Last night after dinner my kids were in our front yard and driveway playing as were many other kids on the street since it was a very nice night.  All of the kids except for two slightly older kids two doors down on our side of the street had parents out front with them, and most of the kids playing are similar in age.  The kids were going from yard to yard, and infrequently playing in the street (with parents watching of course) and having a great time.  Fortunately our street is a relatively quiet residential street in the Atlanta suburbs with a 25mph speed limit.  That said, because our house (and the houses of everyone outside playing) is at the bottom of a small hill and some people do use our street as a cut through, we sometimes have to deal with people driving way too fast for the street.  That said, because it is a quiet street, if someone is approaching the top of the hill too quickly we can generally hear it, as can our kids, and make sure everyone is safely on the grass quickly.

So, while everyone is playing last night we hear a car approaching from the top of the hill and all of the kids who were near the street inched further back onto driveways and yards.  A car appeared at the top of the hill going about 35-40 mph (10-15mph over the limit) and began speeding down the hill.  My across the street neighbor and I both motioned for him to slow down from our yards to which he responded by flooring it right in front of us and about 10 kids.  We were in shock.  

The car looked somewhat familiar but it kept driving by and off of our street at the other end.  I did manage to get his license plate number just in case (not sure what I'd do with it to be honest).  What is funny is about 1 minute after he drove off the street, he came back from the other direction and parked in a driveway of a house about 6 or so houses down.  I started to think that that car is parked at that house frequently, but I couldn't be certain (while my son kept asking if that was the same car).  After all of the kids had gone inside and were put to bed, I went back outside and my across the street neighbor was out working in his yard.  He and I took a quick walk up the street and confirmed from the license plate that it was in fact the same car that had sped down the street earlier.  His wife wanted to call the police, he wanted to knock on the door, but ultimately we realize that nothing good could likely come of either (plus we're moving).  Anyway, what do you think we should have done?

Our streets are considered "private" meaning the city does not maintain them..which also made the police reluctant to sit there.

So I ran for the neighborhood association home owners board and had a speed bump installed right in front of my house. No, that did not make me very popular with some of the people but #badword# them..we were talking about my kids safety.

The offending neighbor thought they were going to be "smart" and avoid the speed bump by driving over my lawn...but they soon discovered I had "accidently" dropped roofing nails in my grass and so they ended up with 4 flat tires.

That was years ago..the offending neighbor has since moved and I was able to get the speed bump removed the last time we repaved the roads.