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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that lollipop ladies (and men!) at pedestrian crossings are a waste of money?

47 replies

AKMD · 20/01/2011 12:06

Can someone explain to me the point of having lollipop ladies standing at pedestrian crossings to wait for children to come up with their parents, press the button, wait for the green man, and then walk out into the middle and hold up their sign to 'stop traffic'? Traffic has already stopped for the red light. Why are they there?! At some crossings on main roads in my area there are 2 at each crossing, one for each side. Seems a complete waste of money to me.

Also seems a bit pointless to have them on zebra crossings. Traffic has to stop for pedestrians anyway, the children are either young enough that their parents are with them or old enough to safely use a crossing on their own. All that seems to happen is that the lollipop lady stands in the middle, holding up cars for the mum 100m down the road, dawdling along while talking on her mobile and dragging DC. Why not let the crossing be used as intended in compliance with the law?

OP posts:

MorticiaAddams · 20/01/2011 12:13

Some children walk on their own to school and some people in cars are not the best at stopping at crossings. It's safer.

Original poster

AKMD · 20/01/2011 12:17

If a child walks on their own to school, either they are old enough to know how to use a crossing. IME of schools in this area at least, where a young child turns up at school without an accompanying adult, the school will contact the parent/guardian to make sure it doesn't happen again. The school will also not let a young child go home until they have seen the adult responsible for them.

OP posts:

emsyj · 20/01/2011 12:28

Have you never been ignored by motorists at a crossing? I have quite regularly, esp on zebra crossings. The point of the lollipop lady/man is to say, 'here we are, we're crossing now thank you' and make sure the motorists stop and STAY stopped for the time it takes the children to cross. The time allowed on the traffic lights is often quite short and children obviously can't always walk fast enough to get across before the impatient motorists start revving/beeping etc.

If all motorists were courteous and complied with the law then they wouldn't be necessary, but we are a long way away from that situation.

YABU

TheCrackFox · 20/01/2011 12:30

where I live a lot of the children walk to school by themselves and the lollipop lady is a Godsend.

"Why not let the crossing be used as intended in compliance with the law?" Because a lot of drivers are arseholes and think the law does not apply to them.

Still, if you think a couple of dead children is worth it good luck with your campaign.

Hassled · 20/01/2011 12:31

There is one near me by traffic lights/green man thing which I did think was a bit unnecessary but actually, watching her, she's often there holding the traffic when the lights have changed to green just because of the numbers of chidlren crossing. And people do jump traffic lights.

TheVisitor · 20/01/2011 12:31

What Crackfox said.

jonicomelately · 20/01/2011 12:34

YABU

Ripeberry · 20/01/2011 12:35

It gives someone a job! Even if they end up getting abuse every day

jessiealbright · 20/01/2011 12:36

Unfortunately, we need them. Motorists do not always drive safely.

Tragically, sometimes lollipop workers get run over.

In fact, another one was killed last week.

What chance does a small 8 year old have, then?

throckenholt · 20/01/2011 12:38

A friend's school has just lost theirs - and they are all really miffed by it.

I agree they are a bit redundant at zebra and pelican crossings - but they are very important where those technological ones aren't.

LindyHemming · 20/01/2011 12:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DooinMeCleanin · 20/01/2011 12:38

I agree with CrackFox. I have ranted many times about the drivers who speed over the Zebra crossing outside dd1's school without a care in the world and no thought at all to the children who are pouring out of the school and onto the road.

One of these days a child will get hit. I can only pray it is not serious.

There is crossing lady at a busy junction further down the road (who herself tells us she is frequently almost hit by impatient drivers ) but there is no funding for another traffic warden closer to the school.

Anniegetyourgun · 20/01/2011 12:39

God yeah... I remember reading an article years ago about a woman who'd started a road safety campaign after her 9-year-old son was killed on a zebra crossing. A car pulled up for them and she let the kid start across on his own, intending to teach him to cross the road safely on his own. A van swerved round the car and squished the kid. Well he didn't see him, did he, because the child was shorter than the car he was walking past. The judge didn't impose any penalty on the van driver because he was a nice young man who was earning a bit of cash to go to University and he didn't want to ruin his life. As the woman pointed out, her son never would go to university or drive a van or anything now. My own DS1 was 9 when I read it and the shiver that went through me at the time reverberates to this day whenever I'm reminded of it.

An adult in a white coat with a big bright sign saying STOP is harder to miss.

lesley33 · 20/01/2011 12:39

The lollipop lady near me does her job on a busy road where the nearest crossing is some way away. I didn't realise that some of them actually worked on a pedestrain crossing - although I understand the reasons.

coolascucumber · 20/01/2011 12:40

They took our lollipop lady away for a busy 3 way junction on a bend that is next to the local secondary school and en route to the primary school. Most parents now don't let their children walk to school by themselves, most drive and the secondary school kids have to play chicken with the traffic.

throckenholt · 20/01/2011 12:43

Because a lot of drivers are arseholes and think the law does not apply to them.

if that is the case then we need a campaign of plain clothes coppers catching them jumping lights and nicking them.

We should be much tougher on drivers not abiding by the law (including using mobile phones) - driving is a privilege not a right.

LindyHemming · 20/01/2011 12:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

AKMD · 21/01/2011 09:31

Ok, points taken. I think that lollipop ladies are a great idea but I think that having them on pedestrian crossings (especially traffic lights) is silly. Maybe it would be better to say that it is a misallocation of resources and they could be better used at points where there isn't a crossing but still a large number of children walking across the road to and from school.

OP posts:

bubblewrapped · 21/01/2011 09:36

crossings outside schools can be one of the most dangerous places for accidents..zebra crossings being much worse than pelican..

kids who are impatient and dont wait for the cars to stop.. drivers who are in a rush to get to work and not quite awake properly..

outside my school there were two fatal accidents over the years, one of them a teacher.. :(

legspinner · 21/01/2011 10:32

that's awful bubble.

I think people manning crossings are a great idea. Not every driver stops at a zebra crossing, and children shouldn't be crossing the road where there isn't a crossing anyway! The (unmanned) one my DCs have to cross is on a busy road with a bus stop just before it, so drivers overtaking the stopped bus can't often see whether anyone is crossing or not.

We don't have lollipop people here (NZ) but we have volunteer parents doing crossing duty, usually once per week after or before school. The year 6 DCs do it as well (in our city) for the traffic light crossing and are trained by policemen (am a bit nervous as both my DTs are going to be the big kids doing this next year).

eidsvold · 21/01/2011 10:38

we have them and our two are a godsend - at one point we also had them on a very major road with huge b-double lorries coming from a quarry - they were the only ones that would stop for the lollipop ladies. Other motorists would just drive straight through. Finally we got traffic lights at that crossing.

At the back of our school is anothe quite busy road in a dip as such and the lollipop ladies are there and are able to make sure everyone gets across the road safely. It isn't a marked crossing but one that has a children crossing sign and pavement dips to allow you to cross.

anewyear · 21/01/2011 10:42

I live in a village, we're I guess you could say we are semi rural, we have no pelican/zebra/traffic lights to cross at.

The council decided to get rid of our lollipop lady, as the Rat Run we have to cross to get to school wasnt deemed busy enough!!
The people who decided to make this cut back came out, and it was

approx 9.30am and again a couple of days later at 10am, not a clue obviously!!

FranSanDisco · 21/01/2011 10:45

We definitely need them here because arsehole parents are too busy looking for parking spaces right outside the school and forget to see the lights. The lolipop guy stops the children walking out even though the green man is showing as the cars don't aways stop. I was almost run over myself coming back home one morning. The lollipop man was in the middle of the road, I stepped out and a car rolled past me, missing me and him by inches - maybe doing 10 mph.

QuintessentialShadows · 21/01/2011 10:49

In addition to all this, I think it is good to have an adult presence outside school. Reassuring for the children that they are there.

darleneconnor · 21/01/2011 10:50

I think it'd be better and more efficient to put in more speed bumps and chicanes near schools.

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