Don't Drive Into Classrooms

   As the new school year begins, there are a number of signs posted -- physical ones on telephone poles and electronic ones on highway message boards -- reminding us that "School's Open! Please Drive Carefully!" This is not something new; I can remember such signs from the days when I was in school and they probably date all the way back to the days of Henry Ford's Model T's.

  But what is the point of such messages? Presumably, it's a reminder that we should watch out for school children in the streets. (One has to wonder why we should be looking out for them on the parkways.) But if school is open, aren't they all inside?

  Wouldn't it make much more sense to tell drivers when school is out for the summer? That the kids are all free to roam the streets? And that driver's ed graduates with newly-minted licenses are on the roads?

  Unless, of course, you make it a habit of driving up and down the halls of your local school building. In which case, you are going to encounter some heavy traffic jams between periods.