Young Kids and Speed

I may be old but I don't drive like the Florida stereotype. I rarely drive twenty miles under the speed limit and I almost never drive on the expressway with my turn signal flashing for miles. You are more likely to find me traveling around the speed limit, weather permitting. I guess what I'm trying to establish is that I'm not an old fuddy-duddy who wants everyone to drive slowly.

Still, on our street, there's a sign like this one -------------------------->

Almost every morning of the week, there's a young kid in our neighborhood who goes out of our streets at a speed which must approach 50 to 55 miles per hour. He's obviously in a hurry to get somewhere - school (why would you speed to school?), his girlfriend's house, or to the donut shop for a round one and a cup of coffee. What ever his cause, he wants to get there fast. His car is older and sounds as if the muffler has at least one small hole that shouldn't be there. He speeds by so quickly, I haven't been able to catch his license or even the make of his car.

Actually, it's not his speed I worry about - it's his ability to stop (or not stop) his car when he's driving that fast. We have a neighborhood where many people jog or speed walk in the morning. Others, my wife included, are walking their dogs. (See our dog's picture on the right!) Add to the mix the school kids of all ages waiting on the street corner for the bus and you've got a recipe for disaster.

I really want this young man to slow down. Not because I'm old but because my friends across the street with three small boys and my neighbors with dogs and even my own family need to feel safe while enjoying our otherwise quiet streets.

I will get his license and the make of his car. I will turn the info over to the local police. It's great to be young but there are consequences to all the decisions we make in life. I just don't want this young man's choices turning our streets into a deathtrap.