I’ll admit, I’m not your sheep. Nashville’s school crossing guards seem to have cowed most drivers into a 3-4 mph speed limit [far less than the 15 mph actually mandated in school zones], even when there’s no one under 30 in sight. So I know I drive you crazy, insisting on going somewhere between 13-15 mph in a school zone when the way is clear.
But seriously, I get tired of the finger-wagging when I’m not doing anything wrong. Crossing guards don’t like me as a pedestrian or as a driver, because I insist on the significantly lower standards of “what’s legal” and “what’s reasonable and proper,” as opposed to their dictatorial mandates, which are more along the lines of “how much can I make you do.”
This morning, we turned the corner near my daughter’s elementary school. This corner is a half block from the crossing guard, who stands at the next corner. Since we were coming off a full stop at the turn, we never approached 15 mph. But from the moment I turned, the guard was blowing her whistle full steam and shaking her hand at me to stop. As we got closer to the actual crosswalk, I could see she was also furrowing her eyebrows and generally giving me the evil eye. Since I was slowing from my already turtle pace to stop, I have no idea why. We actually knew the people crossing the street, and my pedestrian friend and I shrugged our shoulders at each other.
I get into trouble with the other crossing guard at school pretty frequently as well. Seems that when I’m a pedestrian, I insist on crossing the street when no cars are coming — but she hasn’t yet noticed that I want to cross, or that it’s safe to do so, or stepped into the street to “help” me with her ever-present whistle. That doesn’t make her happy.
I am sure this is actually a challenging job at times. There are kids who dash into the street. There are cars that literally zoom through the school zone. But I drive the same way to school at the same time every day. We’ve had the same crossing guards for several months now, after a lot of turnover last school year. And in general, are moms in minivans your problem drivers? I don’t get the anger at a driver and sometime pedestrian who’s not doing anything wrong or dangerous. Shouldn’t you save it for the person who barrels by at 23 or something?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh my gosh, YES! So thankful that I have a new job with a different start time, because I used to have to pass the worst crossing guard in all of the city every morning, on the corner of Granny White and Lone Oak. She is mean, blows her whistle at you no matter how slow you are going, and scribbles down EVERY car’s license number on her menacing notepad. Crossing guards have a power trip of the worst kind, it seems. Also notable, there are never kids crossing the road on Granny White, because the sidewalk is on the side of the street that the school is on, so any children who need to cross the road have already done so.
Check out the dude on Hwy 70S for West Meade elementary. He’s enough to make you want to get out and walk.
Amen to that!