Skateboarders Are the Least of Our Worries

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Editor,

Forget the skateboarders. Look out for the cars ripping up and down our street! We live on a steep part of Temple Hills, and cars hit 40, 50, and 60 mph past our house on a regular basis. Many folks do drive reasonably, and we thank you. But we’ve had three accidents within 100 feet of our driveway in the last five years.

You know our house: Our trash can says “Please Slow Down.” I wanted it to say, “Please Slow Down, Relax and Enjoy Life, You Over-Caffeinated-Texting-While-You-Drive-Lagunatic in Your High Performance Car,” but there wasn’t enough room on the can, and Coast Hardware didn’t have all the block letters anyway.

Pulling out of our driveway is scary. We look both ways and pull out when it’s clear, but in the time it takes to pull out, cars are already upon you, flipping their high beams (and flipping other things too, apparently just being neighborly). Never once in the 12 years we’ve lived here have we had a single kid come to trick or treat, because no parent lets their little kids near this autobahn.

Oh, and leave the little skateboard grommets and bicyclists alone. Share the road! It’s actually kind of exciting to see the kids bombing down the hill, and I wish I had the guts and the talent to do it. In some other place and time they’d be testing themselves getting chased by bulls or hunting lions or working for the cartel or waving an AK-47 while screaming for jihad. In Laguna they only bomb hills.

But if you, my fine neighbors, feel righteously entitled to race through this residential neighborhood and endanger my family’s lives, why do you care if they do it on skateboards or bikes? Ask yourself this: How fast do you want people to drive past your house? Slow down, and stop on by sometime and have a cold, frosty one with us.

Kirk Morgan, Laguna Beach

 

 

 

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Great letter, Kirk, and I completely agree with you. Skateboarders don’t scare me. SNAG (and other) drivers barreling across town are more of a concern to me, whether I’m in my car, on my bike or on foot.

    One example: there seems to be an abundance of Catholics who like to zoom in and out of St. Catherine’s on Temple Terrace, using streets like Oak, Anita, and Thalia as their personal speedways. I’ve noticed neighbors putting signs and flags with “Slow Down” in front of their homes, hoping to keep those hell bent on getting to Mass on time from mowing down their children in the process. (Maybe there’s material for a sermon in that, eh?)

    I’m all for slowing traffic down in town. We need to keep our streets safe for drivers, cyclists, walkers, and, yes, even skateboarders.

  2. right on brian and kirk! I think many drivers have become completely disconnected from how their driving affects others. When you are encased in a bubble, like most cars have the ability to do, its easy to forget how fast you are going and how that impacts everyone else around. If they know how fast they are going and do it anyway, I guess they think its acceptable to ignore others rights to peace, quiet and safety because they are in their cars. Shame on them.

  3. I admit, I have been guilty of driving and talking, texting etc. It is terribly dangerous and I am so lucky I have not killed anyone, especially children and adults just trying to get some fresh air in our beautiful town as we get in our gas guzzling machines of terror. Who ever is calling or texting to find out where something is in the office, or when we can get together for lunch can wait until I am out of my car. It seems ridiculous to me that we have become so addicted to our machines. My body and mind are exhausted from the over stimulation of life these days. For the sake of my well being and everyone else’s on the street, I vow to be more present in my car, to slow down and just enjoy the ride. Thank you to Kirk, Brian and Justin for helping to put things into perspective.

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