Drive slowly and watch for fast plastic go karts in my neighborhood
One of the anxieties we deal with as parents is letting go the strings on our kids as they learn to interact with people in the surrounding neighborhood. I am blessed to live in a subdivision with lots of kids my son's age to give him a choice of multiple pods of people in various pockets, streets and cud de sacs around the area. Lately one of my son's favorite haunts has a new gas powered dune buggy looking vehicle which is little more than a go cart with PVC pipe. I am all for kids learning how to drive safely and understand that Officer Horton of the Watkinsville Police Department has talked to these kids about traffic laws. I hope he will read some of them the riot act like I did the next time he has a chance to talk to them again.
Now I am sure I am whole lot more than reactionary when it comes to this situation literally right outside my front door. I live at an intersection with a stop sign and when I see young kids not even thinking about slowing down at the "T" traffic pattern, I have to go a little ballistic on them next time around. I asked the kids to shut off their engine, asked the offending driver his name, and told him I felt somewhat responsible since I would have to scrape his remains off the bottom of the SUV that would flatten them should they come through that already obscured intersection without pausing at the red octagonal. I drew a line with chalk that immediately was washed away in the intermittent rains this Memorial weekend.
I also did my best to raze the bushes on the berm which once just had crape myrtles but now have a host of invasive species battling for daylight on the corner. The city has cooperated in the past with trimming this down. There are other equally blind and dangerous corners darting about, even here in my subdivision where a collegiate athlete damn near met his maker a few years ago.
In the same area a week ago a tree surgeon parked in the most inopportune area would have liked to have brought all area traffic to a crawl while cutting down some big trees. God Bless Miss Shirley for having the patience while taking her walks in the morning. We do have nearly as many senior citizens living here as we do have kids.
Every couple of years a whole new set of children learn the thrills and dangers of internal combustion engines. It is up to all of us to make sure their inexperience does not lead to their early expiration. So watch out for 10 to 14 year old kids cruising fast and low to the ground on those blinds curves in Watkinsville and elsewhere. The engines of these vehicles are now not much bigger than lawn mowers or even weed trimmers and are often much quieter from an oncoming vehicle not on the perfect acoustic plain.
Knowing that I think these go kart dune buggy will probably last longer as an activity than my front yard, I urge parents to take steps to make sure their kids are as safe as they would when they operate bicycles and skateboards with helmets and the like.
I do not know the code of the City of Watkinsville on this but I will find out. I am sure it does not allow rolling or flat out ignoring of stop signs. I took a brief look at the parts of the city code online and only found out that nobody can make noise after 10 pm. I do know that Watkinsville Police Chief Lee O'Dillon and his fine officers will do everything they can to ensure public safety even in this most out of the way subdivision and the surrounding areas. I do hope we can all make sure that these kids learn the safety laws and how to come to complete stops at stops signs before they become a statistic in a traffic fatality study. Parents will always protect those in harms way too but we need to keep our eyes and ears open for those who do not know how the right of way
Now I am sure I am whole lot more than reactionary when it comes to this situation literally right outside my front door. I live at an intersection with a stop sign and when I see young kids not even thinking about slowing down at the "T" traffic pattern, I have to go a little ballistic on them next time around. I asked the kids to shut off their engine, asked the offending driver his name, and told him I felt somewhat responsible since I would have to scrape his remains off the bottom of the SUV that would flatten them should they come through that already obscured intersection without pausing at the red octagonal. I drew a line with chalk that immediately was washed away in the intermittent rains this Memorial weekend.
I also did my best to raze the bushes on the berm which once just had crape myrtles but now have a host of invasive species battling for daylight on the corner. The city has cooperated in the past with trimming this down. There are other equally blind and dangerous corners darting about, even here in my subdivision where a collegiate athlete damn near met his maker a few years ago.
In the same area a week ago a tree surgeon parked in the most inopportune area would have liked to have brought all area traffic to a crawl while cutting down some big trees. God Bless Miss Shirley for having the patience while taking her walks in the morning. We do have nearly as many senior citizens living here as we do have kids.
Every couple of years a whole new set of children learn the thrills and dangers of internal combustion engines. It is up to all of us to make sure their inexperience does not lead to their early expiration. So watch out for 10 to 14 year old kids cruising fast and low to the ground on those blinds curves in Watkinsville and elsewhere. The engines of these vehicles are now not much bigger than lawn mowers or even weed trimmers and are often much quieter from an oncoming vehicle not on the perfect acoustic plain.
Knowing that I think these go kart dune buggy will probably last longer as an activity than my front yard, I urge parents to take steps to make sure their kids are as safe as they would when they operate bicycles and skateboards with helmets and the like.
I do not know the code of the City of Watkinsville on this but I will find out. I am sure it does not allow rolling or flat out ignoring of stop signs. I took a brief look at the parts of the city code online and only found out that nobody can make noise after 10 pm. I do know that Watkinsville Police Chief Lee O'Dillon and his fine officers will do everything they can to ensure public safety even in this most out of the way subdivision and the surrounding areas. I do hope we can all make sure that these kids learn the safety laws and how to come to complete stops at stops signs before they become a statistic in a traffic fatality study. Parents will always protect those in harms way too but we need to keep our eyes and ears open for those who do not know how the right of way
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