Slow down on city streets

Parents, please slow down. I live on Columbia Avenue, and once a week I walk four blocks to the end of the street to pick up a friend's child at daycare.

Presently, we are a one-car family. This week, I debated what to do.

It was raining, I had two small children of my own I had to take with me, snow was piled everywhere, my husband was working, and the neighbor I could have called to watch my children wasn't home.

I looked at the weather and then chastised myself for being a wimp about it.

I bundled us up, put the baby on my back, the preschooler in the double stroller and uneventfully made my way to the daycare.

On the way home, I hit school let-out traffic. About a third of the sidewalks are shoveled in the four blocks. I was forced to walk about a block and a half in the street.

I have done this before with much consideration from drivers, but not during school rush hour. Cars sped past us, barely moving over, one truck spraying the stroller with road grime.

I shouted to the truck and the next driver to slow down, and a third car stopped to ask me what the problem was.

The mother, with her daughter sitting next to her, suggested that I walk on the sidewalk. To her credit, she probably lives outside of town, where there are no sidewalks, or she spends most of her time in the car.

A couple of considerate drivers slowed down and waved. They happened to be teenage boys who apparently have considerate parents.

The speed limit on Columbia Ave is 25 mph. We need to be cautious of pedestrians, especially in winter.

Sarah Kaeck

Whitefish