One evening recently, several local residents appealed to Nextdoor for information about police officers gathered on Shenandoah Road. Since I was in attendance, at least peripherally, and know some of the people involved, I responded by writing a synopsis of the event.

It is true, Shenandoah Road is fast becoming a local speedway, already a danger to our community, a convenient cut-through to Fort Hunt Road and beyond. The development of what was known as Bock Farm will simply compound the problem by increasing traffic through Hollin Hall. There has been talk, and still more talk, of installing speed control devices along Shenandoah, but only time will bear this out. For my part, I will believe it when I see it.

Of course, if these speed humps or bumps or speed tables or whatever they are called actually are installed, errant teens, drivers on cell phones, and motorists already late to work and events will simply detour onto Bainbridge Road, then up Paul Spring Pkwy. Don’t get me wrong, I endorse the speed-control devices in our community, but the diseases of recklessness and unaccountability are systemic. Making Shenandoah Road an inconvenient path to travel will not fix the problem. It simply will move the problem somewhere else.

Bear in mind also, it is not only menacing drivers from outside our community who are creating the danger. Many of our own fond, otherwise-trusted neighbors are just as guilty as non-residents of speeding and talking on the phone, texting and running stop signs in our community. One evening out walking my dog, after admonishing his wild daughter, then mere minutes later, the reckless mother, both for speeding and running stop signs by a wide margin, I got “flipped off” the next morning by the dad for pointing out that he also had not stopped. While I will not mention names here, just as with the speeding-teenager issue recently, those of us more responsible now are forced to suffer in the aftermath of emotionally-immature people. My philosophy is: If you are not going to parent your child, I will.

On Bainbridge Road lives a man who appears never without his cell phone. Walking from the house to the car, driving to work past his neighbors and their houses, driving home past those same houses, children on bicycles, mothers with strollers, guys walking dogs, even when out jogging, he can be found staring at the little screen he is holding, and when driving, it’s in his lap. Only this morning, apparently late, heading off in the direction at least of some early-morning function at the Mount Vernon swimming pool, this man raced straight toward me in his car, forcing me to jump out of the roadway onto the grass as he shot past.

Now, the hopeful sentiment on the vanity plate of his minivan declaring to the world his fatherly preeminence may make this man feel better—after all, self-esteem is important–and I have no reason to believe he does not love his children, but apart from the illegality of such behavior when the vehicle is in motion, cavalierly texting, speeding, and not maintaining control of his vehicle while driving through our community does not display proper stewardship for everyone else’s children.