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!
Just wanted to throw in my reality living in a rural area and all the factors that lead into the same problem we have around here.
The walk to my middle school was 1 1/2 hours, 2 when distracted. All 4 lane highways, with no sidewalks. Bus drivers are in high demand with low pay/part time, bus routes can easily go into a 3 hour ride in the afternoon. There is typically 1 highschool per county (must keep the roster pool available for the sports teams), we’re talking a 42 minute straight drive just to get there (so you can sit in trailers because they’re over capacity).
They need to up the bus driver pay, de-stigmatize the position with people who are getting more than fair compensation so they can be proud of their work and a community member who very much actually, physically, is in the world of the growing citizens. Have an assistant who helps with the route and manages the adolescent children (bus shit was wild back in my day, like 3rd base shenanigans going on and I doubt it’s stopped).
I guarantee you, no one having to drive through that shit-storm is enjoying or wanting that experience. Everyone’s anxiety is high and they’re still half asleep in the morning, with the potential to accidentally injure a child before you even get to work. Some of the counties have improved with better traffic techniques like time-regulated flow, roundabouts, and traffic assistants. But, it’s still so depressing and makes you feel like you’re in some industrial meat processing plant line.
It sucks either way. Having your kid get home at 6pm to start on homework (no internet on the bus, most assignments require connectivity) which can take hours, feed them, make sure they get ready for bed by 8-9, then start again at 5am because the bus shows up ass early before the world wakes up. Real public transit doesn’t exist in a 80 mile radius around here, so there’s really no other currently available options besides all the crappy scenarios being told that everyone rightfully hates.
1hr walk is like a 20minute bike ride. All they need is a dirt path that follows the road with 2m grass gap