Walking my grandkid to/from school, it absolutely floors me how many dangerous drivers there are around kids.
In a matter of maybe 10 minutes, I’ve witnessed:
- at least a dozen cars illegal parked. It’s not the parking that bothers me, but the fact that these cars are often parked on turns or just before intersections, making it impossible for other drivers to see small kids.
- Several people not stopping at stop signs, including at the exit of the school parking lot.
- One car, who completely blew through a stop sign at the front of the school, made a left turn and nearly hit a guy walking his kid. The driver didn’t even slow down.
- Super fucking huge pickup trucks parked in the school parking lot, but their long ass hangs well over the sidewalk near the kindergarden area, leaving very little space to use the sidewalk.
- Speeding. Obviously, you have to have speeding in school zones, right?
This happens every day, during drop off and pick up. I was told that bylaw were “cracking down”, but no, they aren’t. If they were, our municipality would generate $5000 in fines each and every day at every school.
The other day, I rode my bike past another school as kids were getting out. Not only was their massive parking lot completely full, but they had blocked the bike trail (WITH PYLONS) to make space for more cars. Then as I entered onto the road, cars were illegally parked along the road and on a bridge for a like 100m. Making it extremely difficult and dangerous to cross because they blocked visibility for me and other drivers on the road.
I asked the cross guard if these students all lived out of town, requiring every parent to drive them home; he obviously didn’t get my joke.
Seriously, fuck cars. All of them!
For me this is not “fuck cars”, it’s more about “fuck stupid idiot trashy human beings”. But you know… If I was a kid i wouldn’t like to breath in car fumes, so maybe it is “fuck cars” after all
The idiot trashy human beings aren’t trying to kill my kids except when they’re in a car on the street we’re trying to cross, so I think getting rid of the cars would help tremendously.
Au contraire, mon ami - they’re trying to kill anyone, it’s just a higher chance to get a kid in a school zone.
Source: the intersection down the road from me.
An interesting thing I heard in a video. A thought experiment for your friends. 2 questions, in this order.
Is it rude to smoke around people who are eating in a restaurant? If so, why?
And then
Using that, is it rude to allow polluting cars near people eating food outside? Is the answer different from the first? If so, why?
Hear me out: cars make people into trashy human beings
Depends on the car. Whopping big American Trump Trucks make people into trashy human beings, sure, but I’d like to think that putting around town in a classic mini doesn’t make me the devil. Certainly people don’t grin and point and wave when a Trump Truck goes past.
Sit in traffic long enough, and you’ll be driving like a trashy human
It’s also a problem that’s getting worse. When I was in school in the 2000s, like 80% of the kids took the bus and half of the remaining ones (like me) came by bike. Now my niece goes to the same school and she’s one of very few kids still taking the bus there. The schoolyard turns into a chaotic mess of SUVs every morning. I guess it goes hand in hand with helicopter parenting becoming normalized.
I drop off my kiddo in the morning because it is a 10 minute ride and is on my way to work while the bus is a 50 minute ride. She rides the bus home in the afternoon, because time is less of an issue.
All of the schools she has gone to have organized dropoff routes so everyone gets dropped off on the passenger side and it basicslly works like a drive through. Far safer than the convoluted mess that I got to watch as a bus rider when I was a kid.
Wish we had better public transportation so dedicated school buses were not so necessary.
@spankmonkey @PonyOfWar I caught a public bus to high school. To get an extra 20m of sleep I caught the one that didn’t go into the school and stopped on the wrong side of the road 1m before school started. To not be late we’d all walk out across the 4 lane road without looking. Cars will just stop.
After someone was rear ended the stop was removed.
After someone was rear ended the stop was removed.
Classic: punish the pedestrians and transit riders for car driver fuckups.
Yeah, cycling to elementary school on my own was one of my favorite childhood memories.
Unfortunately, nobody told me it was illegal to ride on the sidewalk, so I didn’t realize I was being an asshole until I was a teenager.
You weren’t being an asshole, you were breaking an unjust law. You were a hero, like Robin Hood.
Nah, bicycles belong on roads.
Yes, after cars are banned. Bicycles, especially bicycles carrying children, are allowed on sidewalks until then.
IIRC in my area kids can legally ride on sidewalks which makes sense.
I guess if you like dead kids?
