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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU in thinking the first day of term is going to be lively.

40 replies

AuntieCJ · 17/04/2019 10:28

I live near a primary school where there have been constant problems with dangerous parking by parents.

At home time both sides of the road are lined with cars half on, half off the pavement. This hardly leaves room for single traffic to get through.

On the way past yesterday I noticed bollards like these. But closer together. I think I'll avoid that lane once the schools go back. Parents have almost come to blows about the parking several times and the staff are constantly calling the police to clear them away.

AIBU in thinking the first day of term is going to be lively.

OP posts:

Acis · 17/04/2019 11:58

Close up, those bollards look remarkably like pencils with erasers on top!

I think that may be the point ...

IncrediblySadToo · 17/04/2019 12:03

Close up, those bollards look remarkably like pencils with erasers on top!

...

I think that may be the point ...

Nah. The point is in the ground.

IncrediblySadToo · 17/04/2019 12:03

😜🤪

RavenLG · 17/04/2019 12:04

They’ve started putting temporary/moveable ones on the pavement outside the primary here. Not because people park on that pavement but because people are mounting the pavement to drive on it to avoid having to wait for the traffic coming the other way to pass!

That is terrifying. It's bad enough when people do this anywhere, but at a school where kids are running around is genuinely terrifying. Arseholes would be the first to complain if anything happened to their kids though.

Those bollards are very cool though and hopefully shows the school will take action against inconsiderate parkers.

The school closest to ours has those creepy 'children' shaped bollards. I think they're supposed to make drivers aware that children are around and to take care / slow down but they just creep me out every time i drive past. Especially since they've been defaced and someone painted all the eyes red....

SaveKevin · 17/04/2019 12:07

My children’s school have bollards. Parents still mount the pavement they just drive frontways up between the bollards not parallel. If anything it’s more dangerous. They are also all wonky where they’ve been hit.

SaveKevin · 17/04/2019 12:11

Not because people park on that pavement but because people are mounting the pavement to drive on it to avoid having to wait for the traffic coming the other way to pass!
I wish they’d do that at ours hgvs do this every day if they don’t want to wait. It drives me potty, I’ve been known to get very shouty and physically hit the cabs as lots of the kids walk on that pavement and they wouldn’t see them.

Acis · 17/04/2019 12:14

The trouble is that the bollards will drive the insanity into the nearby roads. I actually got as far as googling to see if it's worth suggesting these bollards to our local school till I realised that the problem would just move off the main road outside the school to the nearby side roads, of which ours is one.

BarefootHippieChick · 17/04/2019 12:17

Acis is right, bollards are great but will just push the problem further back. Our local council painted double yellows on all the roads right around school, parents just block the next streets instead now.

SaveKevin · 17/04/2019 12:25

My school has a car park a short walk away (staff will even walk your children to the car park), a crossing, a lollipop lady and bollards.
Yet people are still parking and driving dangerously. I don’t think there’s an answer, our schools were not built for driving and so many people have to drive now (although most manage not to be selfish arses)
American schools were built for it, ours were built to be in the heart of the community. The only thing I can think of is continuously ticketing the selfish arses.

NunoGoncalves · 17/04/2019 12:26

Close up, those bollards look remarkably like pencils with erasers on top!

.....Was this... Was this some sort of a joke??

AFingerofFudge · 17/04/2019 12:29

Off topic a bit but these are the bollards near a school in Paris.

PumpkinPie2016 · 17/04/2019 12:38

Great idea!

I don't do school pick up often as my husband does it, but when I do, the road outside the school is insane! There is a small car park next to school but it is full 30 mins before they finish so many parents double park/park in pavements.

Thing is, there is free parking in the village just a few minutes walk away! I always park in the village and walk up but so many absolutely will not walk more than a few feet!

PissOffPeppa · 17/04/2019 12:48

What a great idea! Where I used to work, the school was down a small cul-de-sac. Nothing else on this stretch of road, just the school at the end. Every day, parents would drive down and park on the pavement, and then not be able to turn around and get back out because of all the other cars doing the same thing. It was carnage. One boy was injured by somebody driving along the pavement and of course the head told all the parents what had happened, but it made no difference. Absolutely ridiculous. There were plenty of parking bays on the residential streets next to the cul-de-sac.

OddBoots · 17/04/2019 13:33

This was done near my DS's infant and junior schools. Maybe my view is tainted by the fact we always walked to school and lived too far for school traffic to be an issue but I think they are great.

It may push the problem out a bit but if it moves it from one road to (say) four neighbouring roads then hopefully it at least dilutes it a little. It also means that parents can let their children walk the last bit alone without the risk of being hit, great for letting them have gradual independence before going to secondary school.

DeathyMcDeathStarFace · 17/04/2019 15:04

Great bollards, I would love to be there the first day back just to watch the expressions on the faces of the parents who don't know the bollards have been put in, especially those who couldn't be bothered to get their children sorted early enough to not just turn up 5 seconds before the bell goes. (But I'd also feel sorry for those with children with SN etc who have genuine reasons for being late).

At our primary they issue a free parking pass for cars you apply for (they put car reg. on pass) which enables free parking in the Sainsburys' and community centre car parks 500 yards away. You get 15 mins either side of the bell. There is also a quiet road behind school a few people can park on. But you still find (normally the same) people parking on the zig zags, parking right on the corner of the street right beside school, or parking on the path at the roundabout at the other side of school, often they are arriving really late so think that entitles them to park dangerously.

It became such an issue they are one of the reasons the head or other senior member of staff stands outside the gates before school to greet incoming children, parents, carers etc. Also a traffic warden comes around, taking turns with two other schools. He has been seen to have I have earwigged conversations with bad parkers and they have been warned they will be ticketed next time they are caught. He comes around randomly so no one knows when he will be there to avoid parking badly on one particular day a week. He also sometimes comes for one day, or sometimes a few days in a row, so you can't think "Traffic warden has been here today so I am safe parking nearer school tomorrow."

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