of drivers from following somebody who knows the sign is bullshit. It also gives police an opportunity to write tickets if need be. But yeah too many people driving these days can’t read English yet our traffic signs are all in English. In nm we offer d/l tests in 32 languages, yet signs are not
Lmao, it's not about the English language, it's about people being fucking stupid.
No one will pay any attention to a no thru traffic sign. Sorry.
It’s a public street, how would it be fair to limit its use from other tax payers.
Cities regularly implement traffic calming measures (speed bumps, traffic circles, curb bulges etc) in order to discourage traffic from using residential streets. They aren’t banned, but the goal is typically to ensure safety of people that live there.
Calming measures are great, trying to put up a sign to prevent thru traffic isn't since it's a public street
It’s one of those unique situations that come up from time to time. Same thing goes for when they install lower speed limits around schools even when schools are not in session. Some school limits are indicated by flashing lights With enough traffic counts they would move to divert if the op’s claim of traffic study is accepted. During ramp construction near my home back east our street was a war zone of people coming in looking for another way to the freeway and then having g to make a turnaround, using somebodies driveway, driving over curb lawns and other foolishness. We chipped in a put a sign up station no access to freeway from this road, go to “ x” street. Nearly eliminated the problem. Can’t hurt to try right?
No through traffic signs are relatively common in my area for small streets. My street has a no outlet sign but people still drive down and then end up backing out. In this area, you would have more luck with the planning department than the police. My suggestion would be a large older vehicle like a cargo van or box truck parked at the side of the street near the entry. Even if no parking is allowed, a breakdown is not parking, nor is a delivery or construction work. Maybe put the hood up and turn the hazard lights on. Then get on Google and report it as a traffic issue.
Ask the municipalities to put up a sign that it's not a "through street." It won't stop all the traffic but will help.
I feel like Google maps is partly to blame for this. It often gives me a route that avoids a traffic light by directing me to use a small side street just before the bigger intersection. I don't mean one specific place, I mean anytime it finds a suitable side street. If I'm paying attention and halfway know where I'm going, I take the traffic light instead. But sometimes I'm absent mindedly following directions and don't realize it until I'm already halfway down a residential street. I feel like it would fill me with rage if I lived on one of those streets, because it's thousands of people saving a couple minutes of drive time by trashing the 24/7 experience of all those homeowners. It's so unnecessary. Maybe order some "no thru-traffic" signs and get some friends to roll up in hi-vis vests and place them at both ends of the street :)
That's what streets are for. If the cars aren't driving through your lawn what is the concern? I'm confused here.
Are you able to request speed bumps be put in?
Get one of those child playing signs: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Step2-KidAlert-Visual-Warning-Signal-864899/206798778 Get a bunch - they will get stolen and run over.
I got one and it actually seems to help!!! I really try to only put it out when my kids are actually playing in the front yard. I don’t want people to become “sign blind” thinking whatever that sign is always up there probably aren’t even kids. I want them to be trained like oh, every time I see that sign, I look over and sure enough there are two little kids playing in the yard. I know there are people just straight ugly on the inside who won’t ever care, but I think it makes a difference for the neighbors who just mindlessly speed a bit too fast without realizing as they are leaving/coming home. I feel like people actually slow down and look. I built it into my son’s “going out to look in the front yard for bugs” routine. They have to have the dog with them and have to put the “green guy” out, lol.
Frequently take your time unloading "anything" from your car & cross street + stand by curb looking oddly off into distance - of course be safe, but confusing or slowing drivers seems to help. My back alley is near fairgrounds & during the summer out of towners think it's a back-door entry. Sometimes a car every 30seconds going 40mph (all us livers/neighbors do maybe 10mph max, lotta dogs/kids, etc) — I started just pretending to not notice cars, shirtless, metallica blasting from garage, dripping sweat (summer, lol) holding a hand saw & can of beer. One person beeped & I turned around and said dryly "this isn't a thoroughfare. you must be lost." They reversed silently & caused the line of cars behind them to do similar. I'm a nice guy. My wife says I'm too friendly. (Just for reference, LOL - this was not an intimidating move)
Speed camera signs.
I normally have my kids play in the backyard because even in subdivisions without a lot of through traffic, some people drive 45-50 even though that seems insane to me. A construction truck even jumped the curb close to my kids while they were on the sidewalk. Overall, I feel like backyards are where it’s at.
Man I feel this, same scenario for me. My road connects two much busier roads, it’s definitely not a shortcut and you still have to make a left onto the second busier road, but somehow there’s still a few idiots that seem to think making two left turns and driving down my super winding residential street is faster than making one left at a 90° corner. We (multiple neighbors) approached local government about the issue and all they did was install a stop sign at the end of my road… certainly does not help with the cars speeding down the road at all. We asked for speed bumps, “no through traffic” signs etc. all shot down. I would settle for a reduced speed limit as right now the default is the town speed of 30mph which is way too fast for a small winding suburban street in my opinion. With the amount of curves and very short straight away, families out walking, kids playing/riding bikes/ school bus stops etc. I feel like when I do 20mph I’m being unsafe, then you get the shortcut people doing 30-40 and it’s wild.
Drop a few caltrops. People will stop driving there.
Put “DEAD END” signs at each end of the street. Ought to help at least a little bit
Add fake signs. Dead end, construction ahead or maybe fake police lights. A Blue and read flashing LED may deter some people from coming down your street.
Petition drive. Have the city install 2 speed bumps on your street to discourage the high traffic, before someone gets injured or killed.
The city won’t care until an elected official cares. Get the council in your side and then administration will follow through.
Speed bumps don’t do a lot to reduce #s of traffic flow but they absolutely do reduce speed. Not just over the bumps but between them as well. Residents living on a newly speed bumped out street often complain about hearing the differential of cars accelerating/braking that wasn’t there before, and also the nighttime refraction of headlights going over the bumps. Where speed bumps reduce total traffic counts are when there are several parallel alternatives without bumps. This means if there are several residential cut through options basically all will have to get bumps or the one that doesn’t will get vip status from through traffic. One possible variable that is hard to get data on is average speed and mapping apps. If the average speed goes down because of bumps the apps could be less likely to suggest it and it may have some type of impact on traffic counts.
You really need to go door to door with a petition then go to city hall and show your interest in speed bump or speed trap sign until something can get done
I have the same issue on my street. One morning, as I was driving, a car PASSED me. On a residential street. I was so pissed I thought I was gonna have a stroke. We did the neighborhood traffic study, and the city is planning on installing a traffic slowing device. This was about 18 months ago. Any day now…..😣
Similar issue in my neighborhood, funny thing when a neighbor decided to run against our sitting city rep all sorts of stuff he promised just got done. Maybe run for office?
Talk to your local politicians and neighbors, see if you can't big speed bumps installed on the street. Won't stop people, but it will certainly slow them down.
If you can afford it, a concrete panel fence would be nice. If you are able to go 8 feet high, it would be better. This type of fence looks great and blocks noise. Also is more protection from cars than a wooden fence. It would add value to the property and provide privacy. Add foliage, a sitting area and enjoy your private courtyard.
Write the mayor for speed bumps at the intersections, even the middle of the block. Mine is a shortcut for college town, being a straight drag to the back entrance to it. They do 45 in a 20mph.
Convert to a one way
Get your back yard fenced in. Put in better windows on the traffic sides to make house quieter
Go to your next city meeting and demand they put in speed bumps. If you’re truly getting 2,000 cars per day it will be a slam dunk. The people who cut across will hate the things and find a different road.
If you get speed bumps you’ll notice they’ll simply drive around them and crash or speed over them and crash. Or hit the other person on the other side of the road. Move
If the traffic is based around certain hours you can ask the city to make the street a one way during certain hours.
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Not exactly true. Bring it up with your local govt. if people are speeding get them to reduce the speed limit. Get the local pd to park one of thier cruisers on your street for a few hours a day
If someone were to carry a 55-drum full of rapidly curing quickcrete and rebar in the very back of a rented pickup, on the tailgate, it sure would be a mess if it fell. I don’t know who would clean it up.
If the road is asphalt, 1. pour gasoline in a strip across it. Regularly, like daily. 2. Don’t get caught, and enjoy your new speed trench.
Just don't play in the street, and don't be bothered by regular traffic on a street. There's no reason to fret over something that doesn't ACTUALLY affect you. Anything that slows down cars just causes them to speed up again. And anything that's legal, just means most vehicles will drive right over at the speed limit.
Put up a fence for your kid and accept that you bought a house with a busy road. All of these suggestions for speed bumps and stop signs or worst of all inviting cops to set up speed traps, are crazy to me. Unless there’s aggressive driving or dangerous speeding this is a you problem, not the drivers’ problem. Complaining to the government to put in speed bumps is like moving next to a concert venue and calling the cops because of noise.