U.S. woman ordered to wear ‘idiot’ sign after driving on sidewalk to avoid stopping for school bus
U.S. woman ordered to wear ‘idiot’ sign after driving on sidewalk to avoid stopping for school bus | World | News | National Post
CLEVELAND — A woman caught on camera driving on a sidewalk to avoid a Cleveland school bus that was unloading children will have to stand at an intersection wearing a sign warning about idiots.
Court records show a Cleveland Municipal Court judge on Monday ordered 32-year-old Shena Hardin to stand at an intersection for two days next week. She will have to wear a sign saying: “Only an idiot drives on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus.”
The judge ordered her to wear the sign from 7:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. both days.
Hardin’s license was suspended for 30 days and she was ordered to pay $250 in court costs.
Messages seeking comment were left at a telephone listing for Hardin and at her attorney’s office.
On the one hand, I can see where some are saying that it's not effective to 'humiliate someone' into better behaviour. And ordinarily I'd typically side with the two wrongs don't make a right point of view. But I think in certain cases, and this seems to be one of them since it's been repetitive enough on her part that they were able to film it, publicly naming and perhaps shaming someone may be the only way to get through to her.
Clearly she's only concerned about herself, hence the driving on the sidewalk to avoid stopping for a school bus (and she is an idiot for doing that by the way), so maybe the only "penalty" that will really drive the point home is one where it hits her where it counts the most for her, her concern for herself. An added benefit might be that publicizing this woman and her little stunts will make the general public more likely to recognize her should she misbehave again. If she's not going to concern herself with the rules set up to protect the safety of children, maybe she's self involved enough to be aware that others may be watching her. Maybe. Who knows.
Honestly I would have removed her license for a longer period, fined her a larger amount and made her do community service work while wearing her sign.
But that's just my opinion.