Rosa Parks In The Suburbs: I Brockovich-ed The Hell Out Of A 4-Way Stop

So I live in a neighborhood where douchebags like to use our street as a cut-through, hurling their SUVs and mini-vans at 50 miles an hour over dips and around corners in a 25-mph zone. Being a pedestrian-popular and –friendly area, this can endanger the folks who are journeying to the local pool or nearby lake, as well as make backing out of your own GD driveway a rather nerve-wracking venture. As if that weren’t enough, there is a school bus stop on the corner of my property, right in the douchebag danger zone.

Tired of excessive speeding and carrying around the knowledge that a major accident is going to happen sooner rather than later, I contacted the city’s Transportation Services Division in late February. Four days later, I received a reply indicating that there was a Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP) that would look into traffic-calming concerns. Pleasantly surprised, I filled out the requisite paperwork to assist in the process, and was told that the NTMP would move forward with a site survey.

In early April, we noticed traffic-monitoring equipment on the streets in question, which I surmised was part of the site survey work. Two months later, I followed up with the NTMP in an attempt to get an update on the matter, and at that point I was informed that the site-distance evaluation returns (which had obviously taken a little while) had backed up my assertions about speeding and the danger of the area. As a result, I was told, the issue would be brought up and addressed (hopefully) at the second city council meeting in June.


So imagine my surprise and astonishment, when, as I went to get my mail on June 21, I noticed two new traffic sign poles in the intersection, including one on my property. The following day, stop signs with flags atop them were affixed to the poles. It took a couple of days, but most people began to gradually notice the giant red stop sign and enormous orange flags and begin to piece together the riddle that these meant that they now had to stop in this general area.

I don’t know if I’m embarrassed or proud to say that this has to number among my biggest accomplishments. I am left with the belief that I have been able to preclude some severe damages, injuries or even loss of life that I am convinced was inevitable, as well as a sense of empowerment. In putting the system on trial, I learned that democracy actually works sometimes.

I may, in fact, be Erin Brockovich.