Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm a homeowner and an active Waze user. The street I live on is not "my" street. It's a public street that any licensed driver may use. This is the correct analysis. Unless it's a gated subdivision, the streets are operated by the government for the broad public benefit; not the local benefit of the homeowners.
A fine point in an ideal world. The problem is that as traffic increases, the number of people that drive in a way that doesn't respect the safety of the neighborhood increases. There's a distribution of types of drivers at play here--more samples necessarily results in more observations of people driving poorly even if they are outnumbered. People who have a tendency to look at their phones rather than the road due…
> I'm all for utilization of public infrastructure, but I'm also sympathetic to the homeowners who observe the safety of their neighborhoods decrease as a result of increased traffic volume.
I for one have zero sympathy for people who put up street signs on their own saying no through fare. Personally, I'd say that is a criminal offense.
I have zero sympathy for home owners who think their rights extend to the streets.
There are other ways to increase safety. Stop signs, speed bumps (sparingly!), very low speed limits (I'd say less than 20 mph) are all low hanging fruits.
No, you should not play on the streets every day. Block parties and such that happen infrequently (think once a month and probably only for a few hours) won't be a problem. However, people who say no through fare on their street are guilty of NIMBY.