Parking for school run

Alambra · 24-06-2010 12:07pm #1

Just wondering if local residents committees can ban parents parking in their estates for school runs? As a parent who does this, I've been under pressure from two residents to stop but I thought the road was for public use and am reluctant to go the very long way around to park elsewhere (in someone elses estate as it happens). I don't obstruct anyone where I park, nor do I park in front anyones house. I don't want to do something illegal but can't find out if what I'm doing is 'officially' wrong.

Robbo · 24-06-2010 12:10pm

Alambra wrote: »

Just wondering if local residents committees can ban parents parking in their estates for school runs? As a parent who does this, I've been under pressure from two residents to stop but I thought the road was for public use and am reluctant to go the very long way around to park elsewhere (in someone elses estate as it happens). I don't obstruct anyone where I park, nor do I park in front anyones house. I don't want to do something illegal but can't find out if what I'm doing is 'officially' wrong.

Are there yellow lines down? Is it permit or Pay & Display parking? Is the road part of an estate which is under the ambit of a management company? Are you parking up on the path or too close to a junction?

Alambra · 24-06-2010 12:57pm

No, there are no yellow lines, no management company, no junction, no pay and display and no parking on the footpath. Its within a housing estate which has some green areas and a few of the parents dropping kids to the school park along the side wall of a house, adjacent to but never on the footpath that runs along by the side wall of the house or in front of the green area, again not obstructing anyone.

24-06-2010 1:06pm

If it is a public road then the residents have no claim on the parking spaces even right in front of their house, any member of the public is just as entitled as them to park there, they obviously have too much time on their hands if they are getting bothered about you parking for a few mins. Ignore them or tell them where to go.

Das Kitty · 24-06-2010 2:05pm

Fair Play to you OP, with so many parents parking willy nilly directly outside of schools blocking the road I wish more would do what you do and park legally.

kayos · 24-06-2010 2:10pm

Kolten Echoing Nursery wrote: »

they obviously have too much time on their hands if they are getting bothered about you parking for a few mins. Ignore them or tell them where to go.

Right obviously you've not been on the recieving end of this?

My home estate has a primary school at the top of the road. In the mornings it is near impossible to get out of the estate as you have people parking both sides of the road into the estate, people parking on the junction (its a T junction and they park every where on it), people parking on the footpath and a few other lovely examples of parking.

Come about an hour before going home time you have cars starting to park up, parents with car doors open talking to each other and basicly a repeat of the morning antics.

Its a public road and no yellow lines any where but... it creates a madhouse of traffic which inturn makes it a danger for kids crossing the road to the school. The best part is the AGS do come down some mornings and very strictly move parents on and not allow them park.

To any one that does this sort of parking think about it happening outside your house. Trying to get out of your drive way to find it blocked by a clapped out familly van with the parent just getting out to cross the road to the school with one child. And wont move their POS until they have done so. Leaving you stuck there cause they got talking to Mrs Bloggs on the way.

OP do you park across the road or beside a driveway? Does it obscure the residents view of trying to get out from their house? What would you say if your child was knocked down as a result of a car reversing out and having their view blocked by your car? How close is the nearest junction to where you park? When you say you dont park on the footpath how far from the kerb are you? How would you feel if your house became a hub for 30 cars to park outside?

Not saying your parking is crap OP and I dont know where your talking about. But as someone how had to put up with this for years I know that not all parents park in a decent manner.

Also a school open close to where we live right now and part of the planning was that our estate was not to be used by the parents as a drop off. The school are very clear on this.

Alambra · 24-06-2010 2:38pm

Kayos, I know where you are coming from with the awful frustration of bad driving/parking and poor manners of some on the school run. The chaos outside the school is more than partly behind why I prefer to walk my child in from a quieter route. I always park close to the kerb, not obstructing views etc and away from the main road but have witnessed people basically abandoning their cars in busy spots on the main road and at T junctions. Ideally we would cycle or walk but work and time constraints mean we can't always do that. I live in an estate where there is a drop off to a pre-school, with much smaller numbers obviously but there is still some disruption to traffic and nobody complains if people park with regard to others and with regard to the safety of the children. I feel that by allowing the few who want to to use the parking at the estate I wish to use, they would help with the general traffic problems at the school without seriously problems to themselves. I wonder what the City Council had in mind when they plonked our school in the middle of numerous housing estates with very limited access??

JohnCleary · 24-06-2010 2:44pm

Reminds me of something I saw yesterday, at Duggans (Now Spar?) Renmore;

Tight parking there, some woman decided to take up 2 spaces. As she was leaving her car, another car approached and (I didn't hear the convo) and basically asked her to move her car over so the space could take another car. The reply from the woman? "But i'll only be a minute". This saying WRECKS my t1ts, people reckoning they have the right to cause a blockage/disturbance, because they'll 'only be a minute'

Grrrrr!

McTigs · 24-06-2010 2:51pm

probably slightly off topic and not accusing the OP of anything, but i wonder how much of this problem is caused by people driving to the school when they live less than half a mile away?

Alambra · 24-06-2010 3:02pm

People certainly drive to the school that live very close to it but a lot of them are on their way to work and just head off from the school. Also some parents with younger children have other drop off's to pre-schools or creches. I know a lot who walk or cycle when they aren't working. Bizarrely, I also know people with three pick ups, from pre-school, infants and then the main school, so they'd be living on the road if they walked for each one!

Xiney · 24-06-2010 3:08pm

I miss the Canadian school bus system

kayos · 24-06-2010 3:09pm

Alambra wrote: »

I wonder what the City Council had in mind when they plonked our school in the middle of numerous housing estates with very limited access??

Is this the school just off the western distrib rd?

Alambra · 24-06-2010 3:21pm

No, just off Cappagh Road.

catmelodian · 24-06-2010 3:38pm

was the school there before your house?

Alambra · 24-06-2010 4:02pm

Some houses were there, I think, before the school and some estates were built after. I know of several other schools in Salthill that are equally boxed in. School bus would be a great idea!

kayos · 24-06-2010 4:31pm

I think the idea of having the schools near/in the middle of a bunch of housing estates is the school is there to serve the local children and it would cut down on cars being needed.

Sadly the schools tend to serve a much larger area and even the children who live a 5minute walk from the school get dropped off and collected.

gaeilgegrinds1 · 24-06-2010 7:20pm

Walking buses seem to be taking off in many of the schools from what my Primary School teacher friends have told me. Fab idea!

thefeatheredcat · 25-06-2010 1:19am

Alambra wrote: »

Just wondering if local residents committees can ban parents parking in their estates for school runs? As a parent who does this, I've been under pressure from two residents to stop but I thought the road was for public use and am reluctant to go the very long way around to park elsewhere (in someone elses estate as it happens). I don't obstruct anyone where I park, nor do I park in front anyones house. I don't want to do something illegal but can't find out if what I'm doing is 'officially' wrong.

OP, have any other parents had any issues with residents hassling them too? And have you spoken to the school/board of ed about lack of drop off/parking facilities? Have their been many confrontations?

Fair play to you for parking with decency... it's rare to see that. I've a school at the top of the road and some days I wonder have the parents any cop on or with any safety in mind for their children... I've seen all sorts of parking, not just double but triple parking (and I thought the gards in limerick were the only ones that did that!).

I've seen the traffic carnage the school drop off does and the lack of respect and courtesy so I can see that point.

I don't know if it's ever likely to happen but gmit students used to park their cars in a nearby housing estate and on paths as inadequate parking was provided... the council copped on and plonked whole new double yellow lines to deter them.

However, residents would be crazy to complain although I can understand their frustration. At my parents house, around the corner is a popular deli/restaurant, are nearby to central shopping centers and sports amenities, so they often face having people park along the side of the road where there's no lines... while they have never obstructed the driveway, it's left little space for visitors and own family's cars. When I asked my dad about it, he was ok with it because he didnt mind too much and knew that it could lead to yellow lines being placed down..and he would get stuck with parking then.

padi89 · 25-06-2010 7:33am

Why don't you just park at Cappagh Park like many other parents and walk your children through Liosmor? There is a lollipop lady/man at the Cappagh road crossing every morning for the school. It's a couple of extra mins max so shouldn't make any difference to your day. Im not a resident in the estate but i can certainly see the frustration from local residents.

Wompa1 · 25-06-2010 7:51am

Lived by a place like that before. Nightmare during the week. Living close to a school now but luckily get going to work before school and out after it so no complaints..yet. Schools should probably be purpose built with pick up zones or something

MissAlex · 25-06-2010 8:48am

Is the estate a private estate or taken in charge by the local council, as this can have an impact on whether it's a public road or not. If the estate hasn't been taken in charge of the council, the residents are within their right to ask you to move as the roads within the estate are private, for residents use only.

wet-paint · 25-06-2010 11:13am

I stayed up in Portobello there a few nights ago in a friend's house. She haas a resident's permit to park outside her house, but it's an open road, where anyone can park, as long as they put money in the meter. It's about a hundred yards from a music school, and she says getting a parking space is pretty much always a nightmare, as most parents come along, drop off little Johnny for his flute lesson, and then park up, and ****ing sit in the car for the hour, waiting for him, and then leave again. It drives her and most of the other residents nuts, to the point that they're getting on to the school tellign them to get the parents to stop using the road as a layby.

Myself, I live about a three minute walk from Taylors Hill. About three months ago, I had one woman in a stupid ****ing Chelsea Tractor park outside my drive, and wouldn't move until she'd gotten off the phonecall she was on, so I have very little sympathy for these ****ers who park in estates for forty minutes before the school ends top pick up their little precious. Next tiem that happens, they're getting the air let out of their tyre.

Alambra · 25-06-2010 11:39am

Its very unfair to park in someone else's driveway and I've seen people be really rude to someone legitimately asking them to park properly. I've a feeling school pick ups will always be contentious!

snubbleste · 25-06-2010 12:08pm

I know that An Garda are taking a more hardline stance on parking and have sent out a community garda to some schools at 9am earlier in the year to remind errant motorists to park responsibly. This only happened as a result of written complaints over time.

I also live near Taylors and the parking there can be diabolical, those parents should have their licence to drive revoked on the basis they are not able to comply with relevant t&c's of same

forumfiend · 25-06-2010 4:58pm

Having been through the school-run days and come out the other side I can see both sides of the argument. Having to wait for the yummy mummies to finish yapping when you are rushing to work is a pain in the a$$. Getting kids out to school in the morning when you are rushing to work is no joke either.

In all fairness people have been parking inconsiderately around schools for generations. It didn't seem to be such a big deal in the past, maybe people were more tolerant?

If somebody lived in an estate and a new school near it caused problems with parking then I think a resident would really have grounds for complaint. But moving into an estate near a school and complaining about the traffic would be like moving into an apartment on Abbeygate Street and complaining about the noise from Central Park at night.

Alambra · 25-06-2010 5:36pm

forumfiend, agree very much with your comments. Lets hope the long summer break will give everyone a bit of much needed rest/perspective and we'll all live to fight another day! As for me, I'll continue to walk/cycle as much as possible and will also park and stride from the park at Cappagh but will also use the estate which hates us if I need to as well due to shortage of time/horrendous weather etc. I don't want to be anyone's pain in the neck but equally I can't drag two little kids (youngest one is 5), both of whom have very different ideas as to what constitutes 'progress' in walking, over a fairly long distance in heavy rain. A bit of understanding on all sides of this issue would go a long way to resolving it.

Parking for school run

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