It sounds like what he’s talking about is the strip on the front side next to the driveway. It is on the far side of the pole. I don’t think there is anything you can do. That appears to be public easement. You might can post signs “no driving in yard” and then get some on video and sue them.
Suggest consulting with your local official (city rep, mayor, town councilmember, whatever) and discuss the issue.
But continuing the fence line so they don’t go over the diveway, before the telephone pole; as long as it is not high enough to block the view, and not a serious hazard, any barrier should be OK. Hence a low fence, mound, or shrubs - but assholes will just drive over any shrubs.
The next trick is to block the space between the stop sign and the telephone pole - that’s where I say a mound of grass is road-safe but suffcient barrier. Or, the stop sign could move over a foot or so to make the gap too narrow for a car.
I wonder if you can buy a realistic-looking plastic fire hydrant? That would be funny.
Between the stop sign and the roadway? You’ll never stop that.
I’d like to see a scarecrow. Get a mannequin, put him in a lawn chair, dressed like a beverly hillbilly, and give him a shotgun. Have him face the area where the cars trespass. Every time one goes by, rig something up to make a loud gun sound effect go off.
It’d make for a good funniest home video submission.
Depends where you live. Here its more than 15 feet. A couple of feet into the front yard. Then the sidewalk. Then that strip of land I used to know the name of. Then the curb. The town can come in an dig any of that up or take it away and I couldn’t do anything.
If they are cutting your yard by going to the right side of the stop sign, that is an illegal action and you should indeed complain to the city.
Check the local laws regarding public easement and line your driveway with a border garden. You might even want to curb your driveway, depending on the easement laws.
You could also occasionally park a trash heap vehicle on your driveway but at the bottom of it to surprise shortcutters. Do it at inconsistent times so that you don’t get cited for having “structure” there permanently.
I’ve seen roads like the OP describes, although it is more typical for roads around here to have curbs even if they don’t have sidewalks.
Having said that, I’ve never seen anyone cut through a front yard belonging to the house on the corner. The people who drive through the OP’s yard must be jerks of an extreme degree.
Right about now, the OP needs to go down to the County Building and pull up the records and find out exactly what part of the yard is public easement and what is not. Then he should explain the situation to the Traffic Division of the Sheriff’s Office. You can’t convince me that cutting across someone’s property without permission or turning on the inside of a stop sign is legal. They camp out a cruiser 3-4 days a month and make a few bucks and the intersection gets a reputation for “trapping” motorists making a right.
I don’t see any evidence that anyone is driving to the right of the stop sign as you look at the picture. Looks like people are riding on the edge of the grass around the corner. Not really much you can do about it as a homeowner. Its not your property. But it would be a traffic violation since it is not a lane of traffic. Unless the OP clarifies it to show they are actually on the lawn doing damage that is what I will assume.
The manholes are a clue. I would bet that the public easement is at least as far back as the manholes on the right of the picture.
I’m coming in late to this game, but here’s a couple suggestions based on a quick interpretation of the image you provided.
1) I see some kind of small building on the right edge of the picture. Go onto the county auctions website and buy an old police cruiser. They’ll strip off the official markings but typically leave the paint job for you to wrestle with. Park the car on your driveway to the right of that building – just far enough back that it’s clear there’s some kind of vehicle (hmm…looks like a cop car!) sitting and waiting for people to cut that corner.
Okay, that’ll fool a few people for a short while, but then people will either figure out the ruse or just not care anyway. But it might buy you some time.
Meanwhile (or instead)…
2) I see the safety concern regarding a boulder or bushes or other vision-obstructing objects on that strip of land. To define your property boundaries without obstructing traffic, how about a short (2-foot or 3-foot tall) chain-link fence? Taller should be fine, as well, since people can see through the link, but it’s obviously going to be a lot more expensive and less pretty. I’d run it from the side of that little building out to about the mid-line of those two man-hole covers, then along the street almost to the corner, then across your driveway (including a gate, of course), just inside the cement utility pole. Do this first (or second, if you want to do #1 above first) and put a “No Tresspassing” sign on that little building and maybe right at the cornerwhere the stop sign is located.
3) Lastly, it’s your private property and you should be allowed to decorate it as you see fit – so long as you don’t obstruct the visibility near that corner and don’t cause some other kind of nuisance. Dig a reflecting pool or lilly pond within the limits of your property and coming within a car’s-width of the fences. (You can probably already determine the path of the average car short-cutting between that little building and the utility pole. Use that as your guide for where to dig. Dig it with vertical sides, about 12” to 18” deep – not so deep that it will be a drowning hazard to some wayward kid. You’ll have to add filters and something to keep the water in motion, otherwise you’ll attract mosquitos (a community nuisance). Can you run the wiring for pumps and such to that little building? Fill a couple pots with half-cement and half pond soil, then stick water lillies or whatever in there. Lastly, surround your pond with a low wall – 6” to 12” high should be nice for keeping out the mud on a rainy night but not so high that it blocks anybody’s view past that corner.
[I hope this attempt to draw using Courier characters works]
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…pond.or.pool.
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Since you’ve posted a No Tresspassing sign, you can sue anyone who rolls through your fence, over your bricks, and into your pond. Most sedans won’t get out; the latest SUV’s and old-style “Monster” trucks might not have any difficulty so you might also want to wire up that little building to support a camera and a motion sensor. Your recording device should be far away from the camera so it won’t get stolen. Make sure you keep track of every penny you spend on the project so you’ll be able to hand the receipts to a judge when you demand compensation for the damage.
---G!
Listen to me dog, before you start to whine
That side’s yours and this side’s mine
. –George Thoroughgood (and the Delaware Destroyers)
. Move it on Over
I thought the OP said that traffic was actually travelling through his yard and onto his driveway. If you look at the picture, that sure as hell is trespassing. Now, I agree if they stay left of the stop sign (or even go slightly right of it) it’s probably still the state/municipal right of way and a traffic violation only.
I’ve contacted the officials. The manholes belong to the city, as does the stop sign and concrete pole. My property line is a straight line from the tree in the right hand of the picture to the end of the grass. So just as there is a brick wall on the rest of my property, I can extend something from that brick wall (in a straight line) to where the grass hits the curb. However, I can’t just extend the brick wall itself, because the brick wall is opaque, and drivers won’t be able to see oncoming traffic. I’ll probably just construct a short 1-2 foot kiddie fence (you know, the ones that keep small kids out of backyard ponds) to deter traffic. Hopefully no one will mow through that. Though I bet that someone inevitably will; people have been mowing through my property since the beginning of time and will likely continue to out of sheer habit.
Explain how they can get to his driveway if they are left of the stop sign.
Low fences, rocks, shrubs. None of those should block visiability. If you go with a short fence, you may want to consider a vine to make it more visible, otherwise you may get drivers not seeing it as they Dukes of Hazzard over your yard. My preference would be a bougainvillea or wrought iron.
forget the guessing on the easement. Go to or call the courthouse, city hall whatever and get a certified copy of your survey. Now you know what is your property, then you just have to figure out what to do. I like the shrubs and rebar but angle the rebar just a bit toward the street.
And get low-growing shrubs or keep them trimmed so drivers can’t complain about not being able to see. Or, consider a double post pole fence. Drivers will be able to see clearly and the fence can be attractive.
By turning right and driving along the grassline. Not cutting diagonally across the yard. I guess that is possible but I see no evidence of it in the picture. It does look like the ground has been driven on along the road edge. If people did cut diagonally through that would be pretty damn ballsy.
Laws are written differently every where. I can tell you without a doubt, 100%, it is not tresspassing in my jurisdiction. It would fall under motor vehicle statutes not criminal. Unless damage was done to his actual property and then it could be criminal mischief. But you would have to prove intent to damage.
People are unbelievable jerks! Good luck, OP, hope you get it fixed.
I do not see any tire tracks in his yard & I wonder how he got that picture from that perspective?
OP: there seems to be confusion as to the exact route of the trespassers. Could you post a satellite view with tracks drawn in?
Line the inner edge of the easement with pitcher plants or other carnivorous plants. Once they notice digestive juice on their fender they should stop.