Carpool system sucks!

[Tithera]

Ok, so we have an elementary school about a block from our house. Usually it's not bad, I go through before school starts and get home after it lets out, but a few times, I've had the unfortunete timing of getting home or leaving right when school lets out. They have a carpool system that has the parents line up and wait for their kids. The only problem with this system is that they park on BOTH sides of the road,taking up practically the whole road, which is not what they are suppose to do. It is a suburban style neighborhood. Many houses line that street and said street is always busy with traffic. With this system, it is almost impossible to get down the road.
Here are a few of the things that piss me off about this:
1) If you are parked on the other side of the road, going the opposite way of traffic on that side, DO NOT open your door suddenly and out of nowhere. I've nearly taken out several doors because these parents don't pay attention.
2) Do not yell at me to slow down, I'm already going 10mph while keeping an eye out for both door openers and random kids that take off across the street, how much slower do you want me to go?! Cause, if I go any slower, the people behind me will grow angry and start yelling at me to speed up. I cannot win in this situation. Ever.
3)If you know your kid is not going to be able to find you car, go up to the door and wait for them to come out. Don't sit in your car, smoking a cigarette and chatting on your phone and not paying attention while your kid is wandering around aimlessly through cars and the street. This is a good way to get them taken or hit.
4) then, when your kid does find his or her way to your car, do not yell and scream at them for taking so long. They're 5 or 6 years old, c'mon!
5)Do not flip me off or cuss at me when I come through and break up your conversation circle that you happen to be having IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Take it somewhere else!

Ugh!

[Crafty1289]

In England, most schools have traffic problems at throwing out time. Some parents insist on driving to school to pick their little princes and princesses up.

I live close to a primary school (5-11yo) and at 3:15 every day the street is lined with cars. The most annoying thing is their apparent lack of awareness of the highway code (rules of the road here). They park half on the kerb, right on junctions! Only one car can get through at once when they do this, they dont seem to realise the dangers of trying to park as close as they possibly can to the school gates. Just so their kids (and them, lazy fookers) dont have to walk another 20 metres.

I even expressed my concerns to the local council in an email, suggesting the use of double yellow lines (means no parking) on the road. But they said they would "monitor the situation" and write to the school. Nothing changed.

[SmivMoc]

I think this is where you tip off your friendly local traffic cop, and let him know that writing a huge number of tickets for this sort of thing not only helps make the streets safer, but is an excellent way to get promoted.

[Kogarashi]

Ugh. We live right across the street from an elementary school, and right next to another (private). It never fails, whenever I'm headed home around 2pm from errands, it's a nightmare trying to get to our apartment lot. Thankfully no one's been insensitive enough yet to park in our lot (tenant-only), but they line the entire street despite the "No Parking" signs, and back up some of the buses such that the buses are stuck in the street too. It's frequently one-car-only through that half block.

I even expressed my concerns to the local council in an email, suggesting the use of double yellow lines (means no parking) on the road. But they said they would "monitor the situation" and write to the school. Nothing changed.

That's when you pester them again. And again. And again, until they either change something or block your e-mails. Get everyone else you know in on it too.

[Geek King]

That's when you pester them again. And again. And again, until they either change something or block your e-mails. Get everyone else you know in on it too.

Addendum: Find out when the council meets and start going. Sit through the boring bits and raise your concerns during the usual resident Q&A session toward the end. Showing you care enough to go in person counts much more. Try to get others on your block to go as well. Maybe a small flyer with date and time of meetings to stick on a door or mailbox.

Think out your small speech about the issue beforehand. A clear, short speech will get your point a better chance of being considered.

[sirwired]

The county I live in provides free bus transportation to almost all students. For the life of me I cannot figure out why so many parents insist on driving their kids to school.

Even for those that ride the bus, a bunch of parents drive (down a 100yd cul-de-sac) and sit there idling in the car waiting for the bus to pick their kids if the weather is anything less than perfect.

[Jack7957]

A school near me got permission from the city to shut down the street in front of the building during drop off/pickup, so now the only ones allowed to drive in the one block stretch of street are the buses and people that live on that block. Want to drop off or pickup your kids? You do it at the corner. The local parents have sawhorses from the DPW they put out every morning and afternoon to block it off. Sometimes they have a city cop there also providing support.

[AtDIelement]

2) Do not yell at me to slow down, I'm already going 10mph while keeping an eye out for both door openers and random kids that take off across the street, how much slower do you want me to go?! Cause, if I go any slower, the people behind me will grow angry and start yelling at me to speed up. I cannot win in this situation. Ever.Ugh!

This happened to me once in my parents' neighborhood... Limit was 25 but I was doing about 10 because I know kids play there a lot. So, when someone yelled at me to slow down, I stopped and asked them if this was slow enough for them.

They went back in their house.