Forum Moderators: open
However, any humour that I once found in that has long since gone, because nowadays that is exactly what people do! I am amazed at the number of times I have been in a traffic queue to turn right or left and someone has just jumped from their place in the queue, driven along the pavement (2 wheels on, 2 wheels in the gutter) and gone on their merry way.
Anyway... to get to the point. This morning I had the usual Monday (and every) morning battle driving to work. About a mile from home I have to pass the local schools (comprehensive, junior and infant, all adjacent to each other)and this is where the *fun* really starts. Bumper to bumper cars (which all seems to be 4 x 4 or people-carriers), double-parking, parking on the pavement, parking on grass verges, parking just about everywhere there is a space.
It is utter chaos and for what? To drive a distance of less than one mile to take their kids to school. In all my years at school I ALWAYS walked or went on my bike - I never got a lift to school. We keep hearing about increasing obesity in children and is it any wonder when they can't even walk for 10-20 minutes to school and back each day.
OK, so I keep hearing all about safety, all about nasty people lurking waiting to pounce on the kid on his or her way to school. But, ironically, if it's safety the parents are worried about, why do I see so many small children in the FRONT passenger seats without proper child safety-restraints? Don't the parents know it's illegal for under-14s to be in the front of the car?
Any parents I complain to about the traffic congestion caused by the school run claim that they are merely dropping their kids off on their own way to work or wherever they're going. So, if that's the case, why does the traffic reduce by more than half when the schools are closed?
As you can tell it really bugs the life out of me, especially when I can't always get parked near my office because of vehicles which need not even be on the road anyway!
Anyone care to put the other side of the story to me?
Thanks for listening :-)
The situation in France is just the same ..( only much worse standards of driving here anyway ) ..like Italy crossed with Africa ..
Plus the license can be so expensive that the police figure that at least 5% of all drivers ..maybe upto 10% have no license at all..and therefore ( here at least ) no insurance at all ..
Wonder what the accident stats are for kids injured in school run scenarii as opposed to other times of day..
Here road death doesn't count as due to driving if you die more than 3 days after the accident ..
Half the time, some obnoxious mom pulls into my driveway and jumps out "just for a sec" to go get her kid. Does she care that's she's blocking my access - hah! And, if I have the audacity to complain I usually get the "finger" and a spewing forth of language her kid should not be familiar with. These aren't people on the high end of the economic scale, but they aren't from the slums either.
They also block the entire street for upwards of 30 minutes to both incoming and outgoing traffic twice a day. The street is marked with No Parking signs during school hours. No matter, the police, if called, ignore the violaters because they can never seem to get there until after everyone has left.
Rant, rant, rant .......
I have a relative who lives near a school same prob as all you lot people blocking his drive, foul and abusive language when he complains.
Only thing that stops them kicking off is if he has his two staffordshire bull terriers with him when he confronts them.
Shouldnt be like that at all.
Its me, me, me i have rights dont you know, you cant tell me what to do.
Sickening it really is.
I keep hearing all about safety, all about nasty people lurking waiting to pounce on the kid on his or her way to school.
I work in a school, and also happen to live just down the street from it, and although I find the drop off/pick up routine to be insanely annoying and rife with the absolute worst of human interaction, I will chime in on the above comment to say that it isn't some lurking sicko you need to be worried about but the other kids.
Starting in middle school, some of these children are frightening. I have days when I walk to work and kids from the middle school try to taunt ME, so I know the other kids are outright terrified. And, of course, since they're not on school grounds, there's nothing the school can do about it.
Point being, I wouldn't let my daughter walk to school, either, even though I live less than a mile away and in a decent neighborhood.
You hear it all the time but it's absolutely true: being a kid is NOT the same as it used to be. It is a far more dangerous world for children. It's not a question of saving your child a 15 minute walk, but one of making sure they get from one supervised environment to the next supervised environment safely and unaccosted.
cEM
walking bus
What a great idea - just don't ask Macguru to take his step daughter to college this way ;)
What can you do? Obviously the school's hands are tied, the cops don't care, and the parents sure as heck don't care. Shooting the parents isn't any good. Too much paperwork to fill out...
My highschool had only one entrance and that was from a very small street. School management faced the same problem so here's what they did: they put speedbumps every 3 meters (10 feet) and nobody drives their kids to school anymore.
I remember driving over 15 of those and believe me it's not worth saving 30 minutes.
And as for living near a school, well, that's no different than moving across the street from a large mall. If you choose to live near something like that, you should have been aware that you were going to get into it - not that that's an excuse for blocking your driveway, but the busy street should have been expected.
What our school has done is had the local bylaw officer stand outside the school for a few mornings, handing out tickets. Doesn't help longterm, but makes folks feel better.
Unfortunately I think this is just a sign of the times. Too many parents have to get up and get in to work by a set time, get the kids ready, make lunches, etc etc etc. It's absolutely crazy getting ready with a couple of kids in the morning, and the mad drive to get the kids to school on time is part of that. Thankfully, I don't have to go through any of that anymore.
Not that I'm excusing bad driving or the insanity that is dropping the kids off, but there's a reason why everyone is doing this.
Just a cultural difference between the U.S. and the UK I guess! ;)
