Parents Driving Badly

 

The sign says NO PARKING, in front of the elementary school and yet, every day a car sits, parked in the No Parking Zone. No parking or driving in the circle from 8:15-9:00 am, 11:00 am til 12 noon and again 3:10pm til 3:45pm, states the green and white sign.

“No parking or driving in the circle during these times, for the safety of OUR children and buses.” The well dressed, well spoken, energetic and young principal says at Parents Night. He puts his, er body where his mouth is, come rain, snow, sleet or blazing sun, he stands, at the entrance to the semi-circular drive, morning and evening, coffee cup in hand, smiling and greeting all the students, and physically blocking cars, from entering the circle. DAILY! For the second year in a row, it amazes me he is still standing there.

The librarian, art teacher, gym teacher and music teacher take a turn, even the crossing guard will do double duty. Once I jumped in front of a car, pointing at the sign and shaking my head.

He does allow drop off in the circle, after 8:55 am and the buses have cleared the circle. Is it that hard to wait and if waiting is not an option, then park the car and walk. Am I moaning and groaning over something that happened in the early days of September, while everyone is getting into the swing of things.

Oh no, try last week.

For example, take the Dad who drives into the circle with impunity, ignoring us all and the signs, only to get stuck between 2 buses. His daughter needed door to door, apparently, endangering the safety of how many other boys and girls in the process. I hope he learned a lesson, being trapped between those buses until all the kids where safely into the school.

Take the dad, who on a busy street in front of the school, decided he is too busy to drive three minutes around the block and instead makes an ILLEGAL U-Turn, in front of a bus and because I never for a second thought some could be that daft, nearly rear ended, as I made the turn to drive around the block, which frankly is a sensible thing to do.

How about the dad, who drove his big SUV into the circle, realized his mistake, shoved his kid out of the SUV and threw the SUV into reverse and drove backwards out of the circle, and then floored it, up the street, blazing thru the school zone.

Now I would like to point out it is not just parents driving badly. I witnessed as I walked up the sidewalk with my kiddies, a local police officer, nearly drive over the crossing guard as she crossed the kids in the crosswalk. I am not sure what type of clue he needed, but the bright yellow vest and big stop sign apparently were not enough.

The school district provides transportation for children who live over a mile away and the rest of us are supposed to walk. Typically I walk my kids, unless the weather is bad or we have to be somewhere very shortly after school. It is healthy for children to walk and take in the fresh air. It is healthy for parents to walk and take in the fresh air also.

One would think that walking would be without its peril of parents driving badly but sadly no. We have a mom on the bike, who thinks she owns the bike path. No bell, no “hey get out of the way”, not even a grunt as she nearly runs you over. Not even the smile of a satisfied sadist!

So weekly I am treated to examples of parents driving and biking badly and I think to myself, why? Why would you do such a thing? Please understand, as a friend has told me, I am barely an adequate driver and I will be the first to say that I am often lost in my own head, but I do not drive 55 in the school zone, stop in the middle of the road so my child can get out of the car as a mother does almost daily, in the middle of street, whilst blocking traffic, nor do I make illegal u-turns, or drive in the circle at unapproved times.

What do I do? I park my car legally on the street, walk with my child, across the street, in the crosswalk, walk her to the door and give her a kiss, because at the end of the day, that is truly what is important, her getting to school safely.

That is the bottom line Parents Driving Badly, your child and all of his or her friends getting to school and back home again safely. So please think about that when you are in a hurry and rushing and decide that the traffic rules apply to everyone but you, because no amount of huffing and puffing about being in a hurry, is going fix the broken arm or leg of the child your injury, by being reckless and driving badly. No amount of “I was in a hurry” or “I was busy”, or “I was running late”, will bring back the child, who you crushed between your SUV and the bus.

You can go to Elisa Phillips' blog at: www.elisaphilips.blogspot.com