I work as a crossing guard, and most people repsect my white gloved ‘control arm’ that instructs them to STOP! But then there are some clods out there who only stop when there is something in the way, never mind the fact that children have a tendency to dart in front of vehicles at unpredictable moments, and they are confident that if I signal to them, it is safe to cross the street. I’m the guy who has to (almost physically!) hold back a tsunami of commuters who thing the whole world should yield for them.
Yesterday, I was crossing some kids, and this guy sloooowly starts to make a right turn across the crosswak I am on. Like he’s going to sneak by me when I’m not looking or something :rolleyes: . Or he thinks because I’m not in front of him, nor are any kids, that it is okay for him to go. So I shout at him to stop, and wave my big red sign threateningly as possible to make the idiot stop, and toot my whistle for all its worth, and the guy just rolls on through and WAVES at me like I was letting him go! :mad: I swear I wanted to flip him off in his rear view mirrior but then I have to restrain myself since I work with kids and all :mad:
Are you a peace officer under the law? If you are, you could certainly issue him a ticket – and, given the potential for the killing or injuring of a child, there may be a traffic misdemeanor in your state that applies.
If you have no way of enforcing your actions, you should bring that to the attention of the legislative body and request it – and tell stories like this one, along with cases from elsewhere (I hope) where children were killed because drivers ignored student crossing warnings, as grounds for getting it.
Now now, I don’t want to be giving kids ideas…as tempting as it may be. I’ve worked at that corner long enough that the kids that walk to school are familiar with me and say hello and stuff. It would be very tempting to have them do my dirty work (ATTACK!) but the issue doesn’t bother me toooo much.
Polycarp, I’m just a crossing guard (civilian). When I have the chance, I write down the license plate numbers of these people and turn them over to the sheriff, but often I am so busy I don’t get an opportunity. I am also obligated to report any abuse I see on the job to my supervisor, and give assistance in car accidents that happen in/near my intersection. I am really proud of working this job; I’m the youngest crossing guard easily by 20 years; the sheriff had told me “We don’t usually hire students because they tend to be flakey and unreliable” but they hired me And the department I work in has NEVER had a child get hit by a car when the guards were on duty
What I WISH was that I happened to be working at a corner near a speed trap or something, so that if someone was giving me trouble, I coulld just holler to the peace officer down the block about what was happening.
I live across the street from an elementary school. One day, I remember a crossing guard - a woman of no more than 100 pounds (not that if it was a 200 pound man it would make any much difference now that I think about it) - jumped in front of a car trying to sneak a right turn as kids came from the east and the west and all points in between. The idiot driver came slowly as one would in any other busy intersection. There were too many pedestrians for the fool to wait. Normally this would not be a bad thing. I guess drivers do it all the time when there are a billion pedestrians coming and so he or she will slowly inch into the crosswalk so that the driver can force some break in the flow of pedestrians. Only problem here is that there are kids all over the place, and there is a crossing guard instructing the fucker to stop. He kept inching until the woman valiantly jumped in front of his car to stop him. Great job on her part. It’s too bad you people have to risk life and limb on account of the ignorance of some drivers.
And the ingnorance is rampant. I cannot believe how many times these drivers zoom right by the school buses with their red lights flashing. Even if they do not know what the red lights flashing mean (and there is no excuse for this even), shouldn’t it be common sense that with school buses all around at three in the afternoon, with an ice cream truck double-parked, kids running all over like they tend to do, that one should drive with a little bit more care and not test the limits of their car’s engine?
This kinda reminds me of an incident in my junior year in high school. I was working my way to my usual seat at the very back of the bus, when i saw a BMW go whizzing by the left side of the bus, followed about 2 seconds later by the various crunchy, crackly,grindy, glass shattering, hubcap slowly wobbling to a stop sounds of a collision. seems that Mr. BMW had slammed into the back end of my friends Supra as my friend was backing of out his driveway.
Now, the important, and bad thing for Mr. BMW, thing was that the bus’s red lights were still flashing and the STOP sign was still flung out there for all to see.
This did not sit well woth the police when they came around 3 minutes later. Nor did it sit well when MR. BMW denied that said lights were on, which was met with a chorus of dissent from everybody on the bus.
The guy ended up getting actual jail time, 3 years probation, $10,000 fine and his license was suspended for 4 years.:wally
I’ve heard of crossing guards pointing hair dryers at cars as they drive by…they look like radar guns, and people slow down.
Thanks for helping to keep the rugrats safe…I would definitely try to note the license plates…maybe you can keep a mini tape recorder and talk into it…“Navy Blue Infiniti I35, License Plate ABC 123, driver turned right even though I was signaling him to stop, time 7:50a”
Drivers can be idiots when it comes to basic school safety.
So can parents.
Earlier this year, we had a major fright when one of our 5th graders was hit by a car. Despite telling parents over and over and OVER again NOT to stop in the middle of the street to drop their kids off but to pull over to the curve, the idjits still insist on saving the 22 seconds it takes them to tell the kids to just get out of the car.
This boy’s mom had been chewed out by the principal not two weeks before he was hit. The day before he was hit, he told his teacher that “Mom still stops in the middle of the street and just tells me to run.” Well…one morning mom did so, with mom’s boyfriend in the car behind them (they were on the way to drop off mom’s car). The boy ducked behind the second car and darted in front of an oncoming SUV. He was thrown up on the hood, leaving a sizeable dent. Fortunately, the SUV driver was only going about 20-25mph.
The boy ended up with a broken arm, a concussion, and a few staples in the head…his backpack saved him from further injury as it absorbed most of the impact from the SUV.
What a weird morning that was. Ick.
Anywho…just shows that the PARENTS can suck just as much, if not more, when it comes to car safety. I really hope the mom was cited.
Have you thought of carrying a small camera with you? You know, the throw-away kind, preferably with a flash.
Yeah, yeah they take lousy pictures, but as the culprit drives away, they will see the F L A S H in their rearview mirror. Who’s to know if the pictures comes out (and turned over to the Police), or not.
Maybe you could add to your large hand-held STOP sign “I take pictures!”
Camera doesn’t even need to be loaded – if it flashes, the drive-by driver (well, you figure out how to say it, then! :)) sees flash peripherally, glances back in rearview and sees crossing guard with camera – guess who’ll think twice next time?
I’ve counted to 10, then I counted to 100. I just can’t resist any longer. Forget cameras and PDAs. Obviously, crossing guards need PAINTBALL GUNS! Loaded with special paintballs, so that anyone having to get a car repainted would have a report filed.
Besides the law enforcement angle, just THINK what a great stress reliever this would be for the crossing guards.
When I was a kiddo, my friend got hit by a car while she was crossing the street to catch the bus. I was the student who walked off the bus to help the little ones cross. The school bus’ arm was out, red lights flashing… and here, the law states that you have to be really far back away from a bus (front AND back) when it is stopped and letting kids on and off…
Anyway, this girl was hit by a car that came out from behind the bus to overtake it. I got out of the way, pulled two kids with me (holding them by the hand - they were kindergarten kids, fer crissakes, I was in grade 6!)
She spent a year in hospital, mending. It took me years to want to cross the street to catch a bus. Her sister, who had already crossed, was unconsolable for a good month (she was in my class, so was the kid sister - we were a split grade 4-5-6.)
Gah. I’m all for crossing guards. AND I think Lynn has the right idea going - paintball guns. That’d work!
The driver in this accident got his license suspended indefinitely, did some jail time, and got one HELL of a fine.
And the department I work in has NEVER had a child get hit by a car when the guards were on duty