What we have in Common: the School Run, whether Urban or Rural

Not so long ago we lived just round the corner from a popular primary school. Nice for property values, but bad for a quiet life and one’s faith in human nature. I thought that parents might not only care about their own children but might just have a thought for the safety of their child's class mates, not to mention other road users. It would seem that this is a thought which will never be fully fulfilled as I have recently noticed two recurring themes.

Firstly, that a late parent is a menace. They will have no qualms about approaching bad bends at speed and in the middle of the road, nor will they pay much attention to avoid driving in the middle of the road when they are trying to give an impression of a being a champion drag racer. Luckily there are not many other road users coming in the other direction so most seem to survive.

The second thing I have noticed is the way in which the zig zag lines which indicate a dangerous place to park outside a school are universally ignored. Should any unfortunate toddler forget the perils, even of a minor road, and step out from behind such an illegally parked car, then I think a manslaughter ( child slaughter?) charge should be brought against such a parent as well as against the 2 brain celled driver who can't manage to observe a 30 speed limit, let alone engage the limited brain power quickly enough to avoid a post school hyperactive child.

Both these steps of misdemeanors seem to be practised whether the parents live in the countryside or the town. The only difference seems to be is that there are more 4x4s in the town and the urban dweller has a great talent for continuing to turn into a narrow street, even though it is clear that fifty other cars are now stationary due to a badly parked 4x4 owned by a parent who is still gassing with other parents back at the school gate, oblivious of their child’s frustration and the mega traffic jam that has developed. This happened when we lived in Worcester and I took the trouble to walk round the corner and inform the parent of the consequences piling up out of sight. ‘Oh, it’s my husband’s car really; I’ve never learnt how to park it’. I politely advised that this was probably not the best comment to make should a policeman be taking the details of the obstructing vehicle when she got back to it. An idle thought of course because should such a thing have occurred, it would have been as rare as the last sighting of a sword fish at Worcester, as reported in ‘Rural Sports' published in 1812 by the Rev. Daniel. As though that was not rare enough, it is reported that a hapless swimmer fell victim to the fish and died. The fish itself was captured as proof of these events. Such a conclusive outcome cannot be guaranteed with road fatalities, a fact of life which those on the school run, whether in town or country, would do well to remember.

Dacier