Private road wars and speed bumps

[lockhaven]

If speed bumps are so illegal why are they so common in parking lots and developments at least in Maryland and Pennsylvania?

 

[mikehaugen]

Those speed bumps are on private property owned by one person or company, so it's pretty clear who has a say so about them.

 

[Frankdozer]

I have owned 3 houses in the past, and now the house I presently live in. 4 total. All 4 shared a common driveway with other homes. All 4 had problems as to road maintenance. After I moved in each one, I would drive nice and slow, watch for children and animals......and as I drove by each neighbor I would give a nice hello wave and a smile. Usually within a month or so someone would approach me and complain about another neighbor and their use of the road. Some added speed bumps..............some put large rocks on the side to prevent cars from going around speed bumps. Others let their kids play in the road. Some parked their cars and made it difficult to go around. I've seen it all. Believe me when I say that sooner or later everybody will take sides with someone and all hate each other. Then suddenly sides will change and old friends will make new friends and hate old friends. There is no good solution. We tried road associations which didn't work because of difference of opinions. Maintenance suffered because not all neighbors have enough money to pony up to fix the roads. Usually what ends up happening is the road becomes full of potholes which is actually good because it slows traffic, and neighbors don't wave and look the other way. One neighbor put in a speed bump and another neighbor would speed up his old beat-up truck and hit the brakes just before the speed bump hitting it with locked brakes and would destroy it. One neighbor could not get by a car parked in the road so he parked his car on that neighbor's front nicely manicured lawn....Screaming Match then occurred. Another neighbor would park in the road and mysteriously would wake up in the morning to ripped off windshield wipers and tires spray painted florescent orange. Another neighbor parked in the road and in the morning found all but 1 lugnut missing on the 4 wheels.......I could go on and on but there is no good solution !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fortunately I would need to relocate because of my job, but the friends on these various locations tell me the CRAP CONTINUES..........

 

[riptides]

Ahh, a thread with neighbors, property lines, driving.......
This is one thread where you get a nice cold drink, sit back, and watch it explode... :laughing:

But, you need to mix in the HOA too! stir...stir...stir...

 

[Paddy]

Those speed bumps are on private property owned by one person or company, so it's pretty clear who has a say so about them.

It's not so simple. First, this is not a case where the easement goes through one tract. This is more like any county road where many pcs of property lie on both sides of the road. Property lines go to the center of road. So not owned by one individual. Not that it would really mater if one person owned two tracts on opposite sides of the road. In the state of Indiana, we own to the middle of the road but can't make road alterations.

Planning departments can decide to add speed bumps in residential areas to either discourage traffic short cuts or to slow cars. But these actions are done by a "group" of people, not one guy in a neighborhood wanting to take control. Otherwise, we would find inconsistent home made traffic impeding devices all over.

Governments have clear guides how such speed bumps are designed and maintained. The bump has to coincide with the speed limit. If the speed limit is 20 mph, you should be able to comfortably able to drive over the speed bump at 20 mph. The height, depth and angle are covered.

I feel the real beef of the opposing side is not wanting any one individual to set a speed limit and design a crude speed bump. It should be a consensus.

To many sad stories where a city boy moves out to the country and complains a said neighbor's hog farm stinks. Many were shut down until the "right to Farm act" was implemented. This gravel road has been around for 40 years. New folks move in and build a home 25 feet from the road and then complain about the dust. All the supporters of the speed bumps are new arrivals with homes very near the road. Two of the three supporters have even encroached on the easement with fences and septic systems

 

[lockhaven]

I have lived on gravel/dirt roads my entire life. I do not like the speed demons, they tear up the road and then either do not pay at all for repairs or insist everyone pay up to repair the damage they have done. I have the opposite experience it is the new arrivals that think they are on the hard road all the time and need to drive fast regardless of the road conditions. I have suggested to my neighbors that we stop fixing the road and let the pot holes and washboards increase until the speeders destroy their vehicles, maybe then they will slow down.

 

[Paddy]

So what is a reasonable speed? School zones are 25 mph, is that reasonable? County gravel roads are 40 mph. In Texas, they seam to all drive 60+ mph but you can see the dust cloud from 2 mi away!

I think it's key to have a reasonable speed limit/expectation. If a shared road is 1.3 mi long vs. 200 ft long, folks living at the back will have a different idea. I consider 200 ft a shared driveway.

Is there good long sight ahead?

 

[radioman]

you can trust me on this one: with more and more homes being built and less land available, more homes are having drives shared or going thru right next to someone elses property. Sooner or later the gubermint will start billing and taking over these private driveways if we continue to bicker and not get along over silly things. All it takes is a life to be taken away to move a person into a overzealous renegade pushing for bills to be passed into laws for driveways.

One of my neighbors who lives aside to me had his dog run over by a neighbor living behind me that is on a long driveway. the driveway is only under 20 ft from house and the dogs loves going out to meet people esp. cars. Its sad the neighbors young driver son didnt realize this and ran over him. My aside neighbor put up a homemade wooden sign that says 20 mph and slow down on his own tree. The neighbor behind me just ended up moving out because of the tension.

 

[MacLawn]

:cool2: Well, I couldn't find the popcorn eating icon. All this joint ownership mess never works. Our county road has a "Children at Play" sign too - yep, the little rascals are inside under ac playing computer games. Never see'em outside!

I share a gravel drive with two neighbors, first neighbor has about 40' to drive on, I have about 150', last neighbor has the rest down to his house. I scrape it as I can with my rear blade, but we haven't had any problems. OP, I just don't know. Ye've got to get this speed bump mess solved soon though. Hang in.

 

[timster2]

Ok, note to self: Don't by a house on a shared dirt/gravel road.