School Driving Safety...AGAIN

  I missed Father's Day....again. In my head, I had these wonderful thoughts on John and the amazing father he is. I had planned to talk about my own dad and how I wish he was still here. And how lucky you are if yours is still alive. But I'll save those for next year.....FYI I said the same thing last year!

  Today though I want to rant about drivers. Not just any drivers. Parents...who drive. Specifically, parents who drive their children to school. I've talked about this issue before but weekly it drives me insane. Insane. 

  Let's start with the easiest one. You can't park on the sidewalk in front of the school. That means don't drive up on it to let your child out. You can't turn off the engine and walk your child over to the fence. You can't leave the drivers and back seat doors open and chat with your child. Why can't you do these things you may ask? Because children are walking on the sidewalk!! Where they are supposed to be! When you park there, even for a few seconds, those children must walk around your car. Sometimes that means stepping out into the road! Use some common sense.

  U-turns. Don't do them in front of the school. Ever. You are not the only vehicle on the street. Yes, yes I know you have to get to work. But there are children, again those damn kids ruining your morning, who are walking or biking. And you seem to absolutely need to make that u-turn in the crosswalk. But hey they aren't your kids so what does it matter if you scare them or worse case scenario.....hit them.

  Speeding in a school zone or residential street during bus pickup times. What possible difference could 15 seconds have on your commute? Let me answer that for you.......NONE! Your children are now safely on the bus so it's ok for you to hit 70 km/hr driving past my house? MY child is trying to walk to his bus. He's not safe from you yet. Guaranteed you would be banging on my door, yelling at me if the roles were reversed. And with no sidewalks on this street, it's even more dangerous.

  There are 7 school days left this year. Let's try something new for those days. Drive into the parking lot or park your car on a side street. Walk with your child to the gate. Walk back to your car. Drive slowly and patiently away. Speed all you want on the highway I don't care. Just stop putting my child's life in jeopardy because you don't want to be late for work, or the gym or whatever the hell you have planned for the morning.

  Maybe we need common sense testing added to the driver's exam.....at least in Ottawa.

  Ang