This time of year it’s not uncommon to be driving down a roadway in our county and find a section has been closed down for a few hours. 

Sometimes it’s for a parade or a street fair, sometimes for a road race, other times it’s to allow road crews a safe space to make repairs or to block off downed wires or branches to prevent an accident. 

Familiar as these roadblocks may be to drivers, I’ve noticed something alarming this summer: More and more people are ignoring them completely. 

There was the car that drove one way through the Callicoon Tractor Parade this June then doubled down on the danger by turning around and driving through it again in the opposite direction. 

There were the multiple cars I watched maneuver around orange road cones after one of our wicked summer storms, driving right over power lines and into who knows what (hint: I didn’t follow them to find out). 

There were the three different cars that drove right through the middle of a recent road race, passing walkers and runners along the way. 

And then there was the car that whipped its way through a street fair recently, moving at a speed that showed little regard for the safety of anyone along the way. 

Barricades, cones, signs, even people waving drivers down don’t seem to be having the same effect they once had to remind, or perhaps I’ve simply been present more often this year when these examples of bad behavior have occured. 

Perhaps people need a simple reminder that our public roadways are shared properties in our communities. It’s why there are certain requirements that we all have to meet before we can drive on them, from getting a license to ensuring our cars are registered, inspected and insured. 

If we want to be part of a community, we have to remember that sometimes we just don’t have the right of way.