| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 11:44:40 AM | Get those kids to learn how to cross the road (and even older people) I see so many people out there thinking the car will never hit them and their never look both ways.
But on another note I these people who speed in their cars(most of them are between 17-20) who think its really cool to drive fast - which isn't really when their end up crashing | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 11:50:21 AM | More police presence on the streets to start with. This country compared to the US has 1/10th of the cops on the road. Speed camera's only slow people down when they are about to enter the trap and after that it's full throttle as usual. Most of the people that speed excessively and deliberately have electronic devices that inform them of upcoming cameras.
More lanes appropriated for cyclists would be nice as well. The majority of the UK has no dedicated lane for cyclists so we have to share the road with cars and that leads to more accidents.
Parents could make sure that their children's helmets are securely and snuggly strapped onto their heads rather than loosely tilted back. If you are going to just tilt it back you might as well not wear one at all.
I think there is this notion in the UK that cyclist do not have the same rights as cars when it comes to sharing the road. I stop at all red lights. I behave legally on the road and if i had not then i would not have been able to ride the nearly 300k miles i have done so far.
In Europe, on the mainland, many countries have their own cycle lanes since large portions of the population use bicycles for more than just fun. I am just sick of being treated like a second class citizen just because i choose to use an alternative mode of transportation. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 12:10:32 PM | Where do 10 year olds go on bikes on their own on the road? I'd not let mine go riding around the roads when they were that age , far too young to start bothering them with the highway code etc. It's not like in our day when there were no cars on the street.
Parenting is to blame for a lot of it. Teach them respect for themselves and others (include in this some guidance on the fact they even though they are kids and feel immortal, they can die just as easily as anyone else can), ensure they wear suitable protection even it isn't cool and if they refuse, lock the bike in the garage until they give in (try to monitor this as closely as poss although not easy granted), don't let them clear off on busy roads on their bikes until they've done a cycling proficiency course (easy enough to find one even in the smallest of backwaters or if you want to keep y0ur child alive, take him/her somewhere where they can do one - parents responsibility not schools in my opinion).
It's not only the child who rides out into the path of an innocent speed limit abiding driver on the way to work for just a normal day who suffers, that driver suffers too - not only from the shock and trauma of having killed a child and been a front seat witness, but also from the questions arising as to their conduct, making them an initial suspect in what has to be treated as a crime (assessing speed, breath tests etc not to mention finger pointing from gossipy folk and being known as 'the bloke who killed that kid' for the rest of their lives). | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 1:45:49 PM | Easiest ways of making roads safer would be to ban all cars. Problem solved.
Oh! What do you mean, that solution isn't politically acceptable?
... Meanwhile... back in the 21st Century  Where I live (a very rural area) a car is vital to get around, I don't currently own one so I'm well aware of the limits of public transport. Public transport is irregular and mostly impractical. Unless you want to spend your entire life in your immediate area, or you have all the time in the world, you need a car to get around.
How about really enforcing the speed limits? They are largely ignored or treated as guidelines by almost everybody.
In built up areas, where children are most vulnerable, it's almost impossible to break the speed limits due to volume and the stop-start nature of town centre driving, and I'm willing to bet that everyone on this forum never goes above 20mph past a school or through a town centre.
How about fitting ALL vehicles with speed- limiters, so they cannot travel faster than the speed limits?
Totally unnecessary and potentially dangerous. What if you're on a rural road and you want to overtake a Tractor or other slow moving vehicle?
How about making driving bans permanent?
Unfair. Bad drivers can be educated to become good drivers.
How about treating every incident involving a car as real crime? Being charged with possessing an offensive weapon, ie. a 6 ton lump of metal moving very fast.
Not all accidents are the fault of the car driver.
How about making people re-take their driving test every 5 years?
Not a bad idea actually!
How about everyone that reads this, makes a concious effort to drive more slowly and more carefully tomorrow? Start the effort with the one person that you know you can change, yourself.
Again, not a bad idea. I think you'll find, however, that the majority of drivers already do.
Back on topic. Road safety is all about education. There is no age limit to learning the rules of the road, how to cross, how to ride etc... All kids should have to take a cycling proficiency test at school, I did, not sure if they still do though. Make the wearing of cycling helmets law (if it isn't already) Cycle lanes are good but there aren't enough, cyclists of all ages ride wherever they want at present, on the pavement, the wrong way up one-way streets, as a driver you've got one eye on them constantly as they weave all over the road without a care in the world!
Post 20. I saw something along those lines about a town in Holland. All road marking were removed and drivers automatically drove more carefully, resulting in a reduction in accidents. According to the programme, when it was suggested here, road safety groups instantly turned their noses up at it, they couldn't see beyond their usual cry for harsher enforcement, harsher penalties. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 1:59:38 PM | As a cyclist (I cycle to and from work every day), I've learned from many near misses to ride defensively. When I'm coming up to a junction (passing one), I'm super-alert to anything that might be coming from my left, especially as on more than one occassion I've been obscured in the line of sight to the driver at the point at which we meet (the pillars either side of his windscreen). So, if I see a car coming up to the junction, I move further out into the road and slow down, looking at the driver to see what his intentions are (after checking behind me to the right to see if anything is coming).
I found that having driving lessons also taught me (by rote!) to mirror, signal and then turn. As a cyclist I do something similar: look over my right shoulder, signal, look again and then turn. I also know more or less where the driver's blind spot is in his mirrors from driving myself, so I can cycle outside of it most of the time so he knows where I am.
None of this can be taught, I don't think, on a cycling proficiency test, as it depends on seeing the road as a driver sees it, not as a cyclist and always looking for where you should go if the situation demands evasive action. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 2:55:48 PM | I used to cycle 30 miles a day in central London and as Rob says you learn to cycle defensively.
I remember doing Cycling proficiency in school and generally remember cycling on roads with my dad and brother when I was 8/9 - albeit not in a built up city.
As has been said above unfortunately kids usually only pay attention when they witness of experience near misses etc first hand, but I do think the cycling proficiency tesat should be taught to all pupils because it clearly has wider road safety lesons for those that dont ride a bike.
Drivers are generally not bad with cyclists and a lot of cyclists dont even follow the basics.
You also have these fast dual carriages in cities and there is always a pile of flowers on the railings every month or so. Not seen a public info film on dangers of running across them but they do seem to like showing the one of the 7 year old getting run over in the residential street. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 3:32:10 PM |
these are wide cycle lanes most of which are new and are actually on the pavement and the drains are in the roads Cyclists have every right to ride on the road if they want to. Just becuase they've been allowed onto the footway doesn't mean they have to ride there. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 3:36:47 PM | More lanes appropriated for cyclists would be nice as well. One of the biggest causes of death for cyclists is being taken out by left turning lorries. Cycle lanes encourage cyclists to stay on the left and in the blind spot of such lorries which can make it more dangerous, especially at junctions.
I went to a presentation from the head of transport of a french town which has the best safety record in France. There they have no cycle lanes as it against their policy of integrating cyclists with all traffic to increase driver awareness of them. What feels safe is not neccesarily safe | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 3:48:19 PM | It's all very well advocating that cycle lanes be constructed to preserve the safety of cyclists.
However, it needs to be considered who would actually pay for this. If cyclists were taxed in the same way as motorists I'd be all for it. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 4:05:20 PM | This subject is causing a lot of heated debate in my area at the moment as they are proposing a 20mph limit but it is being widely opposed.
1) It's un-enforcable (according to police)
2) 99% of the roads around here already have chicanes or speedbumps or BOTH
3) The main road which has the highest numbers of casualties and four schools is to be EXCLUDED from the 20mph zone due to objections from the bus company
My reasons for objecting are
Roads are for cars NOT for people.
I believe that more accidents occur due to f*ckwit parking especially outside schools.
No matter how many speed restrictions are in place there will always be the idiotic boy racers who don't stick to the limit so it is the good/ordinary drivers who end up getting punished.
Children play ON the road, adolescents walk ON the road???
To make the roads safer for cyclists should be getting far more attention than it is. Yes more cycle lanes/routes, yes fill in the bloody potholes so it's easier for them, yes cycling proficiency tests in school, yes make wearing helmets compulsory (many cycle RTC's tragically cost lives through head injuries) and yes cyclist and their bikes should be clearly visible, that means reflectors and lights should be in working order.
For the last 18months I have been lobbying locally for money to be spent on road safety for children and that means the big children too, they hit their teens and think they're invincible, sadly they are not. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 5:25:45 PM | I did my cycling proficiency at the age of ten - it served me well as I cycled 5 miles per day throughout my school years on the main road admitedly there is alot more traffic on the road these days and not so many men in front of vehicles with red flags etc.
Speed Bumps - well named as sleeping policemen- they cause vehicles to have worn/damaged suspension and therfore slower stopping - they cause people to accellarate and brake harshly and they also increase stopping times becuase they create an unven road surface- they are well named as if we had more police out of the stations and on the streets enforcing better road behaviour then accidents would be a lot less.
better wider road is one thing we should strive for with enough room for car and a bicycle to travel safely together although the cyling enthusiasts these days seem to think they have a God given right to ride two abreast and impede the taxpaying road user. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 5:40:51 PM | if everyone, cyclists included complied with the highway code then most of these deaths would be avoided. Note most, not all. you will NEVER stop all road deaths unless you remove roads from this planet.
I do feel that cycling proficiency and helmets should be compulsory, even for children before allowing you to cycle on a public road. Would be quite hard to enforce though unless as a policy they added all new births to the DVLA database as a matter of course so that cycling proficiency could be recorded on the DVLA database which is readily accessible to police etc.
Im my experience there is a greater proportion of cyclists who ride dangerously than car drivers driving dangerously.
Young riders just seem generally to have no regard for thier own safety, but to be fair its the older riders who regularly speed through red lights and then wonder why they nearly get run over!! on so many occasions i have nearly mowed down cyclists whove gone through red lights and mostly those cyclists seem to be upset by the fact that people might nearly run them over!!! morons!!! Perhaps increased penalties for cyclists going through red lights broadly in line with what drivers get. obviously you cant give them "points" like drivers but the fine can be hiked up to compensate. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/17/2009 5:59:53 PM | | I remember waiting at traffic lights to cross a road while I was at uni, there was a blind man with a stick also waiting. The lights for the traffic went red, we got the green man but no bleeps, so told the guy it was safe to cross, and as we all stepped out a bloke on a bike came straight through the red lights and sent him flying. Got back on his bike and cycled off, didn't even stop to see if the blind chap was ok. I felt really guilty as we'd told him to go, but it was clearly the cyclist's fault for not stopping for a red light, especially when there were pedestrians waiting to cross. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/18/2009 5:37:58 AM |
What can be done to keep our children safer on the roads but still allow road users reasonable freedom... I'm interested in safety for cyclists in particular as two of the three children killed near to me were on bicycles... Should we have dedicated cycle tracks everywhere? At 13 he was too old to use the paths but is 13 really old enough to understand the laws of the road? You are not allowed to drive legally til 17 so why be allowed on those same roads as a legitimate bicycle road user at 13??
I think all primary schools should run 'cycling proficiency tests' as they did back in our day at school. The kids that mine plays with up the road often put their feet down on the floor to stop their bikes. What happened to the basics working - like the brakes! Perhaps kids should be made to pass a cycle test and have to have bicycles inspected on a regular basis before being allowed out on the roads (and paths). | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/18/2009 9:18:09 AM | Im not a cyclist but
If cyclists were taxed in the same way as motorists I'd be all for it.
Isint road tax based on carbon emissions now
How much carbon does cycling emit ?
(on the other hand number plates might be an idea) | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/18/2009 12:54:15 PM |
Roads are for cars NOT for people. |followed by...
To make the roads safer for cyclists should be getting far more attention than it is. Yes more cycle lanes/routes, yes fill in the bloody potholes so it's easier for them So which is it?? | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/18/2009 1:39:42 PM |
How about fitting ALL vehicles with speed- limiters, so they cannot travel faster than the speed limits?
Totally unnecessary and potentially dangerous. What if you're on a rural road and you want to overtake a Tractor or other slow moving vehicle?
My car is fitted with a speed limiter and it's brilliant. I use it a lot of the time, especially in built up areas, it keeps my eyes on the road rather than the speedo.
If there's an emergency situation where a burst of speed is needed you just kick down on the accelerator and it is immediately overridden, a flick of a switch resets it. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/18/2009 4:53:40 PM |
We have recently had traffic calming measures installed in our area, these include chicanes and mini roundabouts on every junction but no speed-bumps... These three deaths occurred AFTER those measures were put in place...
Firstly, these items are not traffic 'calming' measures - they are driver 'angering' measures.
There are few things more dangerous on our roads than angry drivers.
Why have a device (chicane) which is designed to draw together vehicles travelling in opposing directions?
To make roads safer for our kids, we should remove all road furniture (except for safety islands that do not act as chicanes) and ensure that drivers are able to concentrate on their driving, not their speed and/or obstructions.
We should educate our kids about how dangerous the roads are if abused. I'm sick of seeing adverts which tell us that a child might survive if hit at a certain speed - when I was kid, we had adverts telling us to respect the roads.
At 13 he was too old to use the paths but is 13 really old enough to understand the laws of the road?
In that case, ban 13 year-olds from using the roads. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/18/2009 4:54:02 PM | Make the cycling proficiency tests the norm in schools again! I took mine when I was 9 or 10 and used to ride my bike to school which was a fair few miles away. If nothing else it makes children much more aware of road safety. I know the test is still available but not the way it used to be, where every year they had a course running at the school.
T x | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/19/2009 12:08:25 AM | I think they should re-employ Alvin Stardust, he used to scare the kids shiteless when saying "You must be out of your tiny minds" whilst dressed in a leather catsuit and those oversized sideburns !!
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