There are no stocks in the town square any more, and dunce caps are a thing of the past. But a judge in Ohio is bringing back the “shame as punishment” model for the case of a woman who pleaded guilty to driving on a sidewalk in order to avoid waiting for a Cleveland school bus. She’s been ordered to sport a sign broadcasting her crime for two days next week.

The woman was caught on camera hopping her car onto a sidewalk to drive around a bus that was unloading school children, reports the Mason Globe Gazette in Ohio.

A Cleveland Municipal Court judge didn’t care one whit that the 32-year-old was driving to avoid kids, just that she made the big mistake of driving where she shouldn’t have been.

As such, she’s been ordered to sport a sign for two days at an intersection two days next week, for an hour each time, reading: “Only an idiot drives on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus.”

The punishment might seem harsh, but as KLTV points out, this was something the woman reportedly did often to avoid waiting for the bus to unload all those kids. The bus driver was getting nervous that she’d hurt someone, so he finally caught her in the act on his cell phone.

Her license was also suspended for 30 days, in case she was tempted to make the same mistake again. After such a public shunning, it’s unlikely.

Woman who drove on sidewalk must wear ‘idiot’ sign [Mason Globe Gazette]
Impatient driver pleads guilty, must wear sign at school bus stop [KLTV.com]

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