Speeding in campgrounds

Jim,

TY!!! We are very fortunate as to what could have been.... Truly lucky all turned out as it did!!!!

I agree. I know there is no way to describe the speed I was going, but believe me, it wasn't as fast as I have seen others fly. My normal is pretty much idle speed with foot on brake as needed. I am in no hurry! This instance was without the brake, but foot was right there ready just in case someone came into the road. While I can't say for sure, I truly don't believe I even broke 10mph. I THINK I even ran the flashers (don't remember for sure) to try to alert as well.

Need-A-Vacation wrote:
I have been yelled at one time to slow down, just this past Fathers Day W/E. It was only due to the fact our one son and his friend came sprinting back to the campsite from the playground saying our other son was hurt! And you could tell it was serious by the way they acted!!! Luckily our son ended up being ok in the end (16hrs in the er), but when my wife replied our son was hurt the a$$hole said he didn't care!!! And I wasn't flying that fast either!!!!

I try to respect fellow campers with the same respect I would like to have in return!!! If leaving/ returning when it's dark out I turn the headlights off and run just the driving and parking lights (once within the campsites), and go slow!

But we have noticed people flying through the campground as well at times.....

As for the campground vs highway comparison: you are talking about a somewhat controlled situation vs chaos. Limited acces/ exit points, no walkers or bikers, minimum required speed, etc....

I understand where you are coming from, but the first rule when responding to an emergency is to not create a second emergency. In other words, the reason for speeding does not lesson the risk of creating another problem....glad everything turned out ok though!
Jim

Most people drive at a reasonable speed most of the time.

Then there is the dust factor as some have mentioned. Highly annoying & unnecessary.

RandACampin wrote:

You ever speed on the highway?

I think you don't get it. I never speed in the CG nor do I speed on the highways. The point is the OP probably speeds on the highways ignoring the signs then complains that people do the same in the CG.

So you don't break speed limit laws but the OP "probably does", therefore he is a hypocrite? LOL.
And yes, per previous replies, comparing the two is a false argument.

One poster mentioned they seemed to notice speeding among the tenters and younger crowd. I've seen it among all groups. The guy and his wife unloading their Harleys from the toy hauler and blasting their exhaust on the way out. The dad in the 60K 1 ton trying to load his family and get to their dinner reservations. But the friends/family coming to visit seem to be pretty common to me. Take off for firewood, then off to the liquor store, etc.
Regarding rolling the ball into the street. I lived on a street once with cars parked on both sides of the road, and the houses set back only 30'. No sidewalks. A neighbor ran a day care out of her house and thus had small children playing in the front yard every day. Her husband would come home from work and see the knuckleheads buzzing down the street at 35-40 mph (limit was 25)and he would roll a beachball out from between cars then eyeball the drivers. He was a big guy so no one ever gave him a problem. While there could be a legal issue if doing something like that should cause an accident, he wasn't going to rely on constantly reporting speeders in an effort to get a patrol car to sit at the end of the block every rush hour.

We tend to camp more at state/federal parks. It seems to me the tenters are the more likely to be going too fast for conditions. Youth/yuppie seems to be the common factor.
I know when I was a teenager I was hell on wheels, lucky I never hurt anyone. But it wasn't in camp grounds.

valhalla360 wrote:
... I'm a traffic engineer and the studies back me. If a large percentage of drivers are exceeding the posted speed limit, there is something wrong with the speed limit. ....

That is true on a public highway but is not valid in a high density area like a campground or a parking lot.

I am one of those "slowpokes" everyone complains about.

One incident comes to mind from reading these posts. I was driving back to my site and there was a wide section of campground road between the playground and the seasonal sites. There was a large dump truck parked on the gravel next to the road. Two red flags in my mind, playground with kids and blocked view from dump truck about 10 feet to the side, so I slowed a little more below the 10MPH campground limit. Sure enough, a boy about 10 years old ran out from behind the dump truck. I hit the brakes hard. The boy's eyes got big as he saw me. I was relieved that I was still several feet away from him when he realized I was there and I was stopped.

I will continue to be a "slowpoke" and I don't care who is behind me, even if it is the campground staff in their golf carts.

RandACampin wrote:

abc40kids wrote:

RandACampin wrote:

abc40kids wrote:

RandACampin wrote:

vanreever wrote:
Does anyone else get frustrated by the fact that some people (more than you would think) completely ignore the speed limits set within campground areas? Some are 5mph, some are up to 15mph. I try to relax when I go camping, but sometimes it is hard to do that when you feel like a traffic cop as cars rip by you. Most of them are not towing mind you, but those instances occur as well. Most places my family and I go are children oriented. They ride bikes, run around and play with friends. There are lots of blind intersections where a child or even an adult could risk getting hit by one of these maniacs. I lost my voice at Yogi bears Java Jellystone over July 4th from yelling "slow down" so many times. Maybe I am overreacting, but last time I checked, 5mph was almost walking speed or a extremely slow jog. These so called campers acted like they were driving in nascar or the autobahn. Some of the people were simply going from site to site in their car instead of walking (big park) and my real question is what is the rush? Of course at Jellystone the teenage employees of the campground were not exactly setting a good example by hauling around in their gators, tractors and golf carts at well over the 5mph speed limit. I was not the only one who felt this way during these weekends but obviously some people disregard safety in order to save 30 seconds as with the regular roads. Rant over.

You ever speed on the highway?

Pretty sure there are NO kids, adults walking dogs on the Highway.... Campground usually only have the road to walk on so I'm with the SLOW DOWN crowd, what's the rush! 5 or 10 mph is no big deal, the front gate is never that far. You hit a kid and hurt them your fault or not, you have to live with it.

Doesn't matter, there are signs to obey in both situations.

I see speed limit signs at EVERY campground but have yet to see a sign that said kids watch out for cars. Think you just don't get it and your most likely one that just can't idle thru the cg. You look at it however you want signs or no signs but you hit and hurt a kid or even an adult that was on the same road you were on its probably gonna be put on you and either way you have to live with it.

The op is right you just don't get it, many not all go to fast in the cg, they have NO common sense and either just think they will be able to stop or no kid could ever run out in front of them.

I think you don't get it. I never speed in the CG nor do I speed on the highways. The point is the OP probably speeds on the highways ignoring the signs then complains that people do the same in the CG.

Don't really care how fast the op or you drive on the highway cause my kids aren't on the highway. If you don't speed thru the cg that's great but many do.

cbshoestring wrote:

wandering1 wrote:
The roads are not sidewalks or playgrounds.

I have absolutely no repect for parents who allow their children to roam the neighborhood unsupervised. They mostly think their kids do no wrong, and are frankly BAD parents. Worse then the helicopter parents who won't let them move without mommy or daddy holding their hand.

HOWEVER.....


We are talking campground roads, not highways or main street of town.

I grew up playing in the residential street, and on CG roads. We would scream "car", the nets (street hockey) would be pulled to the curb, then put back in the middle of the street as soon as the car passed. My first memories of travelling on my own---at campgrounds where my parents had a reasonable expectation that EVERYONE was watching out for the hoard of kids running around.

My kids also learned independence by pedaling the loops at many CGs. We could see them between the trailers, but man did they think they were circling the globe. I can still see my son's smile (in my memory) when we let him take a dollar to the camp store for a bag of ice. He pedalled there, but had to push the return trip because the bag of ice was resting on his seat. Yes, they also played on our residential street.

I feel sorry for those of you who do not think that campground roads are also sidewalks and playgrounds. Maybe you will let them toss the football on your site so they don't block your expressway.

Idle speed for me in CGs and I take it easy on residential streets.

I for one go slow for the dust factor, I hate that people dont notice the dust clould behind them. What I really hate is the *ickhead that blocks the what little roadway there is in a CG. Kids are kids they are going to run around and play, I guess some older folks never did that. Too bad so sad.

wandering1 wrote:
The roads are not sidewalks or playgrounds.

I have absolutely no repect for parents who allow their children to roam the neighborhood unsupervised. They mostly think their kids do no wrong, and are frankly BAD parents. Worse then the helicopter parents who won't let them move without mommy or daddy holding their hand.

HOWEVER.....


We are talking campground roads, not highways or main street of town.

I grew up playing in the residential street, and on CG roads. We would scream "car", the nets (street hockey) would be pulled to the curb, then put back in the middle of the street as soon as the car passed. My first memories of travelling on my own---at campgrounds where my parents had a reasonable expectation that EVERYONE was watching out for the hoard of kids running around.

My kids also learned independence by pedaling the loops at many CGs. We could see them between the trailers, but man did they think they were circling the globe. I can still see my son's smile (in my memory) when we let him take a dollar to the camp store for a bag of ice. He pedalled there, but had to push the return trip because the bag of ice was resting on his seat. Yes, they also played on our residential street.

I feel sorry for those of you who do not think that campground roads are also sidewalks and playgrounds. Maybe you will let them toss the football on your site so they don't block your expressway.

Idle speed for me in CGs and I take it easy on residential streets.