Hi reddit! I’ve lived in my urban neighborhood for over a decade with few issues, but recently, the new renters across our shared driveway have caused problems. Our neighborhood has a shared driveway area for about eight homes that connect to our garages. The renter’s teenage son(about middle school age) and his friends ride e-bikes up and down the shared driveway every day, unsupervised, with no helmets. They’re very loud, use curse words, and the language includes hateful slurs. They are so loud they can be heard clearly from inside my house with all windows shut. This is disruptive, especially since there are families with young kids around them.
On the day they arrived the kid and his friends were all hanging out on their e-bikes zipping up and down the driveway and into the main street popping wheelies with no helmets and no adult supervision. My neighborhood soon became their new hang out spot. After a few days of this, a neighbor spoke to them politely about the HOA’s rule of kids not being allowed to play in the driveway because of safety concerns. The kids acknowledged it but continued. My neighbor approached them again a few days later and asked to speak to the parent since the issue wasn’t resolved, but he was (of course) not at home. When my neighbor finally got the chance to have a conversation with the dad about their behavior he said he couldn’t control it because he’s a single parent. My neighbor also explained that there is an elderly women who lives next door to them and if she has a medical emergency the driveway needs to be clear for access. He responded with “oh that lady doesn’t go anywhere“.
Several neighbors have complained to the HOA over the past few months they’ve been here, and I think the dad may have ended up talking to the kid about it, but it didn’t seem to do much. While the behavior has improved slightly, the kids are still out there for at least 1-2 hours every day, and the language hasn’t changed.
I’m now considering calling the police and here’s why: these kids are unsupervised with no helmets on e-bikes which is a huge safety concern, alongside the curse words I’ve heard multiple hateful slurs being used, and these kids are under the impression they can get away with this behavior with no consequences. I’m not sure the cops can do anything beyond maybe giving them tickets for not wearing helmets, but I’m hoping some form of consequence will give them a reality check. Would I be the asshole for involving the police?
EDIT: I know that calling the police may seem like an extreme way to stop the behavior, but I’m also concerned for the safety of these kids too. Wearing a helmet is the law, and it’s especially dangerous to go without one on an e-bike. The other kids parents are likely unaware of what’s going on too, and I don’t think I can trust this kids dad to look out for their safety.
YTA. Yes. They’re kids.
You want to call the police because kids are playing on their driveway? YTA and you need to come back to reality
YTA. Leave them alone. You’re probably the same person who complains that kids never go outside anymore because they are always on their phones.
Hmmm… Let’s see… Why YES, you would definitely be the asshole for calling the cops on kids who use bad language, hang around outside and don’t wear helmets.
That was an easy one!
Police are there for criminal acts. What actual criminal act has been committed? Issues with child supervision is a family services concern, not the police.
YTA if you called the cops on a single dad’s kid for riding bikes on a driveway.
You do not legitimately care one bit for their safety and are obviously using that angle to give validity to your complaint about noise.
You’re the worst kind of neighbour
YTA “Should I call the police because children are playing? Sometimes it goes on for 2 hours! They say naughty words and are unsupervised!” You would ABSOLUTELY be a HUGE ASSHOLE if you called the police on these CHILDREN. Furthermore, the cops have way more important things to deal with than ticketing children for not wearing helmets. You need the reality check, not the kids.
“why don’t kids play outside anymore?” this is exactly why. Nosey ass old people hate kids having fun so much she wants to call the cops
If the HOA warning wasn’t respected, go back to the HOA again and tell them that they’re being ignored, so for the safety of the residents on the street (including the kids), they need to enforce the rules. You can’t predict what the police will do about some mildly misbehaving tweens to young teens, but the HOA is going to be limited to doing things like issuing citations and fines. And hopefully that will be enough consequences to make this lackadaisical parent do some parenting, without risking a potentially dangerous confrontation with the police.
YWBTA to go to the cops, especially when the HOA‘s enforcement capability hasn’t been fully used.
Any place that has a rule about not being allowed to play in your own goddamn driveway needs to be stopped.
lol what? Kid aren’t allowed to play outside anymore?? YTA. Touch some fucking grass.