Is It Too Much to Ask?

I live in a court with about 35 townhouses.  We are at the end of the court so we have to drive by all the other townhouses to get to ours.  This should be an easy feat but for some reason, everyone in our court is insane (except my husband and me, of course).

Before I go any further with my story, I looked up the definitions of several terms that are important to this story.  According to www.dictionary.com, these are the definitions.

Road: a long, narrow stretch with a smoothed or paved surface, made for traveling by motor vehicle, between two or more points.

Sidewalk: a hard-surfaced path for pedestrians alongside and little higher than a road

There doesn't go a day where I am leaving or driving into my court and someone is walking or standing in the road.  Many days it's every time I come or go.  I'm not talking on the side of the road; I'm talking far enough in the road that I am worried that I may hit them.  There are sidewalks on both sides of the road through the court but everyone in this court insists on walking in the road, chatting it up with their baby carriages in the road or having their kids play in the road.

These people don't make any attempts to move either.  They stare as I try to maneuver my car around them, trying not to run over the infant in the carriage.  I mean, what kind of animal would I be if I hit that carriage that is sitting in the middle of the road; a place where I should be able to drive my car.  I must be an idiot to think that the soccer moms should be having their conversation on the sidewalk.

Yesterday, I pulled in from the grocery store and wouldn't you know, a guy was walking in the MIDDLE of the court.  He put up his arm telling me to wait.  Oh thanks for telling me to wait, like I was going to run over you (ok, it did go through my mind).  If you want to walk in the road, at least walk off to the side!  Maybe I should start just driving on the sidewalks since no one is using them.  But my home owner's association would be all over my ass if I did that!

Wednesday night is play date night for the couple across the street's kids.  As I go into my tirade, please remember I love kids and I truly do not mind them playing in the street (even though there is a play ground at the end of our court!).  What I do mind is the lack of respect for your fellow neighbors who are trying to come into the court or leave in their car.  So every Wednesday night about 10 kids are running around, biking, using street chalk etc in our court.  Fine; don't care.  What really gets me is when I try to leave for boxing, the parents don't seem to rally their kids out of the street or if they do, all the parents still stand in the road and make it difficult for me to leave.  This all happens while all of them glare at me as I drive by.  I know, I know, I am such a horrible animal for trying to leave my house in my car on the ROAD! (see the definition--no where in there does it mention for the use of pedestrians on their feet).

Last Wednesday, I put my car in reverse and sat there for a minute, as there were 2 kids on bikes riding around behind me on the sidewalk.  Their mom was on the corner giving me the evil eye (by the way, this lady doesn't live in the court; she was over for the play date).  I figured a minute with my reverse lights on was enough warning.  As I start to back up, one of the kids jumps his bike off the curb and goes right behind me.  (I stopped in time, thanks to my cat like reflexes.)  Again, the mother just stood there staring at me.  Uh HELLO!  It's called parenting; why don't you try it before your kid gets killed.  Stop staring at me and tell your kid to chill for a second.  As I started to go further out of the court, the rest of the parents were standing in the middle of the road, as usual.  I stopped because another car was coming the other way and unless I went on the sidewalk, where the children had jumped onto, 2 cars wouldn't be able to pass at the same time.  Some lady who doesn't live in the court runs in front of my car and is holding up her hands to me, pushing her palms out over and over in a crazy motion, telling me to stop.  Thanks honey, I've already stopped and by the way, who are you?  It took all my effort not to get out of my car and rage.  It was a good thing I was leaving for boxing class so I was able to take out my aggressions on the bag. 

I'm thinking I should put fliers on everyone's doors with the meaning of sidewalk and road.  Maybe they just don't understand?  

Is it really too much to ask for people to use the sidewalk?