For 15 minutes a day, twice a day, the rules of the road are abandoned. I'm not talking about traffic in developing nations, I'm talking about residential streets alongside some Bay Area neighborhood schools.
Yesterday, my kids and I had a close call. We were walking in the crosswalk toward our school's back gate (a popular drop-off and pick-up location); no cars were coming in either direction, but cars were lined up along the long curb as parents let their children off.
A white car was idling at the curb, just behind the cross-walk. One of my sons was about 3 feet ahead of me, his oversized red backpack thumping at his back. Two little boys had just exited that idling white car, the door slamming behind them and then with that, their mother put the pedal to the metal and left the curb WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING.
And there was my son, my little son, making his way to his school, a car coming right at him.
I screamed, "Noooooooo!" and my son shouted something and the white car braked. Thank God for brakes.
He wasn't hurt.
It was close, so close.
I gave her a look of stunned disbelief. She looked shaken. I shook - for hours.
As we walked onto the school grounds, I caught up to her kids. One explained that his mom was just "excited because she's going buck hunting in the hills after school today."
I hate hunting (and in SV?) but I had to laugh. I always love the way kids explain things. Perhaps his mom thought we were a herd of deer?
"Oh, ok then, " I replied, "but please tell your mom that she should look before pulling away from the curb."
We all do dumb things when we drive. I do dumb things when I drive, like the time I made a U-turn without looking and nearly got plowed into by another driver!
I tried to post a gentle safe driving reminder to our school's Yahoo! Group but the group moderator wouldn't let me post it. I think it has to be positive and/or school related in order to post there. The principal told me she'd put a little blub on her announcements corner of the school website, but to me, that's like shouting it into the air when there's no one around you. Safety should be a top priority. Better to get the word out now about safe driving rather than having to post about a tragedy later.
Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now but when I see the image of my little guy barely making it across the street, I want to do something so that he - and all students - make it to their schools safely.
The San Jose Mercury News says that the city of San Jose is considering lowering the speed limit around schools to 15 mph. That's great news. A 15 mph school-zone speed limit should be a nationwide standard. Check out what Arizona is doing with their adaptive 15 mph school-zone limits. Then, of course, there's the ever-present distraction of using a cell phone while driving.
Our close call yesterday wasn't speed related or cell phone related, but perhaps if more attention were directed to safe driving, all drivers in the vicinity of a school will be more cautious with their driving. My friend's husband will literally stand in the street and yell to drivers to slow down. Kudos to him!
I saw a sign in a school parking lot that read: If you have your foot on the gas pedal, you are going to fast. For some reason, it's stuck in my head and I do try to keep my foot off the gas pedal when in a school or mall parking lot -- anywhere there's a lot of pedestrian traffic.
My kids aren't out driving cars, but they do have to know about pedestrian safety... and that neon orange is a cool color to wear.
This is an original post to Chalk and Cheese Chronicles.







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