Parents who drive their kids to school\bus stops might be the worst people ever

[Exterous]

I didn't use to think this but then I saw the chaos that descended upon my commute when a school that didn't offer bus service opened up with limited access routes. The amount of speeding, illegal u-turns, red light running etc was mind boggling not to mention detrimental to my commute time

So I take the long way to work which, unfortunately, runs close to another school. I pass car after car 'parked' badly by various bus stops turning two lane roads into one lane roads so snowflake doesn't have to wait outside. (Depending on what school they go to they are 1 to 2 miles away from the school). Most do this every day regardless of temperature or lack of rain

I encountered a new one this morning though. The car in front of me stopped in the middle of the road and the woman got out to flag down the bus going in the opposite direction. They talked for a bit and then the woman motioned to her car. Two kids got out and got on the bus. Meanwhile some 15-20 cars backed up behind her. WE WERE HALF A FUCKING MILE FROM THE SCHOOL!!!!! Seriously? You feel like you need to cause a traffic backup so your kids can get on a bus in the middle of a road?

There are many days I dislike living between two school campuses...

(yes I know I could move)

 

[gorcorps]

That's pretty annoying, but I imagine she was running late so hopefully it's not an every day thing.

I'm in a sparsely populated area here, so the buses pick kids up at their driveways. A lot of times the parents are out there and have a chat with the driver. I hope it's important, because even though the kid is on the bus the stop sign is still up and I can't pass while they finish their conversation. Seems pretty rude to hold people up like that.

 

[rudeguy]

Over here, there are a lot of schools that don't have buses. I have no choice but to drive lil rudeguy to school. When I was in middle and high school, it was either walk 2 miles in the snow or catch a ride with mom.

 

[KeithTalent]

We were in San Francisco a month or so ago and were walking down a rather busy street, then noticed traffic was backed up for a couple of blocks. Figured there was an accident or something; nope, stupid parents picking up kids from school just stopping in the middle of the street obstructing everyone behind them. It was crazy; surprised there was not a road rage incident over it.

KT

 

[IronWing]

My personal favorite is the parents who wait at the school bus stop with their kids in the SUV. The bus comes, the red lights come on, the little sign swings out, the doors open, and only then do the doors on the SUV open and the kids pile out, all in a fluster seeming to only just realize a waiting school bus has materialized in front of them.

Then, and this the part that chaps my ass, after the kids get on the bus and take a minute or two to sit their butts in a seat, the door closes, the sign pulls in, and the red lights go off, in that briefest instant of time, that vanishing moment, the parent in the SUV peels out, throwing gravel in the air, and cuts in front of the line of waiting traffic and barrels on down the road as dropping their kids off has delayed their important day.

 

[vi edit]

*Parent with kids here*

I can't really excuse the idiocy at bus stops. But I can speak on the pickup situations. Don't blame the parents on that. Schools are really to blame here. The schools where I'm at have *zero* parking space. There's enough for about 8 cars to park on any given day.

What they make you do is come through a drive through loop that passes in front of the school. I have to show a "student pick up card" identifying myself as a parent of my kid before she's allowed to get in a car. Now take this times 100 cars. It takes time. It takes space. And due to the nature of how schools are placed in most neighborhoods there just isn't a good way to redirect that much backed up traffic without being a pain to the residents of the area. Combine that with stupidity and impatience and it's just a bad recipe for vehicular shenanigans.

 

[highland145]

Well, it's quite apparent that none of you assholes have a precious snowflake.






Many years ago, there was a bus that would stop at the apartment complex at the front of our neighborhood and sit for 10 minutes, waiting on the damned kids to even show up. The one day that I got so pissed I passed on the left....there was an unmarked cop just behind the bus. He read me the riot act but didn't give me the 6 point ticket he could have. He was pissed about the bus too.

 

[Exterous]

Over here, there are a lot of schools that don't have buses. I have no choice but to drive lil rudeguy to school. When I was in middle and high school, it was either walk 2 miles in the snow or catch a ride with mom.

I have unfortunate news for you. You might be a 'worst person ever'

 

[Linflas]

*Parent with kids here*

I can't really excuse the idiocy at bus stops. But I can speak on the pickup situations. Don't blame the parents on that. Schools are really to blame here. The schools where I'm at have *zero* parking space. There's enough for about 8 cars to park on any given day.

What they make you do is come through a drive through loop that passes in front of the school. I have to show a "student pick up card" identifying myself as a parent of my kid before she's allowed to get in a car. Now take this times 100 cars. It takes time. It takes space. And due to the nature of how schools are placed in most neighborhoods there just isn't a good way to redirect that much backed up traffic without being a pain to the residents of the area. Combine that with stupidity and impatience and it's just a bad recipe for vehicular shenanigans.

You really want some entertainment imagine that situation at a school that consists of 60% children of parents from various countries south of the Rio Grande.

 

[rudeguy]

I have unfortunate news for you. You might be a 'worst person ever'

I try!

Believe me, I hate the traffic and stupidity in the mornings as well. I drive one street about 8 miles and there are at least 5 schools along the way. Traffic slows way down or stops around them. It sucks but I deal with it. I get to work 20 minutes early instead of 30 minutes early

 

[IronWing]

*Parent with kids here*

I can't really excuse the idiocy at bus stops. But I can speak on the pickup situations. Don't blame the parents on that.

I 100% blame the parents. We have the same setup in my neighborhood. Half the kids being dropped off live within easy walking distance. The others have school buses available. The parents don't let/require their kids to walk or won't use the buses. I won't get into the psychoanalysis of the parents or what can be done about the situation but I've had plenty of wheel time to develop theories and they usually involve rape by yaks.

 

[Scarpozzi]

My sister lives in a school zone. She said the parent/student drop off there is a nightmare. I can imagine people changing their routine and utilizing the buses in that situation helps them AND others.

A lot of schools have closed in recent years too...which has meant the ones remaining have absorbed new students.

I drive through a school zone on the way to work, but the city had enough foresight or hindsight to fix the crossings and roads so traffic doesn't go 15-20mph. It just gets congested. The school itself is off the main road, so parents turn off the main road and do their drop offs. Buses also have to take the side route to do their drop off and pickup.

 

[vi edit]

I 100% blame the parents. We have the same setup in my neighborhood. Half the kids being dropped off live within easy walking distance. The others have school buses available. The parents don't let/require their kids to walk or won't use the buses. I won't get into the psychoanalysis of the parents or what can be done about the situation but I've had plenty of wheel time to develop theories and they usually involve rape by yaks.

Again, easy to point fingers.

We are three miles from school. There's over 100 kids in my subdivision that are that distance. That's not walkable by any means. I know many other schools that are similar in my area due to how the city districts things. With many schools and young kids the bus won't drop a kid off unless a parent is present at the stop. And based on where the pickup is you may be blocks away from your house. And the bus could have as much as a 20 minute variance in what time it comes around. Instead of sitting and waiting for the bus it's just easier to drive over to the school and pick them up at a defined time.

 

[pete6032]

There's a thread for that!

 

[IronWing]

Again, easy to point fingers.

We are three miles from school. There's over 100 kids in my subdivision that are that distance. That's not walkable by any means. I know many other schools that are similar in my area due to how the city districts things. With many schools and young kids the bus won't drop a kid off unless a parent is present at the stop. And based on where the pickup is you may be blocks away from your house. And the bus could have as much as a 20 minute variance in what time it comes around. Instead of sitting and waiting for the bus it's just easier to drive over to the school and pick them up at a defined time.

Vote for change.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Man, there is premature geriatrics up in this place,...

 

[vi edit]

Vote for change.

It's not a democracy any more. Particularly for anything relating to kids. All it takes is one person to be offended or scream loud enough and policy gets changed overnight.

 

[Genx87]

I didn't use to think this but then I saw the chaos that descended upon my commute when a school that didn't offer bus service opened up with limited access routes. The amount of speeding, illegal u-turns, red light running etc was mind boggling not to mention detrimental to my commute time

So I take the long way to work which, unfortunately, runs close to another school. I pass car after car 'parked' badly by various bus stops turning two lane roads into one lane roads so snowflake doesn't have to wait outside. (Depending on what school they go to they are 1 to 2 miles away from the school). Most do this every day regardless of temperature or lack of rain

I encountered a new one this morning though. The car in front of me stopped in the middle of the road and the woman got out to flag down the bus going in the opposite direction. They talked for a bit and then the woman motioned to her car. Two kids got out and got on the bus. Meanwhile some 15-20 cars backed up behind her. WE WERE HALF A FUCKING MILE FROM THE SCHOOL!!!!! Seriously? You feel like you need to cause a traffic backup so your kids can get on a bus in the middle of a road?

There are many days I dislike living between two school campuses...

(yes I know I could move)

In MN they wouldn't allow those kids on a bus they aren't assigned. And it is effing stupid to drive your kid to the bus stop and sit there. Why not just drive them to school?

 

[IronWing]

It's not a democracy any more. Particularly for anything relating to kids. All it takes is one person to be offended or scream loud enough and policy gets changed overnight.

Then why aren't you screaming? Claiming "we are not a democracy anymore" is a cop out.

 

[I Saw OJ]

I think the OP is spot on. My step-son goes to a school in the most affluent districts in the county and for some reason they have no bus service so we have to drop him off and pick him up. Let me tell you, its a mad house and SUV's and dip shits parking and doing whatever they want in front of that school as they wait to pick up their kids.

 

[Mursilis]

The worst offense to me are the parents who drive the little snowflakes to the bus stop just up the street, no more than a quarter mile (with sidewalks, even!), if that. No wonder so many kids these days are little butterballs, if mommy and daddy won't even make 'em walk a few steps.

 

[kranky]

I wonder how I ever survived, walking a half-mile to elementary school from age 5 through age 10 and having to cross 4 streets. No bus.

 

[mmntech]

There's a bus stop right at the end of my street. It's a crescent, and the farthest distance you'd have to walk is about 800ft according to Google Maps. Yet every day this woman piles her kids in the SUV and drives them.

 

[bshole]

I wonder how I ever survived, walking a half-mile to elementary school from age 5 through age 10 and having to cross 4 streets. No bus.

I had to walk 5 miles through marshy swampland from the age of 4 to get to WORK! School was for the rich kids.

 

[DrPizza]

In my old city, when I grew up, there weren't buses, unless you lived outside the city. You wanted to get to school? You walked. (Gasp! The horror!). I remember walking my girlfriend and her friends home after school my junior and senior year. 28 blocks. Started with a group of about 10 friends, and by the time we got 20 blocks away, it was down to 3 or 4.