4 x 4 driver, dropping off privately educated boy outside my house, on the pavement, forcing my son out of the way!

[SlartyBartFast]

garrrr

he came out of the house, pissing down raining cats and dogs, to cross the road to catch the bus, this woman in a huge black 4 by 4 drove him off the pavement to drop off her precious
i was fuming.
despite being in my dressing gown i really wanted to go out and bang on her window

nothing like a bit of sterotyping and harrumphing about private school to get all the ole cliches dusted down and used

haha lets redress the balance

a rickety ole car with furry dice and shaz and kev nameplates. driven by a working class woman on her way to scumbag state school for oiks, nearly drove my son off the road. i was so shocked but still in me pyjamas so couldnt do nuffink

there we are that should do the trick. now everyone is offended

This reminds me of an advert for Land Rover Discovery that ran in Country Living a good while back, that had the strap line 'Head and shoulders above the rest' and had a photo of a girl sitting in the Discovery wearing her school boater, a blurry picture of luscious grounds and a gorgeous building behind her and the just the top of the roofs of passing estate and saloon cars.

i didn't think it was taht funny and all teh adoration made me feel ill

[grin}

Fuck's sake.

The private school thing is relevant because you are much, much, much more likely to drive to school if you go private as you're far less likely to go to the school that's your nearest. Of course there are people who will immediately say, but my nearest school is a private one, but if you were to take the average distance that a child lived from the school I'm sure you'd find the private one was way longer. And I do think that, again to generalise horribly, there's a "but I must put my family first" mentality common to both a) driving a car that is 75% more likely to kill a child if involved in a collision, and b) think that the a school that's good enough for 93% of the population isn't good enough for your progeny.
So there.
And breathe.

"To me she is very fortunate " So you are allowed an opinion about who is fortunate but other people are not.

I was simply saying that logically speaking if a person is considered fortunate it might be considered worse for them to take the piss our of a person considered less fortunate. If you consider the definitions of fortunate and unfortunate.

I was not talking about whether you are fortunate of not - it was nothing personal.

I was not having a go at you.

I've often wondered if I would drive a 4x4 and send my DCs' to a private school if a could aford it, and TBH I don't think I would.

The schools nearest to me are;

1. a private school
2. a state school which lots of people drive to...lots of them are out of cathcment area
3. a Catholic shcool which people drive to because they want there child to have a Catholic education
4. a special needs school.

From what I can tell, the most inconsiderate drivers are at school 2) (DS1 used to go there - we drove from out of cathcment in those days - and there were very nearly fist fights over parking spaces, and badly parked cars.

Closely followed by shcool 1. and 4.

For some reason the parents at school 3. are very considerate and polite. I haven't fugured out quite why yet, but I have my theories.

Beg your forgiveness for being one of the mums with kids in private school plus driving a 4X4. I drive my kids to school mostly because the kids from the local state school love to shout abuse at, harass, and sometimes beat up private school kids. The chavvy mums are the absolute worst in my experience; rude, loud and obnoxious and thinking we all owe them sumfink. My kids would be head and shoulders above the rest with or without a 4X4. They know how to be polite kind and helpful. Yes, we are very fortunate in being able to afford private schools but it hasn't been served to us on a plate.

For what it is worth I was splashed all over my trousers and bag today, along with a couple of young children in front of me, by a young woman in a small car who pulled up on double yellow lines outside ut junior school in order to drop off her junior school (state school).

Inconsiderate drives come in all cars and from all walks of life. They are all as bad as one another.

Minty, I hold my hands up, I am allowed an opinion but you are not.

The driving to school thing is relevant, the type of car is relevant, the rubbish driving is relevant, the type of school is not relevant. I find it highly offensive that people would think that, as a person who sends her son to a private school, I have a distorted sense of entitlement. However, I am fast becoming used to this sort of attitude .

For the record, most children at the school DS1 goes to arrive by coach from the surrounding villages (we are in a rural area). The parents generally do not drive 4x4s. Amongst the minority of parents who drive their children, there is the usual spread of good and bad drivers. Many parents who do not use the coach service share lifts - and the school helps organise this as part of their effort to reduce the traffic nuisance around the school and make it safer for their pupils and the local residents. Most schools - state and private - in our area make similar efforts to reduce congestion.

I've just been out and did a qucik count of inconsiderate parking outside the fornt and back of our house (across from a school). Of the 27 cars parked on the main road out the back - parked along one side of it, blocking t and on a bend 12 of them are 4x4's, the remainder are all smaller cars, although 4 are estates, and of the 22 actually parked on my street, half on half off the pavement and blocking all the drives, 5 of them are 4x4s, the rest smaller cars.
It's a state school, so i think that jsut proves that inconsiderate drivers drive all shapes and sizes of cars.

Have just been sat chatting with my friend in her car whilst waiting for school to let the DC out.
A big Range Rover parked next to her, so close she wouldn't be able to open her car doors.

So off I rant about inconsiderate 4x4 drivers who think they own the place....

Only on the way home did I realise I was sat in her (albeit far smaller) 4x4

Oh and Crossingjordan, am hoping that that was all a joke, otherwise ask your DC for some spelling lessons, "sumfink" indeed

People are not inconsiderate by virtue of the car they drive or the place in which they choose to educate their child(ren).

Anyone who really believes that is mental.

Seriously.

It is not a sweeping generalisation to say that most 4x4s are far more dangerous to pedestrians than ordinary cars. It is a fact, as they are heavier and higher. Although there are handful of recent models whose designers have noticed how dangerous this type of vehicle is and have done the work to gain better ratings for pedestrian safety.

So it can be done - makes you wonder why the car industry put so many frankly dangerous models on sale in the first place. Presumably they just didn't give a toss.

A Ford Ka is more dangerous to pedestrians than a RAV4 (4x4 Lite )

Don't worry pagwatch I agree with you.

It really is a lot easier to laugh comments off when you have everything you need/want and don't have to worry about how you are going to feed and clothe your kids.

Inverted snobbery doesn't sting like the usual sort because the people being snobby have no power.

YANBU at all to be livid at the way she drove, hugely irresponsible IMO.

But rest of the sweeping generalisation? As many have said before me. Tedious and boring. And YABVVVVU to cite the education and type of car.

TBH, very few cars offer good pedestrian safety.

What made the driver in the OP a tw*t was the way she was driving, not what she was driving to where.

Perhaps she didn't see him?

I think you have every right to be pissed off about her driving but I don't see what her son's school has got to do with it.

I am often nearly run off the road by people, disproportionately often in 4x4's I grant you, but most of them are from a local council estate that has an exit at the end of our road.

Depends where you live I guess but I don't think you can generalise - you get bad drivers everywhere.

Yup, the motor industry is terrible at pedestrian safety. But 4x4s are heavier and higher, many have poorer visibility in terms of spotting small children when reversing, they inflict far worse injuries and are more likely to kill (bar a few specific newer models). Ask an A&E consultant.