I know I'm not. But I am unreasonably angry.

[Cortana]

DS's school has a lollipop person (she is ace) who helps them cross over the road right outside of the school. I stand across the road as DS(8) feels like a big boy crossing "himself". He knows to wait till she's in the road and everything's stopped. All the children are really good actually, good road safety awareness in general.

SO WHY DO PEOPLE SEE THE LOLLIPOP PERSON STICK HER BIG LOLLIPOP OUT, WATCH HER STEP OUT AND KEEP GOING! FFS!

She waits for a lull, not like she's leaping out in dark clothing. They just don't stop for her.

She nearly got run over a few weeks ago and today 3 vans went through when she was clearly indicating and trying to step out with 30+ children waiting at the side of the road. How she doesn't whack the cars as they go by in a rage I'll never know.

The dark nights are coming too, is there anything I can do other than suppress my seething rage at the other side of the road? If I ring the council will they send someone out to take reg plates? Can the police do anything?

[pjmama]

I would talk to the school and ask if they are planning to contact council/police if it's an ongoing problem. If not, offer to do it on their behalf? Not sure what they'll do, but I would want it monitored and a few fines handed out to offenders.

[ewaczarlie]

get your phone out and start snapping. then send the photos to the council/police (or who ever deals with that). or if you need some fun get some pain filled water baloons and start throwing them at the windscreens of such drivers ;)

[ewaczarlie]

thats meant to read paint filled but if you can fill them with pain all the better

[StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes]

a pain filled water balloon sounds ace, not so much if it were filled with paint. bit dodgy I should think

[StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes]

x posted

[MammaTJ]

Take pictures or contact the PCSOs for the area. Do not throw paint filled balloons, though I understand wanting to.

[RyleDup]

This happened in Sheffield a few years back. People used to actually drive at the lollipop lady. They solved the problem by having no lollipop person at all! Not a great solution.

[ewaczarlie]

geeze the ballon thing was meant as a joke

[Cortana]

I think I would reach unimaginable levels of rage if they stopped our Lollipop person Ryle, she is amazing, takes the safety of the children so seriously (and has been know to tell off parents who park across the drives of local residents). I always make sure DS says thank you to her.

Arf at the idea of paint filled balloons ewa. Next time I feel the rage I will think of that and just smile at the idea of it!

Ok, thanks to the responses I no longer feel unreasonable in my rage. I will go to police, school and will take pen and paper tomorrow. All the company vans who do it can expect a snotty phone call and a bad review on their fb pages about their crappy driving and endangering of children and staff.

[jjuice]

There is a lolly on my way to work and I always stop for her, have ended up chatting to her when it's quiet she says she wishes everyone was like me as she has had her stick clipped many a time before now, lucky it wasn't her or a child. They have the school caretaker stood outside with a two way radio and a camera and he reports anyone straight away and takes pictures.

That said there is another lollipop lady outside a secondary school nearby who I think everyone in the whole area hates. She walks into the middle of the road and stops the traffic as soon as she sees a child coming out of the gates or halfway up the street and stays there until every child in a 4 mile area has crossed. The traffic is horrendous around there and it's pretty much down to the lollipop lady as it clears as soon as you are past her.
I don't think she is helping kids learn to cross safely they never ever have to stand on the kerb and look for traffic, they always just cross immediately.

[MrsCantSayAnything]

Oh agree! Take photos!

[MammaBrussels]

Call the local paper they could publish photos of the drivers who ignore the crossing.

[TessCowDirect]

Lollipop lady near us sticks her lollipop out completely horizontal (like a barrier).

The traffic always stops.

[CremeEggThief]

YANBU! I often think our local lollipop ladies and men put their lives at risk every single day :(.

[Cortana]

Agreed Creme

Ours is amazing jjuice, really helps the children, talks them over, makes sure that they know when to wait.

After this thread I have decided to get her something nice for Christmas. Such an unappreciated job.

[JamieandtheMagicTorch]

Because people are utter tossers sadly.

Yanbu

[rollmeover]

It really is bad isnt it - why does the thirty seconds that it takes to stop seem to be too much for some people. The traffic police are usually very good at responding to local concerns, e.g. If enough people complain about a "problem" area they monitor it for a while to see if action is needed. Could you, the school, some other parents try and speak directly to the traffic cops in your area and get them to come and have a "presense" for a few mornings one week. That might be enough to put off some of the offenders, even for a short time.

[FryOneFatManic]

Under UK law it is an offence for a motorist not to stop if signalled to do so by a lollipop lady, otheriwse known as a crossing guard or patroller. So I would call the police and have a chat.

[Iactuallydothinkso]

Theyre not actually allowed to "stop" the traffic as such. They either have to wait for benevolent drivers both ways or a safe gap.

[Fakebook]

Write to the council and ask for traffic lights to be put up there.

[sallysparrow157]

I was told that, on the lollipop lady sign, the black line is for writing down the numberplates of cars that don't stop in chalk (this may be a complete crock of shit as the lollipop lady I asked about it had never heard of it) - maybe get her some nice chalk for Christmas??

[sallysparrow157]

Wikipedia thinks I'm right though! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_guard

[Cortana]

That's incorrect Iactuallydothinkso

"Under UK law it is an offence for a motorist not to stop if signalled to do so by a patroller. In the past patrollers only had the authority to stop the traffic for children. However, the Transport Act 2000 changed the law was so that a patroller had the authority to stop the traffic for any pedestrian."

Email has been sent to police and I've had a response saying it's been passed to my local policing team. Emailed the school.

[MrsCurly]

A lollipop lady was run over and killed in our city last year