Sometimes what would be ideal to others would be extremely unideal to you, so you gotta say ‘no’.
In this case, a man understood blocking the townsfolks’ favorite shortcut (his driveway) would inconvenience them—including the police—but he still had to do it.
They think he is in the wrong.
Is he really?
Let’s analyze the situation.
Going to begin by saying that legally I am in the clear.
It’s my property and I can do as I wish with it.
I bought a piece of land and had a house built on it recently.
There was a gravel road(now paved) that had become my driveway.
I guess before I lived there the locals used it to get around faster.
I’ve been told that if they can’t use my driveway it makes the travel 15 minutes longer.
Wow, so it would be quite inconvenient for them not to be able to use it.
This started when I moved in.
The stuff like the yard and surrounding area was not finished but it was complete enough to move in.
My driveway is long and can be exited or entered from two sides.
With how the house is built for them to use my driveway as a shortcut a lot of traffic would pass right by my house and cars every day. And this isn’t just people driving.
So it would also be very inconvenient for him to let them use his driveway.
People on bikes and walkers want to use it too.
I simply do not want the whole town driving through my driveway every day.
I realized it was a problem when I moved in and could constantly hear cars driving through all hours of the night.
Or voices of people talking and people walking right past the cars.
It was disturbing his sleep, so it became a serious issue.
I understood that this property was vacant for a while so I put up signs saying that this is private property.
You can clearly see a house there and I’m sure they saw it being built.
No change.
So I put up gates that only me and my wife have access to.
It doesn’t deter the walkers but I have plans for that.
This caused a big fuss.
I’ve had numerous people knock on my door asking why I put a gate up.
Saying they will be late to work or school.
I had a guy say I made him late for an interview.
People felt quite entitled to that shortcut.
I just tell everyone that this is private property and that this house didn’t just appear here.
You saw it built.
You saw the signs if this were a route you used daily.
Apparently the police used this as a speed trap area and I’ve had police ask me to open the gates.
I tell them no.
My wife normally is the type to let people use the driveway but this wasn’t normal.
Imagine the whole town using it as a shortcut.
There was so much traffic constantly.
Unfortunately, people didn’t respect the property when they were allowed to use it.
The first complaint I got before the gates were up was when I parked my car on the driveway and not on the part in front of my house.
Because it was “blocking the traffic.”
I responded “The traffic of my property?”
I’ve had cops tell me I am obstructing their work.
My direct neighbors understand but town people are just upset that their shortcut is gone.
“Their” shortcut.
They are pretty upset about the house being here altogether.
People would park their cars all over the driveway and my property during sports events (high school football is important around here).
I’m not trying to be an evil neighbor.
AITA?
What a pickle.
Let’s see what Reddit has to say.
A reader shares their thoughts.
This commenter shares their opinion.
This person raises important points to consider.
A commenter cautions him.
Another reader chimes in.
Someone shares their experience.
It was a 15-minute inconvenience for them, but a considerable issue for the house owner.
It seems that the neighbors and the police are just going to have to deal with it.
If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.
