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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/19/2009 9:43:18 AM | I was coming back from somewhere yesterday evening just after it went dark and I was a passenger in a friends car, I was looking out of the side window and thought I was seeing things. There were two lads on a motorbike on the otherside of the road who were going the same way as we were, but they were going faster than we were and the speed limit was 40 on that strech of the road!
Now this would be stupid behaviour if they were on the right side of the road, but they were doing it on the pavement 
They had no helmets on and there was a speed camera directly pointing at them. God help anyone that happened to be walking or if there was someone on a bicycle on that side of the road, especially if they were in a motorised scooter or pushing a buggy they would have stood no chance. How daft can two people be, if they weren't going so fast I would have got the reg plate and reported them, then again if you were legally driving that bike, you wouldn't be as thick to do these things  | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/19/2009 10:21:16 AM | then again if you were legally driving that bike, you wouldn't be as thick to do these things
trust me i see a lot of thick bikers evryday who think they are immortal. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/19/2009 10:39:20 AM | | I don't mind the use of speed bumps to slow people down, but I bet the council won't pay my large bill for new coil springs after they cracked will they? The best way to go about it is education on the kids part and better attitudes in motorists. This in itself would bring down deaths. All speed bumps and traffic calming measures do is cause damage to cars and cause more accidents if you ask me. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/19/2009 12:42:22 PM |
trust me i see a lot of thick bikers evryday who think they are immortal.
There's plenty of them out there unfortunately. Mind you, once every few months I do see a biker who is sensible... it restores one's faith somehow!  | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/19/2009 4:26:55 PM | What can be done to keep our children safer on the roads
Teach the little friggers some common sense?
Speaking as both a regular cyclist and motorist, the general level of cycling proficiency on the roads from people of all ages is absolutely horrendous. I certainly seem to be the only cyclist on the road who understands that red lights apply to bikes as well as cars :/
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/19/2009 4:47:30 PM |
Even one dead child running out between parked cars is a price too high for people just being lazy.
So now its the fault of the persons car parked there??  More likely the childs death will be as a result of the child either not being correctly supervised while too young to learn green cross code, or in older children, thier own stupid fault for running in front of a car. In fact with teenagers they are usually well informed of the risks and how to cross safely but they choose not to do so as it wont happen to them etc. Parked cars wont stop that!!
not to mention the fact that you seem to think its realistic to stop EVERY childs death. Im sure you are aware of "health and safety" and parking on the street will almost certainly still meet the requirements of reducing the risk "so far as practicable".
Alternatively we could of course just ban cars from all residential areas and within 1/4 mile of parks/schools etc Yeah that would be practical!!!!!!!!
Also on an enviromental front, green belts are there to protect what little green land we have left in this country. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/19/2009 5:25:21 PM | Have proper provisions for cyclist...I dont think 'roads are for cars' is the answer. Some countries in Europe actually have proper cycle lanes on the pavement which is a lot safer, but we deffo need more cycle lanes...
We also need to take traffic laws more seriously. Does a £60 fine for traffic offences such as speeding really put anyone off? And the message that it sends out is that these are not a serious issue. If the fines were at a level where they were more serious, say £500, £1000, £2000, then people would actually think twice before speeding for instance. It would encourage to see cars and roads as dangerous, and not as race tracks | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/19/2009 5:29:46 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??
Sorry Roger I should have said pedestrians instead of people. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/19/2009 6:01:01 PM |
We also need to take traffic laws more seriously. Does a £60 fine for traffic offences such as speeding really put anyone off? And the message that it sends out is that these are not a serious issue. If the fines were at a level where they were more serious, say £500, £1000, £2000, then people would actually think twice before speeding for instance. It would encourage to see cars and roads as dangerous, and not as race tracks
That's because the Gov sees speeding fines as a source of revenue rather than a means of making roads safer. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/19/2009 6:47:34 PM | I live on a longish road that ends in a dead end (cul-de-sac is far too posh for round here), usually, the only traffic is those who actually live down this end of the road. The local kids therefore use the road as a playground and are happily oblivious to any danger. If that were the state all the time, it would be fairly (but not completely) safe. Unfortunately, two things make it a death trap, one, school run parking. At 9 and 3 the road is littered with thoughtless prats coming to pick up their kids from school. they don't care where they park, they don't seem to watch what the hell is going on around them and they have no respect for the residents. Sooner or later, a local kid will be knocked over by someone doing a lousy three-point turn and not watching what's around them.
Secondly, there are a load of motorbikes and mini bikes that screech up and down the road, using the speed bumps as launch ramps (the speed bumps are truly awful). Again, road safety isn't at the forefront of their minds and kids playing Kerby become moving targets.
The onus isn't just on the car and biker drivers though, parents should be drilling road awareness into their kids too. I read somewhere (but I can't cite my source) that kids don't have any real perception of road safety and traffic awareness until they are about 11. Prior to that, they shouldn't even be crossing the road alone, let alone riding a bike on it.
Needless to say, the kids playing in the road here range in age from toddler to teenager. It really is an accident waiting to happen. None of the parents seem to care though, which is the really worrying thing.
Bring back Tufty and the Green Cross Code Man, surely, they are even more relevant today, given the much higher traffic levels, than they were when we were kids? | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/20/2009 1:46:21 AM | MSG 64
So, you reckon that it's OK just to keep building on the countryside on the basis that it's owned by rich people?
Have you any idea of the poverty that many farmers live under?
I do believe that the idea of reducing the amount of cars parked at the roadside will also substantially reduce the number of children killed on our roads, but simply re-locating those cars into the nearby countryside is not the answer.
Reducing the population will also reduce the number of deaths........ | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/20/2009 2:50:47 AM |
Have you any idea of the poverty that many farmers live under?
Well perhaps if some of them had more opportunities to sell some of their land to property developers.... (Not that Im a great advocate of unrestricted ribbon devlopment but it is a point)
Reducing the population will also reduce the number of deaths........
Depending of course on how one goes about actually reducing the population  | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/20/2009 3:12:05 AM |
Well perhaps if some of them had more opportunities to sell some of their land to property developers.
They do, but then they might not have the opportunity to remain as farmers.
Besides, some of them love the countryside enough to know that 'developing' it means that it is lost forever.......what would our descendants think?
Depending of course on how one goes about actually reducing the population
It is not dependent on how the reduction is achieved............a 'reduction' is a 'reduction' is a 'reduction'....... | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/20/2009 7:54:12 AM | It is very sad when you hear about young people killed on the roads.
There is only so much that can be done though, accidents do happen though. No matter how many precautions are taken
I think instead of targeting the motorists we need to really drill into pedestrians about how to keep themselves safe. How many times have you been driving along and somone walks out in front of you? Or seen cyclists justing red light. One actualy joined the road from side road right bloody next to me! i couldnt believe what i had seen. He didnt even look. If i had been a foot to the left he would been in my door. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/23/2009 4:24:20 PM | the idea of increased building in the country is simply unsound there are countless Brownfield sites that would be better suited to housing development- near to the industries thereby minimising the commute- lessening traffic and therby reducing risk.
Sadly Brownfield doesnt reward the developer as much as a new green field site ( it should though as costs for linkage to infrastructure should be lessened although rural properties often attract a premium.
yet country roads are typically less safe by (lack of) design and the nearest hospital can often be three or four time the distance of acity A+E
so roads can be made safer and not by the one dimensional thinking of speed bumps pinch points and street furniture (all of which can add to the road traffic collision periodicity and severeity)
Roads can best be designed to be in the right places- no main roads between estates and town shops/amenities
good A roads without two many delaying features (junctions/traffic lights etc) to stop people using Rat runs.
strategic bridges and underpasses but ones which are convenient to use. not miles out of your way etc.
Its not going to happen though-not with our government(both local and national) if you want to see good road planning in action try Dussseldorf or Cologne. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/23/2009 4:34:24 PM |
As I pointed out to you previously the almost the entire population of this country lives on only 8% of the land mass. I'm not sure how you equate that to having little land left because when I do the maths it looks to me like there is 92% of land available to build on. The reason you and others think that our countryside is under attack and needs protection is because that's how the rich people who own the land want you to think. They forcably defend every attempt to expand our living areas by purpetuating the myth that there is non spare just to keep the likes of you and I off it and have it for themselves. The fact is that most of the ownership of this land is not even recorded on the land registry because it has been in the hands of the same very small number of people for generations and they have no intension what so ever of letting the surfs live on it or even to walk on it.
Absolutely spot on, any idiot who still thinks our countryside needs protecting has obviously never looked out of the window of a plane, the sheer amount of untouched lush green compared to built up areas is breathtaking. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/24/2009 3:27:57 PM | How can we make our roads safer for our children?
I know I'm going to be banned/deleted forever on pof (but I am a real poffy female fish) for saying this
the answer is simple(s)...
Get rid of our children.
The roads would be a lot safer then.
Any race/gender etc.
No problem(s) | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/24/2009 6:42:16 PM |
Bring back Tufty and the Green Cross Code Man, surely, they are even more relevant today, given the much higher traffic levels, than they were when we were kids?
I agree. I also wonder why can't kids be encouraged via schools to take cycling proficiency tests in the school holidays or in conjunction with kids youth clubs? | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/25/2009 6:01:19 AM | When I was a child their was the Green Cross Code that would be a start oh and parents taking responsibility.
20 mph limit in residential zones would not hurt either. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/25/2009 9:37:31 AM | how about feeding our children a high sugar and fat content diet so that not only are they more visible when they play, they will be less likely to stray too far away from the home, not to forget they will have their own mobile crash protection system in place. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/25/2009 11:43:10 AM | | The only way to make roads safer for everyone is educating people. How many times have you seen someone step straight out onto a road without looking while there on a mobile phone? How many times have you seen people run out in front of large vehicles that are parked without looking? How many times have you seen a cyclist run a red light? As a HGV driver and an ex taxi driver I have seen it all and it never surprises me when people start blaming others for there own stupidity. There have been some good points throughout this thread. I believe cyclists should be made to take a test before allowed on the road afterall motorists need to pass a test to prove they understand the rules of the road why not cyclists? Speed limiters should be fitted to all vehicles afterall the maximum speed limit on British roads is 70mph so no road vehicle needs more speed than this. Proper cycle lanes could work if planed correctly you would be surprised how councils waste tax payers money on pointless cycle lanes throughout Britain. Awhile back I passed one such cycle lane, it was no longer than around 5ft, how many lifes is that 5ft cycle lane going to save? Education is the best way to save lifes. | |
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| How can we make roads safer for our children...
Posted: 6/25/2009 11:57:07 AM | "the worst thing you can is make people feel safe". It's counter intuitive and very hard to get your head a round but it works
Absolutely it is to MOST people.
To people saying educate -- yes we do -- but remember what % of the population manage to make it out of one of the best universally available education systems in the world with bugger all to show for it. !
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