By James Bow

So, earlier this week, I had a run-in with the law. That sounds awfully sinister, doesn’t it? But here’s what happened.

I was driving my eldest daughter to school and my wife to work. Because of the weather and a faulty alarm clock, we got off late, and I drove to my daughter’s school, arriving five minutes after the bell rang. Knowing that my daughter would have to enter through the front door, I pulled up in front of the school — right in the middle of the school’s empty school bus loading zone, and had my wife and daughter pile out of the car and pelt up the stairs into the building.

I then looked at the road ahead, and saw a yellow-jacketed bylaw enforcement officer looking meaningfully at me and taking his notepad out of his pocket.

Some people already know what I’ve done wrong, probably because they have done it themselves or know someone who has. This is because they either have children who attend my daughter’s school, or one of a number throughout the region where parking is at a premium, and the morning and afternoon drop-off/pick-up routine changes the otherwise quiet residential street in front of the school into a chaotic traffic jam.

Alongside the “School Bus Loading” signs are prominent “No Stopping” signs (helpfully pointed out to me by the yellow-jacketed bylaw enforcement officer). Coming to a complete stop and discharging passengers counts as a stop, and that’s a violation. And because this is a school zone where children’s safety is paramount, you don’t get a warning, you get a ticket, and the fine for that ticket is steep: $80.

The bylaw enforcement officer explained all this while I sat waiting for him to write down the information on my licence plate. And I wish to point out that the officer was polite, professional and respectful, though he did have that air of authority bylaw officers tend to have when they’ve caught you dead to rights.

The experience is rather similar to what it must feel to be called down to the principal’s office. It’s likely the law requires officers to explain precisely why they’re obliged to issue a ticket, both because of due process and because we would never learn otherwise. Whatever excuses I might have thought to say weren’t said because (a) he was right, (b) whatever subtle variations might have existed on the fact that he was right, it was neither the time nor the place to raise them and (c) he was right.

Really, the only thing to do was to take my lecture like a man, accept my ticket, collect my wife (who apologized to me profusely, though it was me who made the decision to pull up to the curb) and slink away.

And also, perhaps, to reflect on the lessons I could take from this incident. This never would have happened if I’d walked my daughter to school. I’d already resolved to do this more often and clearly the fates are giving me a nudge.

Another lesson could be that sometimes we get careless. It is human to make mistakes, but it is important to remember that there are always consequences for our mistakes. And, in the grand scheme of things, an $80 consequence is a lot easier to swallow than some of the other consequences that are possible.

Time to pay more attention.

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James Bow is a writer and a father of two in Kitchener.
You can read more about him online at bowjamesbow.ca or follow him on Twitter at @jamesbow.