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

Does anyone know the narrow main street in Knutsford with all the ladies who lunch restaurants along it. You can't walk down there, let alone drive because of the 4x4s stranded in the middle of the road.

It really irritates me when people rail against stereotypes. Of course there are exceptions (and I don't want to hear the boring story of why you're an exception)but on the whole stereotypes exist because a good many people do behave in the manner you'd expect of them.

"Why are people moaning at the OP for pointing out the child was privately educated?"

Because it is completely and utterly irrelevant.

Would it be better had her son been "driven off the pavement" by a state school parent in a Ford focus? No. The education of the child and the car itself are both completely irrelevant. The only relevant fact is that the driver did not see the OP's son.

Soup- I disagree. She's clearly making a point not only about what happened but about the lady, who can afford to send her son to private school and drive a huge 4x4 thinking that she is the most important thing in the world and nearly knocking down an innocent child.

These are two seperate points and I think both are relevant.

Had the lady been in a panda the OP wouldn't have mentioned the make of the car or what school the child was going to. She's making more than the obvious point.

Lotster, the dogs are mine, DP doesn't live with me, but he has an excuse for the... ahem... Land Rover as he does a lot of off-road driving too. He needs non-stick mud, not more mud, spray on or otherwise! Thank god I don't have to clean the thing!

How do you know she can afford it? She might be a teacher on reduced rates. It might not have been her son, she might have been dropping off her nephew, or have been the nanny. Would it have made any difference if he had been a state school pupil? Plenty of 4x4s at the state school across the road from me. stereotypes. stereotypes. assumptions. assumptions. yawn. yawn.

"thinking that she is the most important thing in the world and nearly knocking down an innocent child."

Bollocks. Sorry but it is.

She's not making the "obvious point" by mentioning the 4x4 and the education, she's making stupid, ignorant judgements. so, the driver must feel superior because of the car she drives and where her child goes to school but if she'd been a state school parent driving a Panda she probably simply didn't see the child? Right, that makes perfect sense. Not.

I DRIVE A MASSIVE 4X4!!! and i even transport other mn'ers in the damn thing, they don't tend to complain

But my children go to state school!

It has bull bars and eats Fiat cinquecento's for lunch BUT then again i live in rural mid wales, often go to PIL and SIL's farms and seem to be 'on call' for all towing and rescuing from 'falling off the road' incidents to friends and family county-wide. And it has seven seats, and its a diesel, and i can only get about 35 to the gallon if i am really careful! So shot me!

I don't often drive onto pavements and i am very aware of small people being easily missed and i have the 'pleb obstacle sensors' mentioned earlier!

Don't make the assumption that we all have 4x4's for the 'chelsea tractor' reasons!

i don't know why i mentioned the bloody private education
aside from the fact that they have a bus which stops less than 100 yards from my house - and i am generally annoyed at all the mothers droping off tarquins for this bus, and, as mentioned before, leaving the engine running outside my house, when it is cold, waiting for said bus

my ds is 15, taller than me, and not a small child. He should have been unmissable on the pavement.

i have asked him about it and he was pretty shocked about it and coudlnt understand why she kept driving... right at him.

tomorrow i shall find out the school and complain to the head.

I know why you menioned the private school

Class envy

Stands to reason

I was about to leave my car abandoned on the road side after mowing down some kids today, then remembered I'm in a courtesy car and my 4x4 is in the garage, so stopped myself

Fact is the woman described by the OP clearly does think her child is more important than anyone else's, or she would have driven more carefully.

Whether or not it's to do with sending her son to a private school, the woman kept driving at the OP's son when she either must have seen him or been too careless to bother looking. That does add up to 'Me and mine are more important than anyone else' even if the stupid cow wouldn't openly admit it. Presumably this woman has passed her driving test, so at some point she knew what she should bloody well be doing.

Doesn't everybody find their children more important to them then everyone elses?

I feed, clothe, educate and entertain my kid before I worry about others. All of my resources are dedicated to raising him safely and happily. I just don't feel the same way about other people's.

I don't drive a 4x4 usually, but I do when the opportunity arises (i.e. when we get out of the city I like to rent a behemoth).

The company that I work for has a four wheel drive as well as various mini buses.
I really notice people's attitude when I drive the 4x4 especially if I have several young people with me. I get some really dirty looks and mumblings!!
Yet if I go to the same place with a group of young people in the mini bus I get a completely diferent attitude.
People seem to smile at me sympathetically.
Hmmm Interesting. I'm going to ask colleagues if they have noticed something similar.

How many of you checked the pedestrian safety rating of your car before buying it? How many of you chose the car that was safest for pedestrians rather than safest for the occupants?

The driver in the OP quite rightly thinks her child is more important than others to her. MY children are more important to me than any others - of course they are, they're mine and I am responsible for them but that's not to say I'd gaily go about wilfully endangering others. The fact is that had the car type and the school not been mentioned in the OP you would all simply have said she was a careless driver who made a mistake.

I find the insinuation that state school parent are considerate perfect drivers who care more about other children utterly hilarious. If that were the case, there wouldn't be constant complaints from local residents about poor parking or warnings about not dropping off on the school markings or parking on them.

SlartyBartFast - did you see the mum today, and if so, what did you say to her?

i think mothers of state school children are infinatley better drivers. They have to be ofcourse, becuase they usually steal them

The children? or the cars?

As a private school parent who drives a 4x4 I do think the make of the car is relevant.
You have to be very careful as they are so very heavy, and bloody wide.
Though to be fair, it was a fucking poxy mini that knocked my foster son over and broke his leg grrrr.

Personally I love those pretty girlies in their 4x4s. I see them every day with their gorgeous plump children in the back, their husbands claim for their "company" cars and get the train to work while their wives use them to go to the gym in or nip to m&s. Bless em. Nearly every day I bang on a bonnet when they cut me up or block tryng to cross the road at a T junction. I am not the only one, various cyclists and pedestrians on their way to school have this problem and join in! We are a bit of a club! Having a school next door to "Bankers Road" is very theraputic. Next time some idiot who dosen't know how big their car is nearly flattens your child, knock on the window!!!!!!!!

Why thank you for noticing my good looks

Oh well TOTALLYANDUTTERLEYPAINED I must very bad then obviously as I drive a BMW 4 x 4! LMFAO

Ah but Squiby, Do you whispers privately educate your Children? If so you clearly drive badly and have an overinflated sense of yourself!

I have come back and read this with interest. I am quite new to MN but have spent a fair amount of time on other forums. It would seem the same debates often occur on all of them and with pretty much the same results. I odnt know why i would have thought any differrnt tbh.

For the record I love my BMW X5, it is by far and away the best car I have ever had, and its even got a personal plate for extra ostencaiousness . I send my child to a private school and we drive every day as its too far to walk. I could not give a toss what anyone thinks of me and my car or my choice of school as I am totally happy and at ease with both. It would make my day of somebody refereed to me as a yummy mummy, really it would! Its about my only shot of it really as I doubt they would say the same if they saw me up close

x5 the ultimate wanker car

i was up and dressed, a car pulled out, i ran out, but pretty sure it was the wrong one,
realised my mistake luckily

start again tomorrow, or at least try and fathom which of the many private schools it is