To complain about the lolly pop lady

[Morph22010]

I have to drive ds to school about 10 miles away as he’s austistic and at specialist. No other viable way to get him there, we get a transport budget paid from council. I drive through a large village on way, not an alternative route. There is a school with a zebra crossing and lolly pop lady, have never really noticed much before just stopped when needed to then on my car. There’s been a new one there about 3 months and she crosses people across then if anyone is walking down road she’ll wait in road until thry get there then they cross as well. This is meaning the traffic can start to back up so there’s more of a wait in a queue than there used to be. There was a queue this morning, was in it maybe 7 mins then stopped again at crossing. Now the bit that’s annoyed me is that the parents were crossing back across the road and one had stopped and they’ve had a conversation in middle of the road, only about an extra 30 seconds but there were huge queues both ways. She seems a great lolly pop lady for getting people across the road but Aibu in thinking they should have some regard at least to the flow of traffic? My mornings are quite stressful anyway due to ds so I’m probably letting this stress me out more unduly

Yabu. Motorists need to learn some patience.

Most lolly pop men/ladies are lovely. On my drive to work I see a few. But dear god the one at my kids school is awful. He shouts at the kids, my son saw him swear under his breath before. So rude. Yells at young kids to hurry up. I cross my daughter herself up the road a bit so we don’t need to cross with him. Iv considered complaining before.

YANBU sounds like she needs better judgement. It might come in time as she gets used to the job.

Patronising posts like this are really annoying, and stating the obvious. You have to wait 7 minutes.. so leave 10 mins earlier. As if it were that simple!

OP, it sounds really stressful, just leaving the house with your son is stressful as you say, and then that is a long journey.. and YANBU AT ALL to be getting frustrated at then sitting in traffic. You sound like a great Mum btw !

Agreed.

7 minutes, 3 minutes...

People should look up hurry sickness

next time it happens take a video and formal complaint to council

Where I use to work a lollipop lady was like this , stopping traffic when the kids hadn’t reached the path to cross . She’d stand in road for ages waiting for other kids meanwhile traffic backing up . Also would let kids cross ons car go then stop traffic again I mean you’d let the traffic pass a minute. It’s was infuriating at times as it was a quiet side road that yes a lollipop lady was needed but have some common sense .
i did complain to the school but also regarding where the lollipop lady was stood as most parents and they were the worst would step in front of traffic further down the road so their kids could cross the road . They’d park ridiculously too . It was actually very dangerous round there no common sense whatsoever.

YANBU. She's taking the piss. She should be alternating letting pedestrians and cars through. Haven't rtft but I'm guessing youre getting your arse handed to you for being an "impatient driver"

It wasn't intended to be.

This is insanely outing if you knew the school, but in DD's primary our lollipop lady had a small holding and would frequently bring animals.
School was rural and her farm half a mile up the road. It wasn't unusual to find a donkey tethered to the lamp post or her with her lollipop in one hand and a lamb under her arm. She was amazing and the children adored her and so looked forward to petting whatever she'd brought with her.

She sadly died a few years ago but she was such a character.

My children's school had a lovely lollipop man. The children and parents all loved him, and the he died it was a very great loss. The school collected for a memorial bench and donations came from all over - not just the parents, but others who had driven past the school (and been stopped by him!). There is a bench in his memory at the crossing spot.

We now have a lovely lollipop lady. She also chats to the children, has biscuits for the dogs, waves to the drivers etc.

This is a job that takes real dedication. The "lollipop folk" are out in all weathers, and take a lot of abuse. It is also a very tying job, as they have to be in post morning, lunchtimes and afternoons. Effectively almost all of their day is gone as they are backwards and forwards between the school and their homes every day. Have a bit of patience with them.

She sounds lovely!

No op you are not at all unreasonable .Chatting in the middle of the road is not just disrespectful to waiting drivers but dangerous for any stray children while lollipop lady distracted by adult.

Mmm 👏🏻

do you worry about other drivers holding you up in congestion? Im mean really could some of those other drivers have walked instead of driving to their destination, so many people drive to destinations under a mile away. Could some other drivers have caught the bus as there is a direct bus to their workplace, but instead they decided to drive and that held you up, and then these drivers wouldn't be causing congestion on the road and you'd get to your dc school without being held up.

You've only complained about the pedestrians though, they probably only impact on your journey time a fraction of all the others, why complain about the people have the least impact on your journey time and not those causing the greatest difference?

You missed the fact that there is a zebra crossing there, meaning there is no "letting cars through" - pedestrians have absolute priority and they can and will start to cross at any time, so motorists have to accept that.

I assume the lollipop lady is there for additional visibility and safety.

And I hope that nasty thug was arrested

Why isn't it that simple?

If op can reliably and consistently get out of the house at e.g. 7.45, then she can reliably and consistently get out of the house at 7.35.

The zebra crossing is there. The lollipop lady is there. People who walk to school need to use the crossing.

If the choice is between leaving earlier or making a complaint about someone doing their job and making children safer walking to school, why would you choose the second one?

Even if there is a zebra crossing, drivers aren't obliged to wait for further pedestrians to get to the crossing from down the street once the crossing is clear of people actively using it.

If someone is clearly waiting to cross or very close (as in a metre or two away) to the crossing then drivers have to stop, but if they're halfway down the street then they are not obliged to stop in anticipation of them wanting to use the crossing.

This is where the issue is coming in for the OP - the lollipop lady is not just crossing the people who are waiting she is holding the traffic, even after everyone has safely crossed, for people who aren't yet at the crossing and causing cars to wait unnecessarily which means they're idling for longer than if she stepped out of the road between each group.

If there was no lollipop lady even if just one car went through the crossing in the time the lollipop lady is currently "holding" traffic between groups crossing then the cars would not be building up at the same rate.

Even if there is a zebra crossing, drivers aren't obliged to wait for further pedestrians to get to the crossing from down the street once the crossing is clear of people actively using it.

But by not waiting she'd be increasing the stop/start of traffic each time the pedestrians do get to her, which increases the chances of an accident

Our lollipop lady was one of a kind, shortest of skirts, tottering on highest of heels, always happy, heart of gold when it came to the kids. One minute she would be stood sunning herself up against the wall, then without any warning suddenly leap out into the road, wildly waving her stick causing traffic to screech to a halt, and God help any driver who dared to beep her, She spent more time arguing with drivers than anything else and we all resorted to crossing the road on our own further up the hill where it was alot calmer. She didn't last long as she got reported for drinking alcohol whilst working, she kept a can of larger on the wall where she sunbathed.
Over forty years have passed since yet l still remember her.

The fact that there is a zebra crossing and there still needs to be a lollipop lady speaks volumes

@SummerWinds I am wondering if you live where I used to live when a young adult? Surely there can not be two lollipop ladies like her?

It's LA guidance from training materials for school crossing patrols. No need to get your knickers in a knot about it.

This will not be what she was taught to do. She will not be taught it's OK to chat in the middle of the road, or to wait for people to wander along the pavement to her crossing. How do I know? Because, in a previous life, I have been trained to do road crossing patrol, as cover when ours was off.

I also quoted local authority guidance for road crossing patrol staff on how to operate their crossing. Every LA will have this, and they will all say pretty much the same thing. They will say that she shouldn't be doing this at her crossing.
And yet... no... the poor, downtrodden "lollypop lady" is allowed to stop and chat to a mate in the middle of the road while holding up traffic. It's obviously the only pleasure in her sad, underpaid and under-appreciated existence. Poor woman. (I mean, how patronising is the stereotyping going on here?).

She needs to be reminded of what she was taught when originally trained. Stop blaming the Op, extrapolating that she's an obnoxious road-hogging, horn beeping individual. She's perfectly reasonable to question what is happening.