obstructive parking in housing estate opposite busy school

Peregrinus

Chuchote wrote: »

The drop in traffic during school holidays is startling. It seems to me to be an awful pity that we don't have the same policy as other countries, where you are entitled to send your children to the nearest school, and children have priority according to whether they live nearby.

As someone who lives in such a country, I can tell you that that doesn't avoid this problem. If parents prefer to drive their children to school, that preference isn't really affected by how near the school is.

Squatman

talk to the driver of the car, and inform her of the obstruction, and ask her to park more considerately

seamus

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

why should she be able to block an entire road lane (any possibly the footpath too) just to park her car?, regardless of who is using the road it should be kept clear for actual driving rather than people abandoning their vehicle where they please.

If she parks it around the corner, she's going to be blocking a lane there too. Just moving the problem from one place to another.

People park their cars on the side of the road. That's how it works. Depending on the size and importance of the road, parking may be restricted.

Residential roads are not important roads and not high-traffic roads.

Governments would (and should) prevent people from driving their kids to school before they prevent people parking their car on a residential road.

pilly

I think your poll is deceptive OP. The description you give is of someone parking a car outside their own house. Probably to avoid getting blocked into their own driveway. That's not obstructive parking.

Samuel T. Cogley

Actually the very best traffic calming measure out there is residents parking their cars outside their gaffes. People rarely worry about hitting a kid, but taking the wing mirrow off a 00 micra - now that's some important consideration right there!

Caliden

OP you come across very entitled.

The 'obstructive' parking (as you've described it) is simply someone parking their car outside their house on a public road (which they are legally entitled to do).

No parent should expect to be able drop off their little darlings directly at the door of the school. Keep pushing the council/school and you may find that they restrict traffic further in the area for residents' sake, which has been done in areas of Rathfarnham.

MysticMonk

mrsmurphy1916 wrote: »

Hi there,
Probably in wrong forum but I am a newbie so please forgive.Anyway back from the school run and nearly had head on collision with angry mom due to the fact that there is always a car parked outside a house just beside the lollipop crossing and turn in to school. This car takes up the whole lane of the road as its a narrow road so you have to fully take up the other side ofthe road to pass it out. I had let 6 cars thru when I had to make a move as traffic jam behind me. This happens every morning. they actually could park in driveway or ten steps across the road or round corner instead of blocking the whole left side of road .
the woman herself can see this as she walks her kid to school every morning and sees the traffic chaos her car causes, that's why I wouldn't approach ner and say it to her, as either she is too oblivious or brazen as she can physically see this chaos.It's amazing she hasn't had her side mirror pranged off or tail lights cracks so far.
I told the guards about it this morning and he was most unhelpful and verging on aggressive and said as long as there are no yellow lines tough. And doesn't care that its causing an obstruction and making driving conditions dangerous.It's a new enough school that came many years after the estate was built so lines wouldn't have been needed initially. It also blocks the lollipop lady but the guard said she has to complain not me.She won't, the old attitude of keep your head down and say nothing prevails. Any one experienced this ??Should I petition council for lines, write a letter to superior etc...Or save myself the blood pressure until someone has an accident or damages her car and let it unfold and drop off kids further away??also the guards said they would need to send a squad car to observe it but he wasn't going to send a car for something like that..It's not our local station as that is closed most of the time and not taking calls regularly it gets diverted to this one and as its not his area he doesn't give a fig...Anyone any ideas??

Why can't you do the same instead of road-raging yourself into a near accident whilst dripping with entitlement?

JillyQ

I completely understand why she parks her car there. I unfortunately live close to 3 secondary schools and 2 primary schools. While the council have done there best, they put in cycle lanes and areas for parents to pull in and let there children out safely along with pedestrian crossings do the parents use them no of course not they now stop in traffic right outside the gates of the schools. Causing more delays and obstructing traffic.

Samuel T. Cogley

JillyQ wrote: »

I completely understand why she parks her car there. I unfortunately live close to 3 secondary schools and 2 primary schools. While the council have done there best, they put in cycle lanes and areas for parents to pull in and let there children out safely along with pedestrian crossings do the parents use them no of course not they now stop in traffic right outside the gates of the schools. Causing more delays and obstructing traffic.

I read that three times as they 'put cycle lanes in for parents to stop in' :pac:

I think it's fair to say I have baggage with this issue!

JillyQ

Samuel T. Cogley wrote:

I read that three times as they 'put cycle lanes in for parents to stop in'

No sorry the areas to pull in are across the road from the cycle lanes. The school entrances have pedestrian crossing right beside them.
.

Samuel T. Cogley

JillyQ wrote: »

No sorry the areas to pull in are across the road from the cycle lanes. The school entrances have pedestrian crossing right beside them.
.

No, no It was me misreading it you were perfectly clear! Sorry I didn't mean to imply otherwise.

I just mean they're a bloody nightmare where I live. We;ve 5 schools within a few yards of each other and a DART station. It's every man/woman/child for themselves driving around there during the school run.

JillyQ

Samuel T. Cogley wrote:

I just mean they're a bloody nightmare where I live. We;ve 5 schools within a few yards of each other and a DART station. It's every man/woman/child for themselves driving around there during the school run.

Thank God we don't have the dart station on top of it. But we have another 5 schools within 1.5 miles of the other ones. Kinda makes it impossible in the mornings. Roll on the summer holidays.

The_Conductor

I'd like to add an option to the poll along the lines of-

'Should an effort be made to stop parents delivering children to school- and additional resources put into assisting children walk safely to and from school.......'?

This could of course include parking facilities some distance from the school itself, from where parents could walk their children to school- alongside additional attended zebra crossing/warden crossings- however, not precisely at the gates of the school.

I'd also strongly suggest that the rules of the road, governing not parking within 20 feet of a zebra or attended crossing, a junction, double yellow lines, boxes etc etc- all be policed to the maximum possible extent in the vicinity of schools- and a mandatory 30Km speed limit be observed for a 1km radius of a school.

There are several different planks in this equation- its not all the fault of bad parking by residents- it has to include legal drop offs by parents, a push to encourage walking- and a clampdown on other road traffic on safety grounds- to ensure children are safe walking to and from school.

Some areas already have such schemes up and running- for example- parking for parents at the local church carpark, from where they can walk their children to school- with no permissible drop-offs at the school gate etc- where the road is fully boxed for 50m in either direction, and an attended pedestrian crossing is present between 8AM and 9AM and again from 2.30PM and 3.30PM
during the school term.

The whole 'school-run' nonsense is ridiculous- and really needs to be managed better- to try and encourage children, where possible, to walk.

Michael D Not Higgins

The_Conductor wrote: »

I'd also strongly suggest that the rules of the road, governing not parking within 20 feet of a zebra or attended crossing, a junction, double yellow lines, boxes etc etc- all be policed to the maximum possible extent in the vicinity of schools- and a mandatory 30Km speed limit be observed for a 1km radius of a school.

Policed by whom? The gardaí certainly don't have the resources to enforce that at rush hour at every school. Also, in Dublin where schools are closer together, your speed limit plan would put the entire city and suburbs in a 30km/h zone. Who'd enforce that since all the traffic cops are making sure the yummy mummies aren't stopping their Land Rovers beside a zebra crossing?

The best policy is to enforce by design. As you've already outlined there are schools which do this by preventing the kids being dropped at the door and offering alternative parking arrangements. I'd also like to point out that stopping is different to parking and dropping someone off at double yellows is allowed.

The_Conductor

In a Dublin context- since the 1st April- the entire city encapsuled within the two canals- is a 30Kmph zone- it was extended throughout- against the wishes of pretty much everyone, by Dublin city council.........

Chuchote

The_Conductor wrote: »

In a Dublin context- since the 1st April- the entire city encapsuled within the two canals- is a 30Kmph zone- it was extended throughout- against the wishes of pretty much everyone, by Dublin city council.........

Not anyone I know.

AndrewJRenko

The_Conductor wrote: »

In a Dublin context- since the 1st April- the entire city encapsuled within the two canals- is a 30Kmph zone- it was extended throughout- against the wishes of pretty much everyone, by Dublin city council.........

Except the main roads - you forgot to mention the main roads, right?

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

"Should parked vehicles which obstruct dropping kids to school be illegal"

I live near multiple schools and it's the parents dropping the kids to school that cause most of the problems. From parking on double yellow lines, parking on footpaths, parking AT traffic lights, across driveways etc. It should be €1,000+ fine for each offence, increasing by €1,000 EUR for each additional parking offence. The only way to get through to these morons.

The owner of the property is allowed park her car legally on the road. However if you feel there is a serious safety concern, contact your Co. Co. and ask that the senior traffic engineer completes a review of the road layout. Put it in writing and make sure to detail the reasoning behind the need for double yellow lines. Perhaps get signatures outside the school to back your request.

Even with double yellow lines, don't hold your breath that the Garda? will enforce the lines.

McGrath5

I share the pain of living near 3 schools, 2 primary and 1 secondary.

Cycling into my old job, I was doored a couple of times by parents and kids swinging their doors open at traffic lights so the kids could hop out before the lights turned green, even though there was plenty of parking only about 100m further down the road.

Changed job earlier this year where I have to drive in, I had to change my start time because of the traffic chaos in the mornings around the area.

Even this week with the fine weather we are having, the amount of parents who drive their kids to school when it would be far quicker to walk only 10 or 15 minutes is astonishing.

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This post has been deleted.

If the homeowner didnt park there, you can be sure one of the parents would

How on earth is this the home owners fault?

lucernarian

This is an incredible thread. Congestion is made far worse from the school run as anyone commuting during the summer would know.

And since when was having a DART station a bad thing? The congestion in the area would be even worse without it.

Hannibal_Smith

So she parks her car, outside her house and people who don't live in the estate but who fly through to drop their kids to school are telling her where to park to make their lives easier?

Maybe after she drops her kid to school she has to use her car, but can't get out of her driveway because the road is clogged with other parents.

I live near two schools. When I try and leave my house in the morning it is like running a gauntlet trying to get out of the driveway before the next batch of parents come flying through the Estate. If the traffic is bumper to bumper, they will see me trying to get out of the driveway and not one parent will let me out. Not one! Their main priority is dropping their lazy kid as close to the school as possible in a Starsky and Hutch manner of driving, and tearing out of the estate as as quickly as possible with no regard for the residents.

So I have very little sympathy for school kid drop off drivers. Park further away and walk your kid a few yards ffs.

sunny2004

Follow the rules of the road, contact the council but dont hold your breath.

Chuchote

I don't know if it's too late to apply for this, but Transport for Ireland was planning to run a Green Schools trial using around 10 schools in Dublin, to see the best ways to replace the car-borne school run, which threatens to lead to obesity and passivity in Dublin children, with greener ways like cycling with your children, walking with your children, "walking buses" (where an adult or two adults bring a group of children walking together, collecting them from their homes as they go), or having a driveway in and out of the school similar to Dublin Airport's, where the driveway is purely a drop-off zone, no waiting, and other possible methods. They were hoping to find schools with creative parents, teachers and children who would offer better ways than the school run in its current incarnation.

cbreeze

Only problem for parent dropping off a child rather than walk would be if she or he had a younger child in the car and could not leave it in the car alone

cbreeze

cbreeze wrote: »

Only problem for parent dropping off a child rather than walk would be if she or he had a younger child in the car and could not leave it in the car alone

Throw the younger one in a buggy or some other plan B

Billgirlylegs

Really? Where in the Road Traffic Act does it say this?

Double yellows are generally put in to indicate some form of hazard - junctions,narrow roads, high traffic volume.
You might look for a better place to drop off.

Chuchote

cbreeze wrote: »

Only problem for parent dropping off a child rather than walk would be if she or he had a younger child in the car and could not leave it in the car alone

Do they not still have those backpacks kids can sit in until the age of two or so? Come to think of it, I haven't seen one for years; they were standard in the 1970s/80s.

The_Conductor

Chuchote wrote: »

Do they not still have those backpacks kids can sit in until the age of two or so? Come to think of it, I haven't seen one for years; they were standard in the 1970s/80s.

Baby Bjorn and lots of other companies have their own versions of them.
100% definitely still available- I got my sis one a few months back.
You'll get a bit of a shock when you see what they cost........