Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The traffic at my kids' elementary school can vary from frustrating to make you angry on certain times. If the local police doesn't show up in the morning in front of the school's entrance. Parents just form a blockade with their SUVs, minivans, and double park in front of the drop off spot. Some parents feel it's their duty that they must drop off their kid exactly in front of the door and they must get off the car leaving it blocking traffic just to escort their child to the school's entrance.
Frequently the school's newsletter states parents should not block traffic and they should park their vehicles at the parking lot then walk their child. Most parents do park their cars and walk their kids but still many parents must chauffeur their right in front of the school's main entrance which is a one way street only enough for 2 cars but it's a one lane street.
My wife tells me that in the afternoon the police is there almost every day before school ends or else the traffic becomes completely standstill around the area.
Back when we lived in California it was crazy, just like you are describing. Every day the principal would have to come out and help direct traffic. Teachers wear orange vests and help the kids cross the street and keep the parents from breaking the carpool rules. People double parking, or taking forever for to say goodbye to their kids, or leaving their cars in the carpool lane, etc. No one wants to take the time to park and walk their kids to class, or let them walk a little bit.
The worst was that most of these kids lives close enough to walk to school, it's a safe area, a gated community right by the school, but everyone is too scared to let their kids walk these days, adding to the congestion every morning.
Now we live in Wyoming and it's like night and day. I counted four kids people picked up by parents the other day. 95% of the kids ride the busses home, another 2-3% walk, and then there's the tiny percent that pick up their kids. There's zero stress or frustration. The kids get home safely. There's no morning aggression or afternoon trying to deal with the carpool lane. It's just lovely.
In our current town, the elementary, middle and high schools are all adjacent to each other. With staggered starting times, and long access drives, the main roads stay moving pretty well. Even so, there is always a police officer station at all the schools during drop off and pick up hours.
The first school my kids attended was a small neighborhood k-6, almost everybody walked or biked to it. In every town we've moved to since then, buses have been available, and we made use of them until the boys could drive.
Even though we're in a small town, no school buses. So everyone has to drive their kids. Most don't leave anywhere near enough to walk. Drop off in the morning isn't too bad. Mostly just drive up to the door and drop the kids off. No need, and really no place to park and walk them in. The drop off times just kind of naturally spread themselves out enough that there's not a problem.
Afternoon pickup is different. Each school has a pickup plan but it still results in long lines waiting to pick the kids up. The lines usually start forming about 230 for a 3 PM dismissal. And even with traffic directors, it just took time to sort the kids into the right cars. One of the biggest hold ups was the schools couldn't seem to dismiss on time consistently across classes. Might not seem like much but when you have siblings in different grades with teachers who let them go at different times, you get a lot of waiting for the sibling to get dismissed.
When my kids went to a brick and mortar school, I always walked them to school, or we ride bikes. There was a lot of traffic, but it didn't affect us, other than having to cross the street.
Now they go to online school, so we don't have traffic issues at all.
What makes the mornings interesting
where my son attends is that its "life or death" getting back onto the main road after drop off. You pull out onto a two lane highway where the speed limit is 55. Everyone on it is speeding, its packed and there is no stop light! If it wasnt for a stop light a mile away, there would never be an opportunity to pull out. Thats no guarantee either as there are two roads between the school road and the one with the light where people pull out too. Its amazing that no one has been severely injured as there have been wrecks there. Im afraid that someone will have to lose their life to get a light installed. Its a ridiculously dangerous daily scenario.
The lines usually start forming about 230 for a 3 PM dismissal.
Yep. At my kids' school, the line for pickup starts around 2:00-2:15 for a 3:00 pm dismissal. I swear, I think some of them drop their kids off for school at 7:45, and then loop around the parking lot and just get into the line for afternoon pickup and wait 7 hours....
Location: IN>Germany>ND>OH>TX>CA>Currently NoVa and a Vacation Lake House in PA
3,259 posts, read 4,332,943 times
Reputation: 13476
If more people would let their kids ride the bus instead of dropping their kids off and picking up by car, traffic would be much better. I understand that some need to have this arrangement, but for most it's just to keep their kids off the bus which is ridiculous.
The traffic at my kids' elementary school can vary from frustrating to make you angry on certain times. If the local police doesn't show up in the morning in front of the school's entrance. Parents just form a blockade with their SUVs, minivans, and double park in front of the drop off spot. Some parents feel it's their duty that they must drop off their kid exactly in front of the door and they must get off the car leaving it blocking traffic just to escort their child to the school's entrance.
Frequently the school's newsletter states parents should not block traffic and they should park their vehicles at the parking lot then walk their child. Most parents do park their cars and walk their kids but still many parents must chauffeur their right in front of the school's main entrance which is a one way street only enough for 2 cars but it's a one lane street.
My wife tells me that in the afternoon the police is there almost every day before school ends or else the traffic becomes completely standstill around the area.
To be fair, the *school* has a great system... it's the people using it who mess it up. I do NOT understand why 12 cars can't pull up, their children get out (and SHOCKER, actually be READY to get out), and another 12 cars do the same.
Instead, 12 cars pull up. Of those, 4 parents choose to wait until they can pull forward to be in first position and their schmoopies won't have to WALK that laborious distance of up to 150ft. to the door. 8 vehicles have children who, for some inexplicable reason, don't have their luggage packed properly and do things like repack their lunch sack with the doors open, drop an apple, chase it, etc.. At least 4 parents also decide that this is when they're going to review the daily calendar, chastise their child for something, or some such "necessary," lengthy conversation... hands waving and all.
Out of 12, two to three vehicles have children ready.to.rumble. Their doors fly open, their children roll out, and they LEAVE. But the other 9 or 10 cars don't notice... because while I'm SURE that their list of priorities is extensive and very, very important, it *clearly* doesn't include courtesy or consideration for *other people's* time.
The entitlement and resulting inefficiency is MADDENING.
School pick UP is so much worse because very often, the 12 cars in the pick-up point have the most laidback kids of all. So EVERYONE needs to wait until their little darlings mosey on out and have conversations with the doors open and their entitled parents decide this is THE VERY BEST TIME to lay down or lift up all the seats in the back and rearrange the contents of their vehicles and chat with people they know.
eta: Our children take the bus as the default and will continue through high school. We live down the hill from the high school so if they were embarrassed at some point, they could always bike or walk, if they'd rather. I'll dropoff/pickup if they have large/unwieldy/delicate projects to bring or I have plans and need to get everyone sooner than the 45 minutes later that the bus will drop them off. Some days, if it's hectic in the morning, I'll give them room to breathe - mentally - and say I'll drop them off. (The oldest likes the bus and takes that anyway. It's her routine.) It doesn't give them MUCH longer, however, because we need to get in line soon enough for them to get in before the bell... you're not allowed to jump out wherever and run in.
When we lived in California it was nuts. Every single kid was driven to school. Principal, teachers, parents, and even kids all got recruited to help direct traffic and the flow of students, bug parents to get moving rather than sitting and watching their kid walk into the school or talk to their friends, etc.
in Michigan, we have buses. Nearly all of the kids ride the bus, ride a bike, or walk until they can drive. Some parents drive their kids to school, but not that many. The main traffic is at the high school where about half the kids drive themselves and a few friends to school. When it gets super cold (-10 or so) or super icy a lot more parents drive their kids to school because they do not want them waiting outside for the bus (either to not freeze or due to the risk of someone sliding into them while they are waiting at the side of the road).
If parents drive their kids in, they have to yield to the buses so it can be a bit difficult to get your kid into the school unless you drop them off a block or two away. Some of our kids asked to be dropped off a couple of blocks away. They did not want to be seen getting out of a beat up van (from their sisters learning to drive). Usually we laughed at them and made an effort to drop them off in front f the school and be certain to honk the horn and yell "I love you schmookie woookems!" out the window. In Jr. High school your job as a parent is to be an embarrassment to your kids. It helps them learn what really matters in life.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
