Sign to put on street when kids are playing outside?

[hillview]

We live on a semi quiet street. Cars come down once every 5 mins or so but some come down very fast. A bunch of (under 5) kids play outside with parents watching. Kids ride bikes etc. We are looking for a couple of effective slow down signs to put in the street to slow drivers down and give them a heads up. Anyone have a suggestion?

TIA!
/hillary

[beansprout13]

We use the Step 2 "kid alert" in my neighborhood. It seems to work well. Here is a link to it on the Toys R Us website, but I'm sure you can find it in other places as well.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2605813

[ShanaMama]

I've seen that sign & thought about getting it. I have the same problem, except that my quiet street is a great shortcut for a congested main road, so some cars really zoom down the street. I've thought about requesting speed bumps (they have them on some streets near me) but haven't researched the process for requesting them. I assume I'd need to go door to door getting neighbors to sign a petition or something like that. I'm not so comfortable doing that, so I haven't pursued it. I'll be watching your thread for ideas.

[WatchingThemGrow]

I like that Kid Alert sign and have thought about getting it, but we don't actually play outside the fence right now. Toys R Us has similar signs for $10 near the bike racks, along with small stop, yield, and RRxing signs.

They also have pop up orange cones for $5, but I don't think they would be as effective as the Kids at Play signs.

[npace19147]

We have some orange safety cones that go out on the ends of the street when kids are playing.

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

How about a police cruiser on your street for a couple of days? I'm not trying to be snarky but really it's the best way to nip it in the bud. The police I'm sure would love a nice cozy driveway to sit in and ticket speeders as they roll by.

If it's the same cars again and again this would be a great solution. Can you tell we have a small problem in our neighborhood as well?

[american_mama]

We live on a cul-de-sac, so the traffic is all neighbors and their guests (one nearby rental did have a lot of "guests"... or maybe "buyers" was a more accurate word... we did get a police cruiser swinging on by, although not for the reasons mentioned in this thread, but I digress).

Anyway, DH and one of my neighbors thinks people drive too fast and want the city to put up a "Slow Children" sign. I personally don't think there are too many fast cars and don't think a sign would do anything. Instead, various neighbors use an orange safety cone or foldable "Kids At Play" sign in the middle of the road at the entrance to our street. Cars slow down big time when they see it and just slowly drive around it, so it works great for our street.

I would recommend a big orange cone, frankly. The kids themselves think it's great fun to tip over the foldable sign. The neighbor with the orange cone just leave it at the edges of their property, easy to pick up and put back.

[hillview]

How about a police cruiser on your street for a couple of days? I'm not trying to be snarky but really it's the best way to nip it in the bud. The police I'm sure would love a nice cozy driveway to sit in and ticket speeders as they roll by.

If it's the same cars again and again this would be a great solution. Can you tell we have a small problem in our neighborhood as well?
thanks -- we have called the police and they do come by almost every night -- timing seems to be off by a minute or so (as in someone just sped by a minute ago or in a minute. They don't ever stop and hang out. SIGH
THANKS!
/hillary

[SammyeGail]

I'm actually planning to call the city and request a sign to be put up tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes, we live in a small town so who knows. One of my twins has autism so if they won't put up the 'children at play' sign I would think I can get something for that, but would rather have the children at play sign.

Our street runs off the highway. The one before us is used as a major cut-thru, but if someone misses it they just use ours which meets up with that one. I'm tired of people flying on our street like its a highway, its curvy and hilly. Our backyard slopes and we always play in the front yard because its flat.

I know I can't do cones or signs, that would actually attract my boys to them, lol.

Wish me luck, my next door neighbor is a city counsel member, but I hate to go to him about it.

Samantha
Noah, my little firecracker
Jonas, my sweetheart with autism
They'll be 3 in November!!

[lizajane]

i got one!!! i will have to look at it to find out what website i ordered it from. but i got this one instead of the others at the more mainstream websites because it is much bigger. i put it smack in the middle of the road so cars have to either hit it or go around it. better to hit the sign, i think! (it is plastic, so it would not hurt a car!) so far, we have not had one issue with it.

we live on a cul-de-sac and cars like to turn around here. i hate it! so the sign isn't for our neighbors, not that they all drive slowly, but for the "strangers" doing a turn around.

[hillview]

i got one!!! i will have to look at it to find out what website i ordered it from. but i got this one instead of the others at the more mainstream websites because it is much bigger. i put it smack in the middle of the road so cars have to either hit it or go around it. better to hit the sign, i think! (it is plastic, so it would not hurt a car!) so far, we have not had one issue with it.

we live on a cul-de-sac and cars like to turn around here. i hate it! so the sign isn't for our neighbors, not that they all drive slowly, but for the "strangers" doing a turn around.
:applause:
Please let me know -- sounds perfect!
thanks
/hillary

[hellokitty]

Our neighbors have tried the kid alert sign, but it doesn't work. Our neighborhood is also relatively quiet, BUT ppl cut through to get to a main road and they fly through. The cops don't care, they have been called many times, esp since ppl will run stop signs. It's frustrating. DH has a co-worker whose DH is a cop and I keep joking with him that we should get them to buy the house up for sale next to us, b/c just his police cruiser sitting on the driveway would probably make ppl slow down.

[srhs]

We use the Step 2 "kid alert" in my neighborhood. It seems to work well. Here is a link to it on the Toys R Us website, but I'm sure you can find it in other places as well.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2605813

Just wanted to say there's a neighborhood that uses that sign, and it gets MY attention. Actually, the neighborhood is 20 mins. from me and in a location I rarely drive, but I could tell you exactly where it is. That neighborhood has it in the street though rather than in the yard. I think it would actually get more attention if put up/taken down when kids were actually out rather than left out all the time.

[SammyeGail]

I called out city street manager and he said he would have several put up by next week. Hopefully that will help some.

I like the Step2 sign, I didn't think about putting it in the street instead of the yard, the boys would be much less likely to go to it there. Maybe put it out in our play area until their no longer curious about it, then put it in the street.

Samantha
Noah and Jonas
3 in Nov!!