Originally Posted by Wayward Denizen

"The speed humps are what made me come out and post.

I spent my childhood in the Kingston Chase subdivision in Fairfax during the mid-to-late eighties. Most of us walked to Clearview elementary, or at least walked a little ways to the bus stop. (not like the present in Purcellville where the bus stops every five feet...does every household with kids have it's own stop?)

This may be surprising, but despite early morning commuters cranking up their Saab's turbos or high-schoolers in big Chevies flooring it and hitting a good 10-15 over on neighborhood streets, not a single one of us kids got flattened. Perhaps it had something to do with the parents who wouldn't allow us to turn the street into a basketball court. My mother, god rest her soul, watched as one of boys blindly rode his bike out into the street. Instead of fuming at the passing 30mph motorist, she immediately called the boy's parents to tell them that they needed to reprimand him for not looking both ways before crossing the street.

I hate what the speed hump represents, and I really don't want to live here anymore. It wasn't the new houses or business centers that killed all joy for me in purcellville. Instead what did it for me are parents who seem to believe that every driver on the road are driving around with the express intent of pancaking their sons and daughters. Calls were made, complaints aired at town hall meetings. Now the rest of us have to suffer as Purcellville first went awash in a sea of brand new red stop signs. Then speed limits everywhere fell to 25mph even if it wasn't necessary. To make sure we all complied with the nanny brigades, nice old tree-lined streets were visually trashed by flashing yellow 25mph signs. Needless to say, beautiful places to live are rarely braketed by permanently immobilized mobile construction yellow-marquee signs.

Now, we have huge speed bumps in the middle of our main throughfares. Embarrassed

I never thought I'd see the day where we would have to live with such a travesty, but apparently we got what we deserved for not teaching our teenagers how to drive safely.

Could we at least teach them to look both ways before crossing the street?"