Tuesday, October 21, 2008

School Zones for Dummies

Everyone else has a weekly blog event, mine, I think, shall be the random rant. So, welcome to Tuesday Tirades with Dy. I'll go first and you can chime in.



The above sign is not a suggestion. I ~hated~ school zones when I was a teen learning to drive. Once I had kids I was a bit more tolerant. Now that I have a kid IN school, I get it.

SLOW DOWN!

Is anyone really in such a hurry that the extra 60 seconds they save going too fast in the school zone is going to make a difference? More important, though, my peeve is that people need to do it right.

There is a major road (Parmer, for you Austinites) that I take to cross the North side anytime I'm not taking J to school. It has a school zone that takes the speed limit from 50 to 35. People hit their brakes at the beginning of the zone because it is right after a light. Then hit the gas literally the instant they have passed the school. School zone goes on for another 1/2 block because a residential neighborhood that feeds to the school, sidewalks and all, has its entrance there and kids do walk in the mornings. Don't speed up til you're past the WHOLE school zone folks!

In all fairness, not many kids walk and it is a 6-lane road, but still...

I pass another school frequently. This one is a ridiculously expensive private school, also on a major thoroughfare. This school is so far back from the road you can't even see the building from the street. It has a school zone almost half a mile long. And, because it is a private school with no bus service, NONE of the students walk to school. NONE. Zip, zilch, nada. You never see a kid anywhere near the street there. But I have to slow down (45 to 35) for a half a mile.

Personally, I think the sole purpose of this school zone is to make it easier for the parents to get in and out of the parking lot.

Another school just up the same road, that is RIGHT on the road and has kids that come via public transportation (and the bus stop is across the street) can't get a school zone at all! They are on the line between jurisdictions and no one wants to take responsibility for who would establish and maintain said school zone.

So, no matter how much the school zone irks you in the morning, slow down all the way through, or find another route.

To the people in charge of establishing school zones, a little more common sense would be nice.

Some schools don't need them (or at least don't need them to extend damn near a 1/4 mile to either side of the campus entrance!) and some do, use your brains people!

9 comments:

CRRE said...

It's early Wednesday morning, but you got me where I live.

My peeve? Whump-whump cars. I hear them during the day. I hear them in the middle of the night. Those nappy-looking vehicles have sound systems three times the worth of the car itself, and they are interrupting my peace.

If you have one, how about following some basic rules?

*DON'T* blast your system in a residential area. On my block, it's about to mean you're going to get shot at by an angry, crazy-haired woman armed with a .410.

*DON'T* blast your system at stoplights. If I am unfortunate enough to already have to look at your scrappy-ass face, I don't want a headache, earache and throatache to go with the optical cramp your pimply wanna-be gangsta face is already causing me.

*DO* adhere to decibel level laws. Barring the .410, I'm about to tag every loud car I encounter with a paintgun-fired international orange blob of "Come and get me, coppers". Aside from you driving around looking like a total tool, the po-po will have received a call from me telling them I've marked the car that caused my windows to shudder out of their frames and the cats to start rocking back and forth with their paws over their ears.

Simple rules, simple courtesy, and a simple country girl with the aim of Zeus. Watch it, punks.

Lisa said...

Wow, you two got a couple of major pet peeves. I HATE going thru a school zone with the other cars up my butt. It's not that big of a deal. SLOW DOWN!
And my neighbor has THREE teenage, driving boys with bass, and we get a nightly dose around 11pm. It must be their curfew time.

Now for my pet peeve...People who don't smile when you make eye contact with them. I don't go out of my way to make eye contact with every human I happen to pass, but when I do, I smile. Please smile back. I'm not trying to get your phone number or become your new best friend. I'm being nice. Try it.

Lisa R.

Unknown said...

I had to "give" blood this morning. Why do they call it giving blood anyway? I'm not giving them anything. They are freaking taking it to run a bunch of random tests. Whatever.

No, my real rant is about the freaking tape they use. The use the crook of your elbow, one of the most sensitive areas of your skin. Then they use tape to tape a cotton ball on there. Okay, fair enough. But the freaking tape takes off the first layer of your skin, people! IT HURTS.

We can put a man on the moon, we can talk, real time, to people 5000 miles away, but we cannot figure out how to make the freaking tape at the lab not remove your epidermis? WHATEVER.

Unknown said...

Pet Peeve/Source of Annoyance/thing that pisses me off repeatedly. Ah, the list is so long. Let's look at this month, alone:
1) Pediatrician offices that do not answer the phone
2) The last person to drive the van doesn't fill the tank back up
3) Changing the date/time of something and not telling me
4) New teachers all of a sudden
5) Last minute invitations from in-laws
6) Having ILs close enough to get 1001 invites
7) Having a list of peeves longer than the list of bliss

Anonymous said...

Ooooh, where do I start?

Number One with me lately is people who cross store parking lots on the diagonal. HELLO! There are people waiting to drive, twitface! The quickest point to the front door of Target is a straight line, OR DID YOU FAIL GEOMETRY!?!

Slightly related to this is people who wear flip-flops and SLAP-SLAP-SLAP their feet when they walk. Pick up your feet. How hard is it, seriously? I mean, you don't have to have the grace of a lynx, but can you please not sound like 23 plus-size zombies are walking by either?

Three things that should be punishable by guillotine: bluetooth headsets in public (you cyborg freak), talking loudly on a cell phone (especially if you're just doing it to impress people around you), and chewing with your mouth open if you're over four years old.

Oh, and one more. Loud, gape-mouthed yawning that makes me have to look at your uvula generally will make me want to spear it with a fish hook.

Okay, I'm done. For now.

Lisa said...

How about being the third Lisa -- and the second Lisa R from Pflugerville -- to comment on this post?

Seriously? 3 Lisas in 6 comments. I love my name.

Dynila said...

Lisa R(2.0)

lol... I didn't look at the pics, I thought the 1st Lisa R was ~you~

Lisa said...

That's funny-I put Lisa R when I noticed on the last post how many Lisa's you knew...

Lisa R, Doh! From p-ville, Doh! Uh...Lisa the Republican. Does that work?

:0)

Lisa said...

So you can be Lisa R the Republican from P'ville... and I guess that makes me Lisa R the Apolitical from P'ville? Works for me. =)