The Dean's Blog: 'Cars, BIG cars'

I am not going to be judgemental. I will express no opinion. I will hint no subtext. No implication at all is there to be inferred. Just facts observed over the last two weeks as Spring starts to send fresh optimism into the air. Ok? Good! Then read on…

At 8.20 a.m. the problem is only perceived by the 30 or 40 drivers still queuing to get into the school drive, maybe all the way down Strubenacher, even round the corner past Rinspeed, and up the hill and round that corner, too…

It is not perceived by the driver who waits in the drive blocking the said 30 to 40 cars for the first space to become free regardless of what happens behind and the fact that there is a car in the first space by the Red Top gates anyway and that there are three or four spaces free at the far end of the Red Top…
and not by the driver who pulls into a clearly too small space leaving a couple of metres of metal sticking out into the driveway that others will just have to negotiate as best they can…
and not by the driver who pulls into the first of the three freed up spaces and then parks in half the second one as well…
and not by the driver who is relieved to find a space having dropped off offspring and so gets out of vehicle to chat to other drivers…
and not the driver who starts texting instead of above…
and not by the driver who should have been in the car park as he waits for his companion to return from the primary school…
and not by the driver who does not let in a colleague who is indicating a wish to exit the drop off because this driver is in too much of a hurry and doesn’t need the space anyway…
and not by the driver who tries to pull out into the mainstream but unfortunately owns one of these cars where the indicator option was deleted so it is all down to bluff and guesswork…
and not by the few, the very few drivers when they give the four members of staff concerned with ICS students’ safety at around 8.15a.m., aggressive looks and gestures and sometimes even hostile comments.

But the four do see simple solutions, though, which if adopted by the few would alleviate some of the stress of the many …

such as pulling into the furthest available space even if it is on the far side of the Red Top because it frees up the driveway and it is a medically proven good thing if offspring walks the extra 30 metres...
such as child already having coat, lunch and bag in cabin so lengthy leave-taking involving driver having to decamp from cabin (so another large car door is left open to be circumvented by the pedestrians walking up to school on the narrow path) is cut to the ideal 30 seconds or less…
such as using indicators to pull in and to pull out…
such as leaving home five minutes earlier to avoid the rush (the school is open and so is the playground)…
such as always letting the driver who wishes to exit the drop off and thus leave a space, have precedence…
such as moving forward as much as is possible so another driver can pull in behind as this is so much quicker for them…
such as not parking on our neighbours’ property (at the DSC that’s Stahl or Ruegg just because it is more convenient than the stipulated options and there happens to be space – it is still called trespass)…

and…

such as realising that the said four teachers and all the drivers are united by one single aim to have all children safely out of cars and away from cars and into the safety of school as quickly as possible, with as little irritation to our long suffering neighbours and members of the ICS community as possible.

Actually the philosophy is all there in the IB Learner Profile.