What a day I'm having - this is my second AIBU today!
Just got back from taking dd swimming. It is in a leisure centre pool on a quiet street with a small infant school nearby. There's a 20mph limit with speed bumps and a crossing a few metres away from the school and leisure centre, but if you're coming from the leisure centre then you probably have to walk 30secs past the school to use the crossing, then kind of go back on yourself if you see what I mean?
As we were leaving, 2 teachers (or a teacher and a TA, not sure) were leading approx 20 pupils back from the leisure centre where they'd obviously been swimming. They were well-behaved and walking in pairs. They all stopped at the speed bump which is between the leisure centre and the school, just as I was approaching it in my car. I'd only just pulled away so was going loads less than 20 and just as I was driving over the bump I heard the teacher shout "whoa, stop, everyone!" This was ridiculous as the children were immaculately behaved and weren't attempting to go anywhere. She then carried on with "That's a dangerous driver. She wasn't using her eyes and ears like we do." I guess they'd been learning how to cross safely.
Anyway, I got annoyed and stopped the car as soon as I could. There were no other cars anywhere, either moving or parked so it was obviously me she meant. I said to the teacher that they weren't at the crossing therefore I wasn't sure if they wanted to cross or not, and that as a teacher myself (at a school with speed bumps outside!) I'd seen loads of near misses caused by children deciding to assume the speed bumps were official crossing points and that pedestrians had priority. The children were not going anywhere so it was not dangerous for me to drive past them but I made the point that if they were learning about road safety, surely they should use crossings where possible? The teacher said it was to get them back quicker and therefore have more time in the pool, and wouldn't I want my child to have that benefit? I replied "not if it means encouraging her to disregard road safety guidelines, I'd rather have her safe than get an extra minute or two in the pool." The teacher tutted and told me I obviously didn't understand how school trips work (I regularly organise residential trips for 50 pupils both in the UK and abroad and have led groups of 80+ around London in rush hour) and then led the pupils away.
AIBU to have challenged her? Just couldn't stand the passive-aggressive comment and then the assumption that I didn't know how to cross a road with children - grrr! Just hate the idea of these children crossing that (or any other, busier) road on their own in the future and getting into an accident.