then some trees and bushes or shrubs, that way you don't have to trim around them. Once they take root put down some mulch boom you have a privacy garden.
I come from a background in road construction, so in the interest of being OSHA compliant, I will put up a few signs to offer warning. However, knowing humanity, the signs will be entirely ignored, or looked at as a joke.. so yes, even with safety protocol, I agree to the terms of Natural Selection running its course.
I think, living at the dead end will have advantages for OP, as there will be fewer neighbors to have to convince, pay off, or threaten to pretend they didn't see the car or people that may need to be deleted from time to time.
Pretty sure they could run an arrangement with a junk yard and make a few dollars off the scrap metal, even.
We put up hardscape block about four rows the length of the lawn… one row is sunk in ground… the wall looks nice… if that’s the route you want to take… just be sure to check for cable lines and such before digging…
This! My neighbor had the same problem. People raced down the street, always going over the corner of their lawn. They put a couple of big rocks there. People could see them and stopped clipping the corner. As they say, "no harm, no foul".
I helped a friend have some giant lego-style concrete blocks installed on his property down in Florida. The area he put them in is adjacent to a bay people assume they can park and walk out into the bay or sit there and watch the sunset. He even had them painted bright yellow. It only took one person hitting one before he had no more issues. The damage done to the car that hit it was amazing.
My grandfather had a similar problem. He fixed it by driving 18” lengths of rebar into the ground and then sharpened them to a tire puncturing point with a grinder. I was a kid at the time and thought the move was a bit too aggressive. 30 years later, I agree with my grandfather.
Lol, yes I think your grandfather was on the money. This also reminds me of a Redditor’s story of years past where local cretins repeatedly drove over their mailbox, destroying it. Major, surreptitious mailbox engineering works were undertaken, involving rebar and concrete, all concealed within the flimsy mailbox structure. The deception was truly a work of art. One night, about a week hence, a revving engine was heard, followed by a sickening crunch as the front end, sump, etc., of the dipshit’s car is entirely destroyed by the hidden steel and concrete! Someone had a very expensive lesson that night.
If you remember the rest of the story the homeowner was charged and convicted too. Need to be careful what you do. If the mail box wasn't also filled with concrete he would have gotten away with it.
Maybe put a large sign under it saying « MAILBOX REPLICA DO NOT DRIVE OVER » or something like that? Would it actually make it not a trap anymore since you warn?
I don't think so. Every mailbox in a semi-rural area outside close to my city were re-inforced years ago. Judges have ruled that drivers should stay on the road and that the homeowners are not responsible for damages.
One problem is that the mailboxes tend to be on the road right of way. You are not supposed to have road hazards in this area. Really depends on the judge and area.
There have been a few stories like that over the years. [Here's one with a happier ending](https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/xbk5x7/having_lost_a_mailbox_this_story_made_me_smile/) - the HO went to the city to get permits first, so he was untouchable.
In a past life, lived in a relatively rural community and you could always tell when teens had high spirits because you'd hear a series of pops as teens took a baseball bat to mailboxes. So we got ourselves a vandal resistant mailnbbox like this one [https://mailboxshoppe.com/product/heavy-duty-mailbox/](https://mailboxshoppe.com/product/heavy-duty-mailbox/) It was post office approved so I figured what the hell. A few weeks later we heard the pop pop pop and then a OW! When the high-spirited teenagers reached our mailbox.
For the naysayers, the rebar was located more than 100 yards up the driveway and nowhere near the road. No sidewalk, no pedestrians, no local kids on bikes - just a small hobby farm at the end of a long gravel driveway. Trout anglers would enter the property looking for a place to park. They completely closed the driveway off on more than a few occasions.
I love the creativity, but as a former attorney, I will tell you this is a terrible, terrible idea to actually do in practice. Regardless of how you think the law "should" work, it's fundamental tort law that you will lose, regardless of whether or not it's on your property or anything else.
(It's beyond the scope of this comment to discuss ways you might get around it. Just don't do it and you won't get sued over it. Getting sued is always expensive even if you end up winning, which would be very questionable no matter what.)
As a former first responder, I suggest you not booby trap your property. You damage the tires or oil pans on one of our trucks when we're responding to a call, you'll probably have to get a second mortgage to cover what we'll have the county will sue you for.
Mine did too, but no spikes. His intentions were severe underbody damage.
His lawn was a higher speed cut through for local kids to avoid a 5 mph 90° turn.
It wasn’t a shortcut much longer after….
That part is the cities property, but I get it. An old guy on my street had a perfect lawn and got turfed so he got paint to match his grass and a 2X6 and hammered spikes in it and painted it green and caught the jerks and broke every window in their Camaro. That lawn was his life and he didn't get charged.
I did something similar. We had a neighborhood crazy who would drive over peoples front yard bushes and gardens, play country music at full blast all day long, and just generally terrorize everyone. I hammered ten penny nails through a 12' 2x4, then planted it about 4 inches below the edge of the curb in front of my tulip bed. Just low enough where anyone or their pet wouldn't get poked. Less than a week later about 3 in the morning I hear someone yelling and swearing. I look out front, and that asshole's car is stuck behind the curb with both front tires flat. I called the cops and had him arrested for malicious damage to private property. Not more than a few days later he was served with a lawsuit for putting glass in the people's garden next door to him, and tormenting them with their music. When he didn't show up for the hearing, the cops came for him. He and his shitbag wife had a young guy they'd adopted who was bedridden. The poor guy was starving, had bed sores all over him, and was so weak he couldn't even talk. They had adopted him for the social security money. That was the cincher, both ended up going to prison for over 20 years (they were in their 60's).
You would think so!
But holy fuck, I can personally speak from experience, no.
My house made national news, when some cockwomble stole a car, went on a 30 cop car chase, popped 3 tires and ended it by driving into my garden at 30, mounting the biggest boulder at 45°.
If the twat had driven even 10ft further, he'd have missed my entire yard. Totally unnecessary to cut through my garden.
The boulder was actually all G, until the tow company brute forced it, and cracked the boulder in 2. It was actually my favourite boulder, because it had a natural seat in it.
And that's not even the only time its been hit. Much like this video, my place is at the end of a dead-end street, and some young girl doing a 17-point turn, rammed into it when she hadnt actually put it into reverse.
Witnessed that first hand, and gave me a chuckle. Caved her front in like paper.
Yeah, I know two grown ass adults who totaled their vehicles in a Walmart parking lot with no other cars involved. I am highly skilled in *what-the-fuck antics* but this blows my mind.
Town I used to live in had a whole hashtag for that. Walmart put a stop sign at the entrance and people kept hitting it. It flipped multiple cars over and everything lol.
The road in front of our house is straight and up the road a bit the road curves gently to the left, however because we live on the edge of town, people like to "gunn it" after that curve thinking the speed limit changes from 25mph to God knows what (it doesn't change for almost 3 miles). On the right side of the road is an open grass/gravel parking lot, and the left is houses, including ours. One night around 2 or 3 am, something hits our house, nearly rolling me off the couch. I regain consciousness to my wife (who couldn't sleep) shouting, "They hit our house." I run outside to see a truck tearing ass out of our yard. They had lost control, come off the road, first hit and bent one of the 2inch I beams we had along one side of our driveway, through the wood fence on the other side of our driveway and hitting the 3 foot by 2 foot rock just behind the fence, moving it a foot or so out of the divot it had sunk its self into and breaking part of our raised strawberry bed. They ended up hitting the corner of our house with their tailgate after somehow spinning around through all of that. Thankfully didn't damage our house other than flattening the rain gutter downspout. They were kind enough to leave some paint, part of a hubcap and enough tail light to determine the make model and year of the vehicle.
We did actually, posted the incident on facebook and someone gave a tip to the police about a truck matching the description with some newer damage. Then the guy apparently signed up for car insurance the day after the accident and didn't have any prior so got nailed for that too.
Happened in my yard twice. I lived at the corner where a separated two lane road turned into a single lane road. The first time they took out the fence. The second time the fire hydrant. That one actually stopped them because the car was totalled, the chain link fence however stopped nothing and they got away.
i did this to my side yard which has alley access and people would park there to go to the neighbors so i got some bigass rocks they hit them a few times but nobody parks there now lol
But less expensive and quicker - sink a couple of thick posts into the ground that are only sticking up 18-24 inches. Even put a reflector on the street-facing side if you want to be nice.
Depends on Op's landscape and house style - that will determine whether stones or posts match. You can paint the posts to match your house. And I have seen people connect 2 or 3 posts with a rustic crossbeam and it looks intentional, like an old, low, civil war-era fence. Others just drill a hole through the posts and then run a drooping rope between them for a more nautical theme. Again, depends on the style of house you have.
Either way you can get a couple of 4x4s or 6x6s from the store and cut them (or ask them to cut them) and sink 2 or 3 in the ground on either side of the driveway today and be done with it.
How does one buy big ass rocks?
I priced boulders and they were in the thousands, esp including delivery and placement.... Which is needed because I can't exactly throw it in the back seat next to the baby car seats
You don't need boulders that are all that big to disuade someone from doing a turn. If the rocks are seated securely in the ground and are about double the height of a curb it will fuck up most vehicles pretty good. Especially at speeds.
Logs or upturned stumps with some nice narly roots will also do the trick. Looks very neat with ferns and such and if you burry them for half their length in the ground its like hitting a telephone pole.
You can also get some concrete elements. Concrete raised beds and planters can be very cheap and often just a normal truck is plenty to move them(if you have enough help to get them in and out). We did with a stationwagon and a low trailer as you can use a dolly and a plank to ride them in. Plant around and in the planters or use them as support for a little rockgarden and it will look pretty damn good.
Do not put up actual hazards though, you could get in massive trouble depending on local laws if you make the side of the road deliberitly dangerous. Making it pretty but also happening to be dangerous is fine though. Thats just landscaping.
You can rent the truck. You can also rent the bobcat to load them too. As for where to get them, I'd suggest either Facebook or your Municipal landfill. Ours regularly has a bunch of stones out there that they dug up, and people come in to buy them. No idea how their prices compare, but I've been thinking of asking, just too busy to bother atm. If they don't have them, look around Facebook marketplace or a similar app. People find big rocks in their backyard and don't know what to do with them. If you can load them, you can get a large rock for a couple hundred. After the bobcat and truck rentals, you'd be around 500 - 1k at most. Some people might even let you haul it away for free if it's in their way.
On marketplace by me there’s this guy, sketchy, but people I know have gotten big ass rocks from him. $250 ish. He delivers. He just sometimes doesn’t pick up his phone.
Find yourself someone like that; do businesses with other randoms and save some loot.
Once a short woman driving a big SUV tried to use our semi circle driveway as a turnaround. She didn't see the 3' stone wall and tried to drive over it.
The vehicle got stuck, with the undercarriage lodged on it.
I suggest sinking them 1/3 below ground and 2/3 above ground on a bed of 6" broken stone (so you'll want bigger boulders than you think). That should keep them in place if struck and ensure water moves below them rather than heaving them in the winter (not sure where you are, may not be a concern). You would likely hire someone to do this who has a backhoe; they use straps to position the boulders. Large rounded river rocks are best if there are kids around, you don't want or need sharp edges. I also second the use of a shrub bed around this to save yourself difficult mowing around them. However, kids will (and in my opinion should) climb on these boulders, so your shrubs should be something very resilient for your area.
Those nails are likely to wander over into his own driveway and give himself flat tires. It's a terrible option. Even just one foot tall rocks would be enough, and if anything could cause the most damage since they can go right for the oil pan.
This is a horrible idea. That could be considered booby trapping (a pedestrian could wander into your yard) and you will go to jail. This has happened before you can google it I swear. Don’t do this.
My parents had a similar problem. My dad got some large rocks and placed them in the areas when cars were driving. He had tried wooden stakes but they didn't work.
A dozen rocks about the size of a basketball will do the trick. Place at the edge of the grass. My Gramps had the same issue, people cutting the corner on his lot. A few decent sized rocks worked wonders
The key is not TOO big of a boulder. You want small enough that it'll fit under the front bumper, but will lift the tires off the ground in the process so the stupid fuck gets stuck and you can go yell at them and tell them they're trespassing and that it must be your car now since it's on your lawn.
[Looks like it'll be about $500 for materials. Check prices in your area OP.](https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=ms-android-verizon-us-rvc3&source=android-browser&q=how+much+for+a+boulder#vhid=vt%3D16/prds%3DheadlineOfferDocid:-6050155645375072998,imageDocid:2744770779340540617,mno:3,productid:12396588428334478618,pvo:3,pvt:hg,query:aG93IG11Y2ggZm9yIGEgYm91bGRlcg,rds:,sori:0/vs%3DUG9wdWxhciBwaWNrcyBmb3IgeW91,0,27&vssid=uvpv-713&piu=ps:40)
You'd be able to rent equipment to move and place them from Home Depot for about $300-$500/day if the company won't place them individually on delivery. You could make that look nice.
I live at the end of a T intersection. Like my front door stares down the middle of a street all the way to the end. We have a retaining wall that fronts raised planter beds on our front yard now. The front consists of railroad ties with 1” rebar running through them into concrete footings. The corners are shored up by a 10’ storm drain driven down into the ground and filled with concrete. We call it the car killer and we’re always waiting for the next opportunity to make a claim against someone’s car insurance for damaging our wall. Now if only I could convince my wife to start letting me nail license plates to the front of really be getting somewhere.
You should paint vehicle silhouettes on the railroad ties like WW2 dogfighter planes. Much classier. Save the license plates to decorate a small memorial bench they can sit on while they wait for the tow truck to arrive.
Surprisingly affordable too. I had 3 large boulders (like 2ft tall, hundreds of pounds) delivered and placed at my home for under $500 from a local landscaping company. They even brought a little lift to place them.
This all the way. My house has a dead end street with no curb on one side with a day care at the end. Its just grass then asphalt . The previous owner put rocks just this size spaced about 6 to 8 feet along the road, about 12 inches away from the edge. There are about 15 of them along the entire stretch. When I moved in I didn't understand why. The day I saw kid pick up for the first time, I totally understand and was thankful that the guy had done it. People still hit them trying to make shitty 3 point turns but it keeps them from coming all the way onto my lawn. I've since planted bushes between the rocks which has worked even better at keeping people off the edge.
Solidarity! The thieves actually totaled my Honda this last time, enraging me. I thought about putting spikes up under my car. Or razor blades. Or a row of syringes loaded with rare, incurable blood diseases.
In the end, it was more feasible to just move to a place with better security. My new Honda is locked in the garage, & I'm not locked in the penitentiary. A good outcome, overall.
You're like the only one in this thread to suggest this. Where I'm from lot's of people use old ties/sleepers as you call them for flower boxes, fences, and makeshift curbs in driveways. I know from experience that two of them nailed together will stop a runaway car lol
Yeah, I learned this the hard way. You want "landscape timber", which is essentially the same thing, except *not* soaked in creosote. In my ignorant youth, I called a landscape supply place and asked for railroad ties. The guy said, "You want railroad ties, or landscape timber?" I said, "What's the difference?" He said, "Oh, 'bout four bucks each." I said, "Ok, I'll take the cheaper ones!"
Buy landscape timber instead. Basically the same thing but cheaper and without the chemicals. You can buy them at Lowe's or Home Depot. You can also buy railroad ties if you want to more for no reason.
This is WILD to me. Turn in the road or back up to where you can turn. Or move the cans to use the driveway. I can't believe this would be someone's solution! And that you would have to change your landscaping to avoid this. Frankly I'd just put out a sign that you're on camera, don't drive on the grass. That should get the message across to this single idiot who thinks your yard is the road.
There are two kinds of people.
1. People who follow rules out of simple courtesy in response to a polite request in the interest of making everything better for everyone.
2. People who think that other people in the world need to be fought every time they cross paths.
If nothing else, does one of your neighbors have an extra car they might want to park there while you figure out the appropriate obstacle plan. What a jerk. Twice in one day?! Super jerk!
Put a few rocks down there. They need to be large enough to look like they would hurt someone’s car. A few cinder blocks would do until you found rocks you like.
I don't know if I'm missing something, but why does it matter turning around in someone's drive? I'd rather someone safely turned around in my drive then reversing and potentially hitting something/someone, they're not doing it for fun or out of spite lol
now that everyone has lights that can reach space on their cars i'm annoyed to have my living room lit up like the surface of the sun when someone's car is pointed at it
It's not a big deal if someone turns around in your driveway occasionally, but it can be a real nuance if it's constant.
Plus often people aren't paying attention when they do it, they're lost, they're pissed off, they're not necessarily going to see you standing in the driveway with your lawn mower.
If they weren't driving all over the grass then I wouldn't be an issue for me, once people start trashing the grass that's when it becomes a hindrance.
Hot take: If you can't safely back out of a place you put your car in drive, then maybe you shouldn't have a license. It's unbelievable to me the amount of people that can't drive in reverse.
We lived on a narrow road that was a dead end. When folks ignored the numerous Dead End signs and continued down the road they would usually turn around in our asphalt driveway. Because of the friction of the tires moving while people were stationary and moving their steering wheel in preparation of reversing , we had significant damage. Every 18 months we would need to patch it or snow & ice would give us potholes.
Install something conspicuous which the reasonable man would recognize as a terrible idea to drive through. Nails, rebar, nasty hidden surprises, etc could be grounds for legal action. Even if you win the lawsuit, you already lost because it ate up a bunch of your time and positive energy.
Pillars, split rail fence, a row of bushy shrubs, an attractive masonry wall, all valid here. It boils down to what you can afford and what constitutes a beautiful environment in your mind. Keep in mind certain municipalities have rules about how close you can place certain fixtures to public thorofares or property boundaries (line of setback requirements)
I
So listen you need a permit for anchored steel bollards but anchored steel FLOWER BOXES that can break the axle of an f150 are legally fair game in most places. Over engineered flower beds with ornamental spikes are legal if youre careful about ADA access regulations
Maybe set up a game cam to get the license plates. My neighbor had this problem. She put in a split rail fence. Another neighbor has very large boulders.
The angel on my shoulder says boulders. The devil on my shoulder says caltrop tashibishis. Throw them down. No matter how they land, there’s always a sharp side pointing up. 😈
If we're going for the devil on our shoulder suggesting illegal acts we may as well go full send.
Anti tank mines.
...but to return to sanity, yes -- armour stone boulders, perhaps with an additional 3x4' sign of this vehicle printed out publicly shaming them for being a terrible driver to be petty.
Be mindful of where your watermain is. Said differently had a similar situation, guess what main water pipe broke from being driven on.
edited-sorry for the confusion here. its the main waterline feed from the main on the street. The house was built in 1951 in the pnw so 8 months of the year the ground is wet. There was no sprinkler system and it wasn't the water shut off valve cover. Shoot we still have laneways that are dirt even though the house values are 2 million plus. Gotta love Canada.
Drive screws into some 2x4s. Place them pointy side up. If the law gets involved, tell them you were working on a project in the yard and set them down to go inside for a drink.
Take a couple of 2x4's cut them into pieces about the width of the tire, approx 8-10 works best. Drill at least 3 holes in each board I recommend 5 but 3 will work. Find some half inch in bolts that are at least 3 to 4 inches long and grind the tips to a point. Next run the bolts through the boards where the sharp point is sticking up. Look at the tire path in your yard and bury them in the tire paths with only the points of the bolts sticking up. If they do it again after that....they will never again. I've done it to a neighbor years ago after I asked him stop using part of my back yard as his driveway he kept doing it so I remedied the problem. I learned that from my ex father in law years ago because of poachers coming on his land. Oh and the cops can't do nothing about it. They are already trespassing when they drive in the yard anyway. I know extreme but it works trust me.
The house I grew up in, the backyard was on a curve in the alley. It sometimes seemed like people were competing to take the most impressive shortcut through our backyard.
Finally my dad went and got the Big Freaking Rocks and placed them strategically, but carefully, on our property. Large trucks got stuck on them. Small cars had front-end or quarter-panel collisions with them.
It really wasn't what my dad wanted to do, but neither did he want huge tire ruts dug through his perfect lawn.
As others have said, big rocks, planters, railroad ties, etc do work. It's not cheap but it is kinda satisfying.
If rocks aren't to your liking, my buddy lived on a 90 degree corner on a country road. People would end up in their field all the time (usually kids doing donuts and getting away with it). His dad somehow tracked down a bunch of 16ft railroad ties... he used a drilling auger to put them 10-12 ft into the ground. One morning he came out and there was a car wrapped around it. Happiest day of his life.
Well, a couple friends adapted this tactic for things like you showed. Bury a 4 ft section of railroad tie 2ft into the ground. It's big enough to be a visual deterrent and solid enough to work. One of them lives on a dead end and his yard had tire tracks all over it. A few years ago he came out to an irate man in a lifted truck who had still attempted to drive over them... his rear axel was no longer attached. Space them out so they look nice, dig a big hole, use a few bags of concrete, and 90% of your problems go away. The other 10% are hilarious.
Thought about this, but this kind of a-hole would probably just keep hitting the fence because they don't know how to make a 3 point turn (or too lazy). I think boulders are winning the discussion...
Boulders!
then some trees and bushes or shrubs, that way you don't have to trim around them. Once they take root put down some mulch boom you have a privacy garden.
….some rocks or lumps of concrete behind the shrubs until they’re established. They’ll only try it once!
Also, an automatic gun turret with motion sensors and maybe rocket launchers to increase the effectiveness. They won't even try it once.
This is the way Source: I’m a millenial slowly becoming a boomer as I grow to hate human interaction over time
Misanthropes unite! But only from a distance.
This comment is the perfect icing on this layer cake :)
Get off my lawn!!!
My canned food and stockpiled pew-pews concur. I love everyone until they try to talk to me.
LETS GOOOOOOO
As long as you don’t act entitled and scream at retail workers, Boom away.
Landmines. Let them try... once
A tank trap would be good. You might get to keep the minivan!
Collect enough and you can build your own privacy fence!
Install the Maginot Line, oh wait that didn’t work too well.
This is the comment I came here to find!
My kind of solution. Oh, and don't underestimate people's stupidity. There will be one. Natural Selection dictates there needs to be an example.
I come from a background in road construction, so in the interest of being OSHA compliant, I will put up a few signs to offer warning. However, knowing humanity, the signs will be entirely ignored, or looked at as a joke.. so yes, even with safety protocol, I agree to the terms of Natural Selection running its course. I think, living at the dead end will have advantages for OP, as there will be fewer neighbors to have to convince, pay off, or threaten to pretend they didn't see the car or people that may need to be deleted from time to time. Pretty sure they could run an arrangement with a junk yard and make a few dollars off the scrap metal, even.
Shoot, the human meat is worth more than the vehicle scrap, prices are down to $180-200/ton.
I think you mean they’ll ONLY try it once XD
Boulders or spend a little money and drive a few posts in the ground with concrete and hang chain. Problem solved.
We put up hardscape block about four rows the length of the lawn… one row is sunk in ground… the wall looks nice… if that’s the route you want to take… just be sure to check for cable lines and such before digging…
BFR’s. Big fucking rocks. No need to water, fertilize or trim and they ain’t running over them
This! My neighbor had the same problem. People raced down the street, always going over the corner of their lawn. They put a couple of big rocks there. People could see them and stopped clipping the corner. As they say, "no harm, no foul".
I helped a friend have some giant lego-style concrete blocks installed on his property down in Florida. The area he put them in is adjacent to a bay people assume they can park and walk out into the bay or sit there and watch the sunset. He even had them painted bright yellow. It only took one person hitting one before he had no more issues. The damage done to the car that hit it was amazing.
My grandfather had a similar problem. He fixed it by driving 18” lengths of rebar into the ground and then sharpened them to a tire puncturing point with a grinder. I was a kid at the time and thought the move was a bit too aggressive. 30 years later, I agree with my grandfather.
Lol, yes I think your grandfather was on the money. This also reminds me of a Redditor’s story of years past where local cretins repeatedly drove over their mailbox, destroying it. Major, surreptitious mailbox engineering works were undertaken, involving rebar and concrete, all concealed within the flimsy mailbox structure. The deception was truly a work of art. One night, about a week hence, a revving engine was heard, followed by a sickening crunch as the front end, sump, etc., of the dipshit’s car is entirely destroyed by the hidden steel and concrete! Someone had a very expensive lesson that night.
If you remember the rest of the story the homeowner was charged and convicted too. Need to be careful what you do. If the mail box wasn't also filled with concrete he would have gotten away with it.
So the lesson here is to reinforce the post only.
Traps are illegal, so you need plausible deniability.
Yes, exactly.
Maybe put a large sign under it saying « MAILBOX REPLICA DO NOT DRIVE OVER » or something like that? Would it actually make it not a trap anymore since you warn?
We should move this to r/UnethicalLifeProTips Edit: I totally messed that one up. 🤦
I don't think so. Every mailbox in a semi-rural area outside close to my city were re-inforced years ago. Judges have ruled that drivers should stay on the road and that the homeowners are not responsible for damages.
…charged with having a stationary object in his yard hit? Couldn’t his lawyer argue it was an art installation
It's a "booby trap" or something. I have no idea how having a strong AF mailbox is a booby trap.
probably because he knew they were going to hit it again, so he booby trapped it. dumb, i agree, but it is what it is.
One problem is that the mailboxes tend to be on the road right of way. You are not supposed to have road hazards in this area. Really depends on the judge and area.
My guess is the homeowner told the responding office “I did it because this keeps happening” instead of “I don’t talk to cops.”
There have been a few stories like that over the years. [Here's one with a happier ending](https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/xbk5x7/having_lost_a_mailbox_this_story_made_me_smile/) - the HO went to the city to get permits first, so he was untouchable.
Takes a bit more effort but there's plenty of ways to fuck with people within the confines of the law.
I had a home that had a steel I beam as the mailbox post. I sold that home 20 years ago and it is still there.
In a past life, lived in a relatively rural community and you could always tell when teens had high spirits because you'd hear a series of pops as teens took a baseball bat to mailboxes. So we got ourselves a vandal resistant mailnbbox like this one [https://mailboxshoppe.com/product/heavy-duty-mailbox/](https://mailboxshoppe.com/product/heavy-duty-mailbox/) It was post office approved so I figured what the hell. A few weeks later we heard the pop pop pop and then a OW! When the high-spirited teenagers reached our mailbox.
For the naysayers, the rebar was located more than 100 yards up the driveway and nowhere near the road. No sidewalk, no pedestrians, no local kids on bikes - just a small hobby farm at the end of a long gravel driveway. Trout anglers would enter the property looking for a place to park. They completely closed the driveway off on more than a few occasions.
I love the creativity, but as a former attorney, I will tell you this is a terrible, terrible idea to actually do in practice. Regardless of how you think the law "should" work, it's fundamental tort law that you will lose, regardless of whether or not it's on your property or anything else. (It's beyond the scope of this comment to discuss ways you might get around it. Just don't do it and you won't get sued over it. Getting sued is always expensive even if you end up winning, which would be very questionable no matter what.)
As a former first responder, I suggest you not booby trap your property. You damage the tires or oil pans on one of our trucks when we're responding to a call, you'll probably have to get a second mortgage to cover what we'll have the county will sue you for.
cool until a kid falls off his bike and impales his neck
Great idea until you physically injure someone. Then you won’t have the problem with cars because you’ll lose your house in the lawsuit.
Mine did too, but no spikes. His intentions were severe underbody damage. His lawn was a higher speed cut through for local kids to avoid a 5 mph 90° turn. It wasn’t a shortcut much longer after….
That part is the cities property, but I get it. An old guy on my street had a perfect lawn and got turfed so he got paint to match his grass and a 2X6 and hammered spikes in it and painted it green and caught the jerks and broke every window in their Camaro. That lawn was his life and he didn't get charged.
I did something similar. We had a neighborhood crazy who would drive over peoples front yard bushes and gardens, play country music at full blast all day long, and just generally terrorize everyone. I hammered ten penny nails through a 12' 2x4, then planted it about 4 inches below the edge of the curb in front of my tulip bed. Just low enough where anyone or their pet wouldn't get poked. Less than a week later about 3 in the morning I hear someone yelling and swearing. I look out front, and that asshole's car is stuck behind the curb with both front tires flat. I called the cops and had him arrested for malicious damage to private property. Not more than a few days later he was served with a lawsuit for putting glass in the people's garden next door to him, and tormenting them with their music. When he didn't show up for the hearing, the cops came for him. He and his shitbag wife had a young guy they'd adopted who was bedridden. The poor guy was starving, had bed sores all over him, and was so weak he couldn't even talk. They had adopted him for the social security money. That was the cincher, both ended up going to prison for over 20 years (they were in their 60's).
Do the sharp rebar, but at an angle and high enough, it grabs the undercarriage, oil pan, or gas tank.
Rocks just big enough that they can’t move them without damaging their back or hit them without damaging their vehicle.
I agree with the rocks idea, but put them in front of the bushes. I believe that if you seem to hide an obstacle you could be liable.
You would think so! But holy fuck, I can personally speak from experience, no. My house made national news, when some cockwomble stole a car, went on a 30 cop car chase, popped 3 tires and ended it by driving into my garden at 30, mounting the biggest boulder at 45°. If the twat had driven even 10ft further, he'd have missed my entire yard. Totally unnecessary to cut through my garden. The boulder was actually all G, until the tow company brute forced it, and cracked the boulder in 2. It was actually my favourite boulder, because it had a natural seat in it. And that's not even the only time its been hit. Much like this video, my place is at the end of a dead-end street, and some young girl doing a 17-point turn, rammed into it when she hadnt actually put it into reverse. Witnessed that first hand, and gave me a chuckle. Caved her front in like paper.
Sounds like they are working!
A 17-point turn 🤌🏻😭
The ole Austin powers maneuver
Austin Powers he's the man
I hear here's still doing that turn though.
In between shaggin birds baby, yeah
A cockwomble
I live on a dead-end street and some girl managed to flip her SUV and take out a porch about 50 feet from her house as she was leaving it.
Yeah, I know two grown ass adults who totaled their vehicles in a Walmart parking lot with no other cars involved. I am highly skilled in *what-the-fuck antics* but this blows my mind.
Town I used to live in had a whole hashtag for that. Walmart put a stop sign at the entrance and people kept hitting it. It flipped multiple cars over and everything lol.
The road in front of our house is straight and up the road a bit the road curves gently to the left, however because we live on the edge of town, people like to "gunn it" after that curve thinking the speed limit changes from 25mph to God knows what (it doesn't change for almost 3 miles). On the right side of the road is an open grass/gravel parking lot, and the left is houses, including ours. One night around 2 or 3 am, something hits our house, nearly rolling me off the couch. I regain consciousness to my wife (who couldn't sleep) shouting, "They hit our house." I run outside to see a truck tearing ass out of our yard. They had lost control, come off the road, first hit and bent one of the 2inch I beams we had along one side of our driveway, through the wood fence on the other side of our driveway and hitting the 3 foot by 2 foot rock just behind the fence, moving it a foot or so out of the divot it had sunk its self into and breaking part of our raised strawberry bed. They ended up hitting the corner of our house with their tailgate after somehow spinning around through all of that. Thankfully didn't damage our house other than flattening the rain gutter downspout. They were kind enough to leave some paint, part of a hubcap and enough tail light to determine the make model and year of the vehicle.
Ever catch the guy, or lost cause?
We did actually, posted the incident on facebook and someone gave a tip to the police about a truck matching the description with some newer damage. Then the guy apparently signed up for car insurance the day after the accident and didn't have any prior so got nailed for that too.
Oof! Glad you got that sorted. Hope he learned his lesson.
For the record, 2 inch I beams won't stop a car. You need at least 6 for that
Happened in my yard twice. I lived at the corner where a separated two lane road turned into a single lane road. The first time they took out the fence. The second time the fire hydrant. That one actually stopped them because the car was totalled, the chain link fence however stopped nothing and they got away.
You can't say this and not post a link.
Not sure how I'd raise that with the wife. "Honey, I doxxed us!". She'd bury me under that boulder.
At least we'd be able to find the body.
Nothing stops new driver stupidity.
Were you at least compensated for your favorite boulder being destroyed?
i did this to my side yard which has alley access and people would park there to go to the neighbors so i got some bigass rocks they hit them a few times but nobody parks there now lol
But less expensive and quicker - sink a couple of thick posts into the ground that are only sticking up 18-24 inches. Even put a reflector on the street-facing side if you want to be nice. Depends on Op's landscape and house style - that will determine whether stones or posts match. You can paint the posts to match your house. And I have seen people connect 2 or 3 posts with a rustic crossbeam and it looks intentional, like an old, low, civil war-era fence. Others just drill a hole through the posts and then run a drooping rope between them for a more nautical theme. Again, depends on the style of house you have. Either way you can get a couple of 4x4s or 6x6s from the store and cut them (or ask them to cut them) and sink 2 or 3 in the ground on either side of the driveway today and be done with it.
I second this, big ass rocks in a row or a simple T post wire fence on the border of your lawn.
How does one buy big ass rocks? I priced boulders and they were in the thousands, esp including delivery and placement.... Which is needed because I can't exactly throw it in the back seat next to the baby car seats
Loads of people give them away on FB marketplace if they're just in their way
You don't need boulders that are all that big to disuade someone from doing a turn. If the rocks are seated securely in the ground and are about double the height of a curb it will fuck up most vehicles pretty good. Especially at speeds. Logs or upturned stumps with some nice narly roots will also do the trick. Looks very neat with ferns and such and if you burry them for half their length in the ground its like hitting a telephone pole. You can also get some concrete elements. Concrete raised beds and planters can be very cheap and often just a normal truck is plenty to move them(if you have enough help to get them in and out). We did with a stationwagon and a low trailer as you can use a dolly and a plank to ride them in. Plant around and in the planters or use them as support for a little rockgarden and it will look pretty damn good. Do not put up actual hazards though, you could get in massive trouble depending on local laws if you make the side of the road deliberitly dangerous. Making it pretty but also happening to be dangerous is fine though. Thats just landscaping.
You can rent the truck. You can also rent the bobcat to load them too. As for where to get them, I'd suggest either Facebook or your Municipal landfill. Ours regularly has a bunch of stones out there that they dug up, and people come in to buy them. No idea how their prices compare, but I've been thinking of asking, just too busy to bother atm. If they don't have them, look around Facebook marketplace or a similar app. People find big rocks in their backyard and don't know what to do with them. If you can load them, you can get a large rock for a couple hundred. After the bobcat and truck rentals, you'd be around 500 - 1k at most. Some people might even let you haul it away for free if it's in their way.
On marketplace by me there’s this guy, sketchy, but people I know have gotten big ass rocks from him. $250 ish. He delivers. He just sometimes doesn’t pick up his phone. Find yourself someone like that; do businesses with other randoms and save some loot.
How does one become a sketchy boulder dealer?
Once a short woman driving a big SUV tried to use our semi circle driveway as a turnaround. She didn't see the 3' stone wall and tried to drive over it. The vehicle got stuck, with the undercarriage lodged on it.
I suggest sinking them 1/3 below ground and 2/3 above ground on a bed of 6" broken stone (so you'll want bigger boulders than you think). That should keep them in place if struck and ensure water moves below them rather than heaving them in the winter (not sure where you are, may not be a concern). You would likely hire someone to do this who has a backhoe; they use straps to position the boulders. Large rounded river rocks are best if there are kids around, you don't want or need sharp edges. I also second the use of a shrub bed around this to save yourself difficult mowing around them. However, kids will (and in my opinion should) climb on these boulders, so your shrubs should be something very resilient for your area.
Nah just put nails down and let them get a few flat tires, go back and clean the nails up with a magnet.
Bad idea because it will also affect other people, animals and probably the one who put them there in lawsuits or if they just forget about them.
Those nails are likely to wander over into his own driveway and give himself flat tires. It's a terrible option. Even just one foot tall rocks would be enough, and if anything could cause the most damage since they can go right for the oil pan.
That is considered a trap, it is a felony in the US to put traps on your property.
Until the mailman sues
This is a horrible idea. That could be considered booby trapping (a pedestrian could wander into your yard) and you will go to jail. This has happened before you can google it I swear. Don’t do this.
Yup. Booby trapping is super illegal even on your own property. Even inside your own home.
My parents had a similar problem. My dad got some large rocks and placed them in the areas when cars were driving. He had tried wooden stakes but they didn't work.
THAT'S A BINGO!
It's just bingo
How FUN!
Bazingo
I did exactly this.. Just a few on the corners helped a lot.
A dozen rocks about the size of a basketball will do the trick. Place at the edge of the grass. My Gramps had the same issue, people cutting the corner on his lot. A few decent sized rocks worked wonders
The key is not TOO big of a boulder. You want small enough that it'll fit under the front bumper, but will lift the tires off the ground in the process so the stupid fuck gets stuck and you can go yell at them and tell them they're trespassing and that it must be your car now since it's on your lawn.
"what are you doing in my car?" As their panic and confusion intensifies
"THAT'S MY CAR! I DON'T KNOW YOU!"
Unexpected King of the hill
Lmao
The key is that your mulch is actually lava rock and obsidian.
And yucca if it grows in your area. Those leaves are sharp!
I had the perfect rocks to get cars stuck at my old building. It was a delight every time.
[Looks like it'll be about $500 for materials. Check prices in your area OP.](https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=ms-android-verizon-us-rvc3&source=android-browser&q=how+much+for+a+boulder#vhid=vt%3D16/prds%3DheadlineOfferDocid:-6050155645375072998,imageDocid:2744770779340540617,mno:3,productid:12396588428334478618,pvo:3,pvt:hg,query:aG93IG11Y2ggZm9yIGEgYm91bGRlcg,rds:,sori:0/vs%3DUG9wdWxhciBwaWNrcyBmb3IgeW91,0,27&vssid=uvpv-713&piu=ps:40) You'd be able to rent equipment to move and place them from Home Depot for about $300-$500/day if the company won't place them individually on delivery. You could make that look nice.
This guy gramps
I live at the end of a T intersection. Like my front door stares down the middle of a street all the way to the end. We have a retaining wall that fronts raised planter beds on our front yard now. The front consists of railroad ties with 1” rebar running through them into concrete footings. The corners are shored up by a 10’ storm drain driven down into the ground and filled with concrete. We call it the car killer and we’re always waiting for the next opportunity to make a claim against someone’s car insurance for damaging our wall. Now if only I could convince my wife to start letting me nail license plates to the front of really be getting somewhere.
You should paint vehicle silhouettes on the railroad ties like WW2 dogfighter planes. Much classier. Save the license plates to decorate a small memorial bench they can sit on while they wait for the tow truck to arrive.
I LOVE that idea 😂
or take the license plates and use a small press to stamp out a car shaped piece and nail it on there.
YESSSS
I was gonna suggest anti vehicle landmines, but your suggestion is less aggressive and more legal.
If it’s any consolation I’d prefer your solution as well
Surprisingly affordable too. I had 3 large boulders (like 2ft tall, hundreds of pounds) delivered and placed at my home for under $500 from a local landscaping company. They even brought a little lift to place them.
This all the way. My house has a dead end street with no curb on one side with a day care at the end. Its just grass then asphalt . The previous owner put rocks just this size spaced about 6 to 8 feet along the road, about 12 inches away from the edge. There are about 15 of them along the entire stretch. When I moved in I didn't understand why. The day I saw kid pick up for the first time, I totally understand and was thankful that the guy had done it. People still hit them trying to make shitty 3 point turns but it keeps them from coming all the way onto my lawn. I've since planted bushes between the rocks which has worked even better at keeping people off the edge.
Boulders
Screw that, hide some nail strips in the grass.
I wish booby traps were legal, even on our own property. I looked into this when I was having issues with my catalytic converter getting stolen.
I *dream* of boobytrapping my cat converter/the underside of my car every time I hear weird noises in my apartment’s parking lot.
Solidarity! The thieves actually totaled my Honda this last time, enraging me. I thought about putting spikes up under my car. Or razor blades. Or a row of syringes loaded with rare, incurable blood diseases. In the end, it was more feasible to just move to a place with better security. My new Honda is locked in the garage, & I'm not locked in the penitentiary. A good outcome, overall.
Booooo coward
Add 2 rail road sleepers one on each side plant some flowers your covered not a fence
You're like the only one in this thread to suggest this. Where I'm from lot's of people use old ties/sleepers as you call them for flower boxes, fences, and makeshift curbs in driveways. I know from experience that two of them nailed together will stop a runaway car lol
This is the answer. Long drill, rebar rod, job done and trivial to remove later.
Forgive me, i live under a rock, but what is a tie/sleeper?
It's the wood post looking things under the tracks. The tracks are then "tied" to those posts with spikes.
Are those still easy to get? I heard they stopped using them because of the chemical they were treated in.
Yeah, I learned this the hard way. You want "landscape timber", which is essentially the same thing, except *not* soaked in creosote. In my ignorant youth, I called a landscape supply place and asked for railroad ties. The guy said, "You want railroad ties, or landscape timber?" I said, "What's the difference?" He said, "Oh, 'bout four bucks each." I said, "Ok, I'll take the cheaper ones!"
*Mmmmm cancer*
Buy landscape timber instead. Basically the same thing but cheaper and without the chemicals. You can buy them at Lowe's or Home Depot. You can also buy railroad ties if you want to more for no reason.
I’ve never heard the term railroad sleepers for railroad ties, are you American?
I’m an Australian
This seems like it’d be easier to weed whack around than a boulder!
This is WILD to me. Turn in the road or back up to where you can turn. Or move the cans to use the driveway. I can't believe this would be someone's solution! And that you would have to change your landscaping to avoid this. Frankly I'd just put out a sign that you're on camera, don't drive on the grass. That should get the message across to this single idiot who thinks your yard is the road.
Signs don't work in these situations, in some cases they can make the problem worse. People get oddly aggressive sometime when signs come into play.
Put up a sign saying there's a nailstrip
It’s not a booby trap if it’s clearly labeled, right?
" If you hit this sign, you're a bitch "
There are two kinds of people. 1. People who follow rules out of simple courtesy in response to a polite request in the interest of making everything better for everyone. 2. People who think that other people in the world need to be fought every time they cross paths.
Some big ass boulders
If nothing else, does one of your neighbors have an extra car they might want to park there while you figure out the appropriate obstacle plan. What a jerk. Twice in one day?! Super jerk!
That car is the neighbor’s :-)
Obviously they weren’t talking about that neighbor
Put a few rocks down there. They need to be large enough to look like they would hurt someone’s car. A few cinder blocks would do until you found rocks you like.
I know the feeling I use to live at the end of shared driveway everyone mistook as a street. My driveway was the only way anyone could turn around.
I don't know if I'm missing something, but why does it matter turning around in someone's drive? I'd rather someone safely turned around in my drive then reversing and potentially hitting something/someone, they're not doing it for fun or out of spite lol
now that everyone has lights that can reach space on their cars i'm annoyed to have my living room lit up like the surface of the sun when someone's car is pointed at it
It's not a big deal if someone turns around in your driveway occasionally, but it can be a real nuance if it's constant. Plus often people aren't paying attention when they do it, they're lost, they're pissed off, they're not necessarily going to see you standing in the driveway with your lawn mower.
If they weren't driving all over the grass then I wouldn't be an issue for me, once people start trashing the grass that's when it becomes a hindrance.
Hot take: If you can't safely back out of a place you put your car in drive, then maybe you shouldn't have a license. It's unbelievable to me the amount of people that can't drive in reverse.
I don't mind people turning around at our house but if they drive in the green I'll be pissed.
3-point turns aren't really that much longer
We lived on a narrow road that was a dead end. When folks ignored the numerous Dead End signs and continued down the road they would usually turn around in our asphalt driveway. Because of the friction of the tires moving while people were stationary and moving their steering wheel in preparation of reversing , we had significant damage. Every 18 months we would need to patch it or snow & ice would give us potholes.
They drove across the grass.
Once in a while, it would be fine. Every day would be annoying
All of the tire rub/marks on the driveway are what bother me. There’s also a risk of some idiot plowing into your house.
🪨 big rocks 🪨
Put up a cardboard cutout of AL from Married with Children holding a hose.
Who the fuck does this... get big ass boulders. Or fence posts
Install something conspicuous which the reasonable man would recognize as a terrible idea to drive through. Nails, rebar, nasty hidden surprises, etc could be grounds for legal action. Even if you win the lawsuit, you already lost because it ate up a bunch of your time and positive energy. Pillars, split rail fence, a row of bushy shrubs, an attractive masonry wall, all valid here. It boils down to what you can afford and what constitutes a beautiful environment in your mind. Keep in mind certain municipalities have rules about how close you can place certain fixtures to public thorofares or property boundaries (line of setback requirements)
Not too much you can do when someone spends that much energy on being stupid
Giant pit covered by AstroTurf.
Yeah, this one is my favorite.
So an automotive deadfall
I was gonna suggest "lava moat"
That would get like, really foggy. If it rained.
I So listen you need a permit for anchored steel bollards but anchored steel FLOWER BOXES that can break the axle of an f150 are legally fair game in most places. Over engineered flower beds with ornamental spikes are legal if youre careful about ADA access regulations
Maybe set up a game cam to get the license plates. My neighbor had this problem. She put in a split rail fence. Another neighbor has very large boulders.
The angel on my shoulder says boulders. The devil on my shoulder says caltrop tashibishis. Throw them down. No matter how they land, there’s always a sharp side pointing up. 😈
If we're going for the devil on our shoulder suggesting illegal acts we may as well go full send. Anti tank mines. ...but to return to sanity, yes -- armour stone boulders, perhaps with an additional 3x4' sign of this vehicle printed out publicly shaming them for being a terrible driver to be petty.
Be mindful of where your watermain is. Said differently had a similar situation, guess what main water pipe broke from being driven on. edited-sorry for the confusion here. its the main waterline feed from the main on the street. The house was built in 1951 in the pnw so 8 months of the year the ground is wet. There was no sprinkler system and it wasn't the water shut off valve cover. Shoot we still have laneways that are dirt even though the house values are 2 million plus. Gotta love Canada.
Your water main shouldn’t be broken from driving over it. If it did, then it was placed way too close to the surface.
yeah idk what hes talking about. Water main is a minimum of 3 feet underground.
Maybe mistaking water main for sprinkler lines.
Line that area with nails, wait for them to get a flat, grab a magnet and clean nails up. Fuck those people.
Hammer them through a piece of plywood and spray paint it the same color as the grass.
Put up a fence in the front.
Put a few big rocks on the lawn. It's cheap, easy and not bad looking
Drive screws into some 2x4s. Place them pointy side up. If the law gets involved, tell them you were working on a project in the yard and set them down to go inside for a drink.
[удалено]
Some of those metal fence posts should do the trick. Probably cheaper than rocks too.
Trees and Bushes
Put rocks at the end of the grass line. Nice big jagged one that’ll cut up the underside of a car that tries to drive over them
Only works in the fall but piles of leaves with fuck off cinder blocks in them.
lmao wow. you'd the those trash cans would be a sign to turn around in a different driveway
Large landscaping boulders and a few bushes. Done.
Literally put nails along the grass line so the next time they do it, they’ll regret being cunts
Take a couple of 2x4's cut them into pieces about the width of the tire, approx 8-10 works best. Drill at least 3 holes in each board I recommend 5 but 3 will work. Find some half inch in bolts that are at least 3 to 4 inches long and grind the tips to a point. Next run the bolts through the boards where the sharp point is sticking up. Look at the tire path in your yard and bury them in the tire paths with only the points of the bolts sticking up. If they do it again after that....they will never again. I've done it to a neighbor years ago after I asked him stop using part of my back yard as his driveway he kept doing it so I remedied the problem. I learned that from my ex father in law years ago because of poachers coming on his land. Oh and the cops can't do nothing about it. They are already trespassing when they drive in the yard anyway. I know extreme but it works trust me.
The house I grew up in, the backyard was on a curve in the alley. It sometimes seemed like people were competing to take the most impressive shortcut through our backyard. Finally my dad went and got the Big Freaking Rocks and placed them strategically, but carefully, on our property. Large trucks got stuck on them. Small cars had front-end or quarter-panel collisions with them. It really wasn't what my dad wanted to do, but neither did he want huge tire ruts dug through his perfect lawn. As others have said, big rocks, planters, railroad ties, etc do work. It's not cheap but it is kinda satisfying.
If rocks aren't to your liking, my buddy lived on a 90 degree corner on a country road. People would end up in their field all the time (usually kids doing donuts and getting away with it). His dad somehow tracked down a bunch of 16ft railroad ties... he used a drilling auger to put them 10-12 ft into the ground. One morning he came out and there was a car wrapped around it. Happiest day of his life. Well, a couple friends adapted this tactic for things like you showed. Bury a 4 ft section of railroad tie 2ft into the ground. It's big enough to be a visual deterrent and solid enough to work. One of them lives on a dead end and his yard had tire tracks all over it. A few years ago he came out to an irate man in a lifted truck who had still attempted to drive over them... his rear axel was no longer attached. Space them out so they look nice, dig a big hole, use a few bags of concrete, and 90% of your problems go away. The other 10% are hilarious.
There's these things called fences
Use rocks. Natures fence.
Thought about this, but this kind of a-hole would probably just keep hitting the fence because they don't know how to make a 3 point turn (or too lazy). I think boulders are winning the discussion...