I’ve written before about how badly parents drive around schools when they’re taking their own brats to and from them. Indeed, this chicane system in Nottingham is close to Hollygirt School, and in the mornings and afternoons parents park on both sides, on the yellow lines, on or off the pavements, and even on the chicane area itself if there’s nowhere else to stop. And since the chicane is on a bend, and has “give priority to oncoming traffic” signs at both ends, this makes driving through there extremely difficult and dangerous. And when they want to pull away they just do it.
Well, a Scottish Council is poised to show what must be the most humongous amount of common-sense ever by considering imposing complete bans on driving on certain roads (except for residents) during school run times.
School run maniacs in East Lothian would be forced to park 300m away from the gates.
The proposal has been blamed by the local council on parents desperate to park within feet of the school gates.
This is a story repeated outside thousands off schools across the entire UK every day of the week during term times. A spokesman for the council said:
The behaviours of these drivers, who make dangerous turning and reversing manoeuvres and contribute to congestion, cause difficulties for the majority of pupils and parents who walk or cycle to and from school.
It is totally inappropriate to try and carry out these sort of manoeuvres close to schools where there is a great number of schoolchildren present.
Following representations from the parent councils of the three schools, it was agreed to introduce the experimental traffic regulation order.
The AA warned it would just move the problem elsewhere – totally failing to appreciate that it would move the problem away from the school gates, which is why it is already such a big a deal in the first place.