7mo ago

If you were never a "fuck cars" person, hang out near a school

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!

89 comments

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.
  
  The horrible trashy people also let their aggressive dogs out to roam unattended, leave unsecured firearms around the house, and other things that are not as frequently deadly, but just as stupid.
- This is literally the "safe systems approach" encouraged to be adopted by DOTs. It assumes people will make mistakes, or otherwise just be "idiot trashy human beings" as a fundamental principal and then designs a transportation system from there. So you end up with separated, protected bike lakes, neckdowns, speed humps, and bollards out the ass.
- 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.
- 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?

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.
- 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.
  
  IIRC in my area kids can legally ride on sidewalks which makes sense.
  
  You weren't being an asshole, you were breaking an unjust law. You were a hero, like Robin Hood.
- 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.
  
  You drive your car to work? Sickening behaviour.
- My kids tried to take the bus, but were bullied and harassed with little response from the school. So to keep them from refusing to go to school because of being terrorized on the bus I have to drive them.
- It also comes with cost of living growing to insane proportions. Fewer people can afford to live near their preferred school, some portion of which won't ride the bus. More students living further away will tend to increase demand for transportation and the increasing length of the bus ride will worsen the ratio of car to bus riders. Apparently we can't afford housing people near the resources they need to access these days.
  With that said, I've seen the insane long line of cars waiting to enter a school and thought how glad I was not being in that line.

I live less than a half-mile from my kids' school, and people ask why I walk them instead of driving... everyday I see people who live closer than I get in their cars and drive 2 blocks to pick up their kids!
Its madness I tell you
- That's honestly disgusting. Not only for the environment and public safety, but those missed opportunities to get some level of activity in your day are simply pissed away in a car.
  Like, people are OK commuting by car for 1-3 hours a day... but a 20 or 30 minute walk with a dozen benfits? NO WAY!
- So many of them really just refuse to exist in public space. "The public" is full of evil undesirables, so let me go from my private space (home) to my private space (car) to go to my private space (work/school/venue) so i never have to exit in the scarrryyy public.
  Even my more progressive best friends (a couple) refuse to go downtown because they can't park directly in front of where they're going, even though where they'd probably find a spot is still closer than your parking spot at Walmart or a grocery store - but I'm the crazy one for not prioritizing getting a new vehicle at all costs, sure.
  Shit is bonkers.
- It’s also part of the reason why so many of these kids (and their parents) are overweight.
- my mum used to do that to make sure i actually went to ~~glorified baby sitting~~ school.
  
  Suppose she had two broken legs and didn't own a wheelchair, then?
- There's an elementary school near my house that borders a big housing development on two sides, so kids can walk there. But their parents drive them to the place where the crossing guard is. They sit there and wait for them at the end of the day, clogging the road.

Another almost guaranteed way of converting someone to the fuck cars mentality, ride a bike on the road and around traffic.
In relation to your post in the past I have worked as a parking CEO (civil enforcement officer - modern name for traffic warden)
We had to do school watches every day, covering different schools within our area and issuing fines to people that try to stop / park in areas around schools, particularly the yellow zig zags directly at the exits of the school.
The amount of abuse you got every time you were near a school, these idiots don't seem to realise you are there to try and enforce rules that help keep their children safe as well as others. Parents are some of the most entitled pieces of shit, especially around schools.
Like you say as well, most of these fucks driving to pick up their little shits live less than 5 minutes by car from the school.
Fuck them and their cars!
- I know people who DRIVE to the school 2 blocks away from their home! It is just baffling to me! Okay let's say you just have to helicopter and go pick them up, you still have to DRIVE?! Just walk over! "Oh well it rains" _umbrella "but in winter" coats. Ffs it's two blocks.
  
  I don't know anyone who drives two blocks to pick up their kids because I stopped hanging out with losers.
- Most people ive met who are quite resistant to change refuse to even ride a bike, sometimes sayings things like "it isn't safe" but won't really acknowledge that it being unsafe is the exact points we are trying to make and fix.

We walk our kids to school pretty much every day, and I 100% agree.
Almost exactly three years ago, at a school about four miles away from ours, a driver killed a seven-year-old girl on her way home from school, and the very next morning a driver ignored the signal and cut me off as I was trying to walk my own kids across the street. In the next couple of months, a city ordinance meant to improve pedestrian safety was shot down by the state because it was "anti-car." Since then, any efforts at traffic calming around schools has been slow-rolled and ignored at pretty much every opportunity. Car dismissal is prioritized at our kids' school (we've actively had to go inside and pluck our kids out of the car line at the beginning of every school year so far because they don't pay attention), bus dismissal gets second place, and this is the first year that the crossing guard has been there every day.
Literally the only positive thing that we've seen around our school is that they've reduced the road from two (very thin) lanes in each direction to only one; that has helped tremendously, but even just this morning a driver who wasn't paying attention almost hit the crossing guard as we were about to step out into the street.
I am shaking with rage even thinking about it right now. The situation is dire out there, and our elected officials are doing worse than nothing. Our school administrators are making it worse.
Talk about radicalizing. I want to start slashing tires.
- Be the change you want to see in the world
  
  Tyres are pretty amazing tech. Is there an easy way to drop something hard to see in the road that will cause tyre punctures?
- I've told this story before, but back in the 80s a kid was killed walking across a road. Instead of making the road safe for kids to cross, they simply started bussing kids who lived literally across the street from the school.
  But the dead kid's parents donated his college fund to make a new library, so I guess that's good?

I've lived near a school, and you learn to avoid going out during drop off or pickup times. Driving, riding, walking, it doesn't matter.
It is not safe. At all.
- If it's their kid everyone should slow down and be safe. If it's anyone else's kid then they're just in a hurry and you wouldn't understand
- It is not safe. At all.
  That an area designed for our most vulnerable demographic is so dangerous that adults wouldn't want to be in it says a lot about North American culture.
  
  says a lot about North American culture.
  lol, I'm in Australia, but sometimes bad things are universal....
- Yup I live across the street from a K-8 school. It floors me how the parents of these kids drive like maniacs right by the school where their own child and all their classmates go to school. If there where ANYwhere you'd think a parent of a young child would slow the fuck down it'd be by their kids school.

I lived close enough to my school that I was able to walk every day. Every morning I had to deal with self-centered parents dropping their crotchspawn off at school. I nearly got run over numerous times while crossing the street- a few of which got close enough that their front bumpers touched the backs of my legs as I walked. One parent cut in front of me instead of behind me, and I was able to punch the back of their car as they sped off.
Keep in mind I was a child when this was happening. These were parents that were very nearly running over a child willingly.

I live in a small town, i went to school here, and i moved back a couple of years ago. Walking to school is now considered dangerous for children. Why you ask? Because half the parents drive their children to school, which means instead of having no cars around the school, there are now 50 cars around the school at the same time that children walk to school. I feel like i' taking crazy pills.
- And I heard in a public consultation meeting about bike lanes that... get this... Adding bike lanes would make it dangerous for kids to get to school.
  What backwards universe did we wake up in?
- And that becomes a vicious circle as more children are driven to school, making it more dangerous to walk, so more are driven...

There are actually a lot of ways to slow down cars beyond asking nicely with signs. And it's not just speed bumps.
The way we design our roads psychologically encourages speeding. Shitty people are out there but road design is important too.
I have a video on the tip of my tongue that I'd like to link, demonstrating this, but I'm too lazy to look it up right now. Maybe later.
Edit: this one will do.
- The way we design our roads psychologically encourages speeding.
  I think most "major" roads are like that, but the school I have to get to is in a subdivision that isn't busy. And people are still rolling through stop signs while looking at their phone. I think being in a car detaches people from the reality of what's going on around them. Like playing a video game from behind a windshield.
  
  Not Just Bikes - The Wrong Way to Set Speed Limits [STO6]
  
  It's stuff you don't really think about like the visual width of the road and long straightaways that let you detach from the dangers of speeding. It's not just main arterial roads. Traffic calming can and should, arguably more than anywhere else, be employed in those back neighborhood roads as well.

Welcome back to school kids. I hope you all had a good summer. Today we are going to play a game. It's called Frogger
- Graduating from school in Canada or the US is basically "Congratulations on surviving not being killed by guns or cars!".
  
  Now you can finally relax and enjoy repaying your $100K+ loan!

I lived in an apartment in view of a school. Me and my now wife used to sit on the balcony and play a game of counting the traffic violations and near crashes. it'd easily be 10 near crashes in a 30min period during pick up times. insanity.
- Traffic infraction bingo sounds like fun! /s

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

The car drop off lines they have in America look like pure torture. I don't understand. Does America not have school buses anymore?
Edit: I'm also Canadian and we have school buses where I am. I don't think we have the same car lines I've heard about in the U.S.
- Does America not have school buses anymore?
  I'm in Canada, and yes, we do. In fact, the buses were having difficulty getting into the school's parking lot because of the way the illegally parked cars were quite literally at the edge of the turn (leaving little space for the bus). It's been sheer madness these past few weeks.
  And it's hilarious (not) when people put on their hazard lights to park illegally while they pick up their kid. I swear to the gods, if my municipality ever gave citizens the ability to write up parking tickets, I'd reduce our property taxes by 10% from the revenue I'd generate! 😄
- The high schools in my city have dedicated city bus routes that transport most of the students. All students who live more than about 1km away get a city bus pass for the year, which means the school transport can be pretty flexible. This is in Canada btw. Many of the people who opt to drive instead either cone from far away because of certain programs at the school or are just privelidged af.

I pass by two schools, right next to each other, during my commute to work. There are School Zone speed limit signs that also you your own speed in warning. I always slow down to at least 30 (zone limit is actually 25).
I usually stick to ~30 because I'm on a motorcycle and I have cars ride my ass, clearly pissed off at my slow speed. To my amazement, they then proceed to angrily pull into the school parking lot and drop off their own kids.
- They are likely mad that their kid misses the bus which makes them late to work which makes them fall behind.
  Not defending asshole behavior but I've seen enough parents race through my small neighborhood to drop off their kid at the bus stop.
  
  So you're saying they're bad drivers and also bad at teaching their kids punctuality

The only near miss accident I've been in was next to a school, there were buses lined up at the side perfectly hiding a small parking lot and a small entrance gap. As I was heading down the main road I was being cautious, and just as I passed the gap me and my instructor both freaked the hell out and gunned it because someone in an SUV ignored the blind spots and just sped through the gap in the buses as fast as they could without looking for any oncoming traffic. Missed by maybe 6 inches, what is wrong with people
- I saw a teenager get hit crossing at a crosswalk in front of a school. Red light, driver in the left turn lane didn't stop behind the line as the girl was crossing. She ended up on the hood and tossed.
  I guess the only reason she wasn't severely injured was that she was hit by a car and not a monster truck.

I have to leave extra early during the school year because if I don't it takes like 5-10 minutes just to get through the section of the neighborhood that has the bus stop (which is in the middle of the neighborhood for some reason instead of by the entrance where it would make sense) because both sides of the street are lined with parents waiting on the bus in their cars and the street is only wide enough for one car to pass through at a time. They sit there and wait longer than it would take to just drive their kid to the fucking school.

in my commute there is a small school i think a kindergarten right on the exit of a highway, there atleast half a dozen "drive safely" white signs with a bunch of flowers and toys on them, around the intersection. Extra fucked thing is those are just the ones that the families still maintain...

Schools, neighborhoods, cities, suburbs, all far too crowded.

Or live near a church and have assholes park in front of your gate despite a sign saying not to.

I live in a suburban part of a medium sized US city. There is a school nearby that has similar problems.
situated on a 2 lane collector road with bike lanes
lots of no parking signs -they set up a bunch of cones and have crossing guards all around
there are school zone flashers
Despite All This
people park in doubled up bike lane/no parking area all the time and the way the cones are set up encourages it
people swing their doors open into traffic and cross wherever they want
during off times, the school has a sign forbidding use of their parking lot so people park in the bike lanes
Luckily, the speed limit is only 30 so when school is in letting out I take the lane and anyone that doesn't like it can choke on a bottle of tire sealant.
My city is generally responsive when enough people comment on something and in general, you are likely to get a sentence or two back no matter what you comment on. I'm afraid to comment on this because the people picking up their kids in cars outnumber the cyclists and I forsee the school holding firm on closing their lot and they'll probably quote something stupid like liability or security. Is it not also a liability if a kid steps out from behind a parked car and gets squished by an F350 Crew Cab Mega Hemi Coal Roaler? In any case, I think the more likely outcome would be accommodating the cars and moving the bikes into the road with sharrows or doing something like that.
If I was in charge, I'd put a speed table at each end of the school zone, narrow all crosswalks to the minimum acceptable distance and put the bike lanes behind a 6inch wide curb to make it more obvious that you cannot park there. I also want these lifted Ford Excursion drivers to watch us casually pedal past the traffic jam they create every single day. I'd force the school to open their lot where capacity permits and I'd start ticketing the shit out of anyone who stows up traffic in the area or parks where it is not allowed. There is a trail just south of the school that leads to a grocery store maybe 1/4 mile away. That's where the car drivers could best pick up their kids. All the tickets should easily pay for the speed tables and upgrading the bike lanes and walking paths.

This is a case all over. At uni I rented near a elementet school (year 1-7 which is 5/6 to 12/13 years old in Norway) and it was massive driving hazards there as well. My aunt also worked an elementary school and they had to have staff patrol the drop off/pick-up area each day, and put up barriers and chicanes because of dangerous driving by stressed parents.
I now deliver my kid by foot to kindergarten and here they built a proper delivery zone for both schools and kindergarten forcing people to drop school children (that can walk alone) far off and a well planned logistical sound one for the kindergarten. Not perfect but it's something

I think the "Stuck in traffic" series on YouTube helped to ignite my radicalization.

Oh, I thought you were going to talk about kids drunk driving massive raised trucks with trump flags and truck nuts
Fuck kids, fuck cars, and fuck kids in cars

89 comments