Lollipop men/women

keano_afc

Not sure if this is the right place to post this so mods move if needed.

Just something I've noticed over the past week or so. On my way to work, I pass 3 schools, all of which are serviced by a lollipop person. We had one in my primary school many years ago, and she would wait until there was a break in traffic before going on to the road to allow children to cross. However I've noticed that the 3 lollipop people at these schools wait for the pedestrian lights outside the school to stop traffic for children before venturing out on the road, and then retreat back across the road once the lights change. I was just wondering, are these people paid by the Department of Education? Surely its a complete waste of money and resources to have somebody walking out on the road at the same time as pedestrian lights, when they are effectively doing the same job.

John Mason

Children dont obey traffic lights, they just run without looking.

Have you seen the state of irish drivers? i dont blame the lollipop person waiting for the lights, he would be milled out of it by either a cyclist, a motorcyclist or a car.

also it teaches children to use and wait for the lights.

would you prefer more dead school children. prime example kid stands at lights on gardinder street 3 weeks ago and just decided to run across the road straight in the path of a bus

Masada

I suppose they encourage the kids to only go when they get the nod. I live beside one of these crossings and about a year and a half ago i saw a girl about 7 or 8 getting ran over by a car when the lollypop guy wasn't there. It was a very serious one and she was thrown maybe 30ft from the bang. she was lucky and survived but she suffered bad head injuries and her pelvis was badly damaged.
In 20 years ive never seen an incident when the lollypop guy there. theres a hell of a lot of kids cross that road every day.

dudara

I know that the lollipop people might seem like overkill when there are also lights and pedestrian crossings, but I truly believe that they are needed.

Kids don't take a lot of notice of lights and traffic. if they see a pedestrian crossing, they might just decide to take it, regardless of lights and traffic.

Likewise, motorists are always going to be tempted to run lights and not stop for pedestrian crossings.

The lollipop people act as a reminder for everyone.

Stargal

They're talking about lollipop men/women on Liveline now if you're near a radio.

Nevyn

It is not just getting the kids across the road safely they also watch out for bullying and bad behaviour and are a deterrant to such.

Jenroche

True. The lollypop lady outside my daughter's school is a lovely woman. She chats to everyone, knows loads of the kids by name, keeps a good eye out for any carry-on and won't hesitate in having a word with anyone who's not behaving themselves. Also, she always reminds the parents if the kids are off early or have a day off coming up. Every year she stays late and hands out lollys to the new Junior Infants on their first day. I think these people would be sadly missed if they were to be replaced by traffic lights.

Jen ;->

Masada

The lollypop lady I knew as a child used to actually give out lollypops!

Because of her i always thought that was the norm for them, and then some bloke replaced her and he was a bastid. No lollys for you son.

The ones in Donaghmede wait for the light to go green before they go:mad:

Masada

If they just stood out on the road and stopped the traffic all the time in between red lights you'd have a load of drivers giving out. You can never win.

They can wait the 30 seconds it takes for the light and know its safe to cross while at the same time being able to gather more kids, so they dont have to make as many crosses.