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I'm really starting to dread the drive to pick up Oldest Daughter at preschool every afternoon. (Longness warning)
For starters, the school, while really good itself, is at the edge of one of the less savory neighborhoods in town, and I have to drive through that neighborhood to get there. Preschool also lets out at the same time as many of the other schools in town, no fewer than three of which I have to pass on the drive. This means that not only do I have to share the roads with school buses that stop every three blocks or so to let kids off, I have to deal with all the middle- and high-schoolers wandering all over the streets thinking they're invincible because they're pedestrians.
Incident the First: I'm waiting at a red light at an intersection notorious for red-light runners. This intersection is just far enough away from any of the area schools that there isn't a crossing guard stationed there at school start/end. There are crosswalks and pedestrian signals complete with buttons to press, but none of the teenagers walking home care about that. I saw four idiot kids just meander across the four-lane cross street as cars were trying to drive through the intersection. At least one of them had to stop when the kids got to his lane. Not once did the kids hurry up or show anything but smugness at how they got one up on the drivers. At least another student actually stopped to wait for the crossing signal.
Incident the Second: I made it to the preschool and was about to turn into the parking lot when a trio of adults started moseying across the parking lot entrance. Not wanting to run them down and face jail time and emotional damage, I waited patiently for them to cross. They didn't even look my way as they continued across at a granny pace, and then one of them decided to stop right in the middle of the entrance to fiddle with something, her buddy stopping with her. I think they may have been trying to light a cigarette.
And then they just stood there, fiddling. After a few moments, I honked once, politely, to let them know I was still waiting to pull safely into the lot. The guy glanced at me and held up a finger in that "Just a minute" gesture, as though I was the unreasonable one! At least it was the pointer finger.
After a bit longer, they finally finished moseying back onto the sidewalk and I was able to pull into the lot.
But seriously? They couldn't wait until they were all the way on the sidewalk to stop and fiddle with whatever?
Incident the Third: So I picked up Oldest and headed back into the not-so-good neighborhood to head home. This part of town is a warren of one-way streets, so while it's a straight shot to the school, I have to drive a bit out of the way to get back to the main road to head home. So I do so.
Well, it seems to be common for these one-way streets in neighborhoods like this (at least in this town) to be gathering places. Not front yards, not sidewalks, not even driveways. The roads themselves. On one block, there were a good fifteen high-schoolers just hanging out in the road, some riding their tiny stunt bikes around in figure eights through the driving lane, some just standing in the middle of the road and giving dirty looks to the other cars and I that actually wanted to get somewhere. Very few bothered to get out of the way, leaving us to inch between a herd of kids and several parked cars to get past there.
Incident From a Few Weeks Ago: I mentioned earlier the crossing guards stationed around the schools. My apartment complex is across the street from one school and right next to another, so we get crossing guards for three blocks around during the drop-off/pick-up times to help keep the kids safe. It makes sense. Kids are stupid when it comes to crossing streets safely, and parents are clueless when it comes to driving around schools. I pass two of the crossing guards every day to drop off or pick up my daughter from preschool, and have to deal with it. One of the two is at the bottom of the hill, and his job basically amounts to pressing the crosswalk button and making sure everyone is paying attention.
This one day, I was waiting for the light to change so I could go through. The timing is such that the crosswalk signal goes before the light for the street I was on. Pedestrians had a walk signal (all directions; all driving traffic has red lights and No Turn on Red signs). The signal is already blinking, so pedestrians shouldn't enter the intersection at that point, right?
From the left, this older woman I've seen around a lot comes toward the intersection. She's kind of "off." She's been seen peering into first-floor apartment windows in our complex, and once set a can of Arizona tea and a bottle of sasparilla on the picnic table in our fenced-in courtyard and then left, and didn't come back for them. So already I'm dreading her approach to the intersection.
Sure enough, the pedestrian signal turns to "Don't Walk" right as she reaches the road. The crossing guard gestures for her to stop. She doesn't.
Instead, she walks right out into the road, crossing in front of all the cars that now have a (very short) green light and delaying us longer. And the crossing guard, being Not a Cop, can't do much about it. Only one car waiting in line got to go thanks to her, and we had a line a block long.
Bonus Driving Incident: In addition to the stupid pedestrian tricks today, I almost got backed into by a van.
I was driving down one of the two-way residential streets in the nicer part of town. Ahead of me, this white van pulls into a driveway. It's one of the kind that only has the front windows. You know, a kidnapper van. I assumed it didn't see me coming (in my large, bright red Jeep), because it immediately started to back out of the driveway again to straighten itself out. I hit the brakes hard because I wasn't expecting it and would've hit their rear bumper had I not stopped. They stop too, apparently just noticing me. Assuming at this point that they'll let me by, seeing as I'm in the road and they're just in a driveway (I know, my mistake for assuming), I start to go again.
Only to find them backing toward me once I'm right behind them.
I hit the gas at that point before my side got crushed in, and glanced in my rearview to see that they'd stopped again, apparently once they remembered there were other cars in the area.
I am soooo looking forward to kindergarten next year. I won't have to drive halfway across town to pick up Oldest then.
For starters, the school, while really good itself, is at the edge of one of the less savory neighborhoods in town, and I have to drive through that neighborhood to get there. Preschool also lets out at the same time as many of the other schools in town, no fewer than three of which I have to pass on the drive. This means that not only do I have to share the roads with school buses that stop every three blocks or so to let kids off, I have to deal with all the middle- and high-schoolers wandering all over the streets thinking they're invincible because they're pedestrians.
Incident the First: I'm waiting at a red light at an intersection notorious for red-light runners. This intersection is just far enough away from any of the area schools that there isn't a crossing guard stationed there at school start/end. There are crosswalks and pedestrian signals complete with buttons to press, but none of the teenagers walking home care about that. I saw four idiot kids just meander across the four-lane cross street as cars were trying to drive through the intersection. At least one of them had to stop when the kids got to his lane. Not once did the kids hurry up or show anything but smugness at how they got one up on the drivers. At least another student actually stopped to wait for the crossing signal.
Incident the Second: I made it to the preschool and was about to turn into the parking lot when a trio of adults started moseying across the parking lot entrance. Not wanting to run them down and face jail time and emotional damage, I waited patiently for them to cross. They didn't even look my way as they continued across at a granny pace, and then one of them decided to stop right in the middle of the entrance to fiddle with something, her buddy stopping with her. I think they may have been trying to light a cigarette.
And then they just stood there, fiddling. After a few moments, I honked once, politely, to let them know I was still waiting to pull safely into the lot. The guy glanced at me and held up a finger in that "Just a minute" gesture, as though I was the unreasonable one! At least it was the pointer finger.
After a bit longer, they finally finished moseying back onto the sidewalk and I was able to pull into the lot.But seriously? They couldn't wait until they were all the way on the sidewalk to stop and fiddle with whatever?
Incident the Third: So I picked up Oldest and headed back into the not-so-good neighborhood to head home. This part of town is a warren of one-way streets, so while it's a straight shot to the school, I have to drive a bit out of the way to get back to the main road to head home. So I do so.
Well, it seems to be common for these one-way streets in neighborhoods like this (at least in this town) to be gathering places. Not front yards, not sidewalks, not even driveways. The roads themselves. On one block, there were a good fifteen high-schoolers just hanging out in the road, some riding their tiny stunt bikes around in figure eights through the driving lane, some just standing in the middle of the road and giving dirty looks to the other cars and I that actually wanted to get somewhere. Very few bothered to get out of the way, leaving us to inch between a herd of kids and several parked cars to get past there.
Incident From a Few Weeks Ago: I mentioned earlier the crossing guards stationed around the schools. My apartment complex is across the street from one school and right next to another, so we get crossing guards for three blocks around during the drop-off/pick-up times to help keep the kids safe. It makes sense. Kids are stupid when it comes to crossing streets safely, and parents are clueless when it comes to driving around schools. I pass two of the crossing guards every day to drop off or pick up my daughter from preschool, and have to deal with it. One of the two is at the bottom of the hill, and his job basically amounts to pressing the crosswalk button and making sure everyone is paying attention.
This one day, I was waiting for the light to change so I could go through. The timing is such that the crosswalk signal goes before the light for the street I was on. Pedestrians had a walk signal (all directions; all driving traffic has red lights and No Turn on Red signs). The signal is already blinking, so pedestrians shouldn't enter the intersection at that point, right?
From the left, this older woman I've seen around a lot comes toward the intersection. She's kind of "off." She's been seen peering into first-floor apartment windows in our complex, and once set a can of Arizona tea and a bottle of sasparilla on the picnic table in our fenced-in courtyard and then left, and didn't come back for them. So already I'm dreading her approach to the intersection.
Sure enough, the pedestrian signal turns to "Don't Walk" right as she reaches the road. The crossing guard gestures for her to stop. She doesn't.
Instead, she walks right out into the road, crossing in front of all the cars that now have a (very short) green light and delaying us longer. And the crossing guard, being Not a Cop, can't do much about it. Only one car waiting in line got to go thanks to her, and we had a line a block long.
Bonus Driving Incident: In addition to the stupid pedestrian tricks today, I almost got backed into by a van.
I was driving down one of the two-way residential streets in the nicer part of town. Ahead of me, this white van pulls into a driveway. It's one of the kind that only has the front windows. You know, a kidnapper van. I assumed it didn't see me coming (in my large, bright red Jeep), because it immediately started to back out of the driveway again to straighten itself out. I hit the brakes hard because I wasn't expecting it and would've hit their rear bumper had I not stopped. They stop too, apparently just noticing me. Assuming at this point that they'll let me by, seeing as I'm in the road and they're just in a driveway (I know, my mistake for assuming), I start to go again.
Only to find them backing toward me once I'm right behind them.
I hit the gas at that point before my side got crushed in, and glanced in my rearview to see that they'd stopped again, apparently once they remembered there were other cars in the area.I am soooo looking forward to kindergarten next year. I won't have to drive halfway across town to pick up Oldest then.