School Crossing, Part 2

Just to demonstrate that Tuesday’s scene in front of Middle School 51 on 5th Avenue was not a fluke, here are a couple more pictures, taken yesterday evening at about 5 PM.  This is long after school is over for the day, but many students must still have extra-curricular activities that keep them there until this hour.  Just like in the morning, these cars are inconveniencing pedestrians, other drivers, bus riders, cyclists, and everyone else trying to move around during rush hour.

If you look carefully you can count four double-parked cars in the picture.  The camera on my phone does not have a wide enough angle to take in the whole street, but if it did you’d see that the entire side of this bit of 5th Avenue between 4th and 5th Street was lined with double-parked cars.

This driver decided to wait in crosswalk.  Drivers exiting 4th Street and turning right onto 5th Avenue–and there weren’t that many since 4th is a dead end–had to make an awkward turn around her.  Drivers turning left from across the street had to squeeze between her car and cars waiting at the light going the other direction. The bus that came by had barely enough room to pass.

To top it off, pedestrians, including the kid in the green backpack, had to go around her car and out of the crosswalk in order to get across the street.  (There is no crossing guard stationed at this time of the evening.)  If you were the driver of the dark-colored Jeep about to turn onto 5th seen in the background of the picture, would you be able to see the kid about to come out from behind the silver SUV?