By odoublegood
April 24th, 2008 @ 2:21 PM City Life, Traffic
This runaway trailer became uncoupled when it went over a speed hump, and then rolled backward downhill, crossed the center line, jumped the curb, went back into the street, and hit the speed hump on the other side, which caused it to jump the curb again (the second time all wheels left the street entirely) and destroy even more of our landscape and low fencing than it did the first time it jumped the curb. The sturdy resilience of the half-century-old woody shrubbery partly visible crushed beneath the trailer’s wheels finally stopped the trailer before it went entirely, rather than partially, over the sidewalk (visible in photograph) and took down a fence. Or me. I had been standing where I would have been struck, and probably killed. This is a multi-wheeled and very heavy trailer.
This runaway trailer became uncoupled when it went over a speed hump, and then rolled backward downhill, crossed the center line, jumped the curb, went back into the street, and hit the speed hump on the other side, which caused it to jump the curb again (the second time all wheels left the street entirely) and destroy even more of our landscape and low fencing than it did the first time it jumped the curb. The sturdy resilience of the half-century-old woody shrubbery partly visible crushed beneath the trailer’s wheels finally stopped the trailer before it went entirely, rather than partially, over the sidewalk (visible in photograph) and took down a fence. Or me. I had been standing where I would have been struck, and probably killed. This is a multi-wheeled and very heavy trailer.
Since installation of the “traffic-calming device” we have not had one night of unbroken sleep and we have collected multiple articles of debris, some quite large. But never before a trailer. We had been assured by the City, in writing, that no such device would be placed along our property frontage. The promise was not kept. This experience causes me to to believe that there’s no reason to believe anything that comes in writing from the City.
Our house shakes and our windows rattle and the traffic does not slow its speed. It does, however, since the installation of this abomination, run much closer to the curb, often grazing and scraping it and gradually wearing it away. People now behave as though the street has four lanes, with traffic in one “lane” illegally passing drivers slowing for the humps in order to spare their suspensions. With all the demolitions, “remodels,” and new construction, complete with over-the-road trucks and heavy construction equipment, the noise and vibration never cease. Others have experienced some of these effects, and complained, with no result. I hope I’m not in the wrong place at the wrong time the next time this happens. This was a close call.
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