Mind the crosswalk, please.

Yesterday, we had a mother and her daughter get hit by a slow moving car while they were crossing the street with a crossing guard at the designated crosswalk.  Turns out that it was one of our dads dropping his kid off and going forward. Mom and daughter are okay and didn't need transported, but still, they are both very sore.

Lord knows what distracted him, causing him to hit two people.

I got a panicked call from a parent asking, "WHAT IS GOING ON AT THE SCHOOL?"  My response was, "I don't know, what IS going on at the school?"  She explained that there was "an unmarked police car and an ambulance just drove up with its lights on and there was a man and a child and the kids were just outside."

"If something was going on, they would phone us."

"But it was an unmarked car."

"Perhaps it was the one that was the closest."

I told her that I'd phone the school, I wasn't going to ask for details, but I would find out if all was okay.  That is exactly what I did and without details, it was reported to me that all was well.  I phoned the mom back and gave her the report.  Later, I got the call from my friend Kay telling me what had happened.  I called lady #1 back to give her the details.  I also told her that K had expressed interest in being a crossing guard and I had politely, but firmly told her no.

"Well, B still wants to do that."

I told her that I told K that I had to run after people who slow-motion tried to run over the guard kids so that they could enter the blocked parking lot.  I ran after a car and tapped on their window and told the guy it wasn't cool.  I had to have the principal come out on a few occasions where people were swearing at the guards because they wouldn't let them enter the teacher's parking lot without a pass to do so.  I don't want my child's day to start with someone yelling at her and I certainly don't want someone driving their car directly at her to get her to move.  She told me that in light of what happened now, she would certainly have to give a bit different consideration to the crossing guard request.

I don't mean to be that mom, but I want the kids to be safe.

Last year, we had 3 different occasions where Mr. Jim kept us safe from 3 separate vehicles blowing the crosswalk.  People just drove straight through without pausing.

People don't pay attention.

People accidentally hit other people and cars.  I'm not saying that they mean to.  It is why I used the word "accidentally."

A school zone is one of the number 1 places that you should drive completely distraction-free.

Please, mind the crosswalk, the school zones and our people using them.  Drive slow.  Drive slower than the posted sign.  You never know when children will pop up out of weird places.  Don't curb drop your kids either.  That is why there are crosswalks and people guarding them.  To curb drop means that you are holding up traffic and making more little notchits for kids to try to sneak through, figuring that traffic is paused for a moment.

Long story a few sentences longer.  Keep our kids safe while crossing streets and getting to school.  Please.

ETA:  The father did hit the mom and daughter at about 20 MPH, so it wasn't just a bump.  Mom is still sore and didn't go to seek medical help, though I wish that she would have.  The police confirmed to a parent today that the father received "several citations" in regard to this crosswalk incident.