Jobsworth lollipop man

[badheadday]

Due to moving house and not wanting to change my kids school we have to drive past a couple of other schools before we get to ours.

There is one particular lollipop man that seems to make a point of stopping as many cars as possible. He's constantly on the lookout for people walking towards the crossing and will stop cars before the pedestrians have even reached him. This includes parents that have already dropped their kids at school and clearly don't need any help to cross the road as they are fully grown competent adults. He has been known to cross a group of people, let one car go through and then stop the next car. Surely he needs to let at least a couple of cars through to help keep the traffic flowing?

Would I be unreasonable to complain about him?

[NativityDreaming]

YABU leave earlier if you need to ensure you have enough time and let the lollipop man do his job.

[SentDeliveredRead]

Don't report him, he is doing his job. Just allow extra time for your journey
It's no biggie

[starfishmummy]

Be careful what you wish for. I live near a zebra crossing that used to have a lollipop lady. I thought it was bad, but at least she did let some cars through occasionally. But now there is no lollipop lady and it's much much worse.

[WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll]

I remember it being a big thing when I was young that they were only supposed to help children cross. Have things changed?

I always thought the same, but it seems like we were both wrong (or at least are nowadays, if it changed at one point).

I can well understand helping disabled people and elderly people if they are frail and/or slow, but it seems so weird to me to have somebody there to stop the traffic to help the majority of adults cross, without a child in sight, just because there happens to be a school nearby; as every time a lollipop person stops the traffic, they are potentially putting themselves at risk.

[Cas112]

Every post man near me stops the road for adults who are not crossing with children. Probably in his job spec, leave him alone.

[Cas112]

@Cas112

Every post man near me stops the road for adults who are not crossing with children. Probably in his job spec, leave him alone.

Lolly pop man hahaah

[TableFlowerss]

@Comedycook

Just leave it. In the grand scheme of life's most awful people, an over zealous lollipop man is pretty low down on the list.

😂😂 that made me giggle

[Bimblybomeyelash]

Of course you can’t report. The priority outside schools, at drop off and pick up, is child safety. If there is too much traffic then drivers are free to choose an alternative route. Lots of the cars coming past our school in the morning are drivers trying to avoid the traffic on the main roads, basically using the route as a rat run. If they get stuck in Lolly pop traffic then good!

[5329871e]

Walkers should always come before motorists. You’re putting noxious fumes into the air. They’re not.

[starrynight87]

He's doing a good job protecting people. If you can't wait 1 minute for someone to cross the road safely, leave earlier.

[NapoleonOzmolysis]

Our lollipop man stops for returning parents - there's a constant stream of parents with and without kids so it's just easier for him to do it all and control the flow. We are all trained though - no one crosses until he says " And... Go" It's a fairly blind corner, the parking is dreadful and people race down there so he takes his life into his hands. I've seen some people stop inches from him and rev their engines, yell abuse - but they'd be there waiting far longer if he was replaced by a pelican crossing.

[Thatswhatmamasaid]

Agree he's doing his job, I would leave the house a little earlier instead.

[GoodnightGrandma]

We had one like this. I assume someone did complain as he had someone with a clipboard stood watching him one day.
One day he stopped the traffic for some kids who had got off the bus and were walking his way. They weren’t even crossing the road. He was an idiot.
Unfortunately people don’t seem to know how to cross a road these days, they think that they are entitled to step out on the crossing and you will stop. It’s this mentality that will injure people.
When I was a kid we had ‘commercials’ on the TV to show people how to cross the road , time to bring them back.

[viques]

Good for him. If drivers weren’t such entitled arses then all pedestrians would be safer crossing roads. How much of your precious time do you lose by waiting for people to cross the road safely OP, and what earth shattering contribution to humanity do you make daily with those extra few moments?

[1WildFlower]

You have too much time and privilege if you want to complain about a Lollipop Man. Get a hobby or something.

[Dojacatpaws]

He sounds great, if you don't like traffic jams stop being part of them

[lockdownmadnessdotcom]

There's no need for the nastier comments on here, but many drivers don't understand the rules of the road and won't give way to pedestrians so having the extra help from a lollipop man (sorry, school crossing patrol officer) is very welcome. And I don't mind them giving help to the parents, given that they are being considerate and not driving their kids to school.

[Sirzy]

You want to report him for doing his job?

[mummyh2016]

I agree OP there is this stupid cow I pass on my way to work who is the same, she's got a face like a smacked arse as well it's as though she loves winding drivers up. I have no problem stopping for her, but I do have an issue with her only letting one car past before she's back out there with her stick let a few past then go out, it might delay the people crossing by what 10 seconds opposed to the congestion she causes. Still how ridiculous for road users to feel entitled to use the road when pedestrians should take priority

[HarrietsChariot]

@5329871e

Walkers should always come before motorists. You’re putting noxious fumes into the air. They’re not.

Not sure whether stopping cars thus creating more fumes as they idle then accelerate again outside a school is the answer. The best way to reduce emmissions would be to have free-flowing traffic at a reasonable speed (presumably 20-30mph outside a school).

[mummyh2016]

@HarrietsChariot I agree, surely it's better to say stop the traffic every 30 seconds or a minute than to stop it every couple of seconds.

[Wauden]

@CoronaPeroni

It's part of the training to assist everyone across the crossing during a shift regardless of whether they have children or not.
Regarding stopping traffic before the pedestrians reach the crossing, some people will not wait and will cross as soon as they get there which confuses others waiting and they might all then decide to cross when it's not safe. Also if the patrol are on the opposite side of children running towards the crossing they are not in a position to stop them running across apart from shouting out. By being ahead of the game helps avoids this.

This.

[Viviennemary]

Oh leave him alone. He is only doing his job.

[SamMil]

@Comedycook

Just leave it. In the grand scheme of life's most awful people, an over zealous lollipop man is pretty low down on the list.

Agreed. If this is high up on your list of concerns, count yourself lucky!

[Sirzy]

If you have to drive past school at start or end of the day then you have to accept that you will be delayed because of school traffic.