Tennessee Mom Threatened With Arrest For Letting Daughter Bike to School

tomasrojo

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/09/01/tennessee-mom-threatened-with-arrest-for-letting-daughter-bike-to-school/

Child neglect really covers a lot more area than I imagine the creators of the concept intended.

EDIT: Similar case in the UK:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1291970/Couple-threatened-social-services-children-ride-bikes-school.html

tomasrojo

This comment sounds familiar:

I asked him if the girl had been in, or caused, any traffic accidents while riding to school. NO, he said.

However, he said the officer saw a motorist drive into the oncoming lane to go around the girl on a bike. I suggested that maybe the officer should have stopped the MOTORIST and ticketed them for a traffic violation, since it is generally not necessary to swing into the oncoming lane to get around a cyclist - you just move over 3 feet, and most lanes have enough room to do that.

Pity markcroninbsc is banned.

bannedperson

tomasrojo wrote: »

Pity markcroninbsc is banned.

yes an awful pity indeed :P

bannedperson

I think making a young girl of 10 cycle to school on her own tho isn't really advisable. 10 is a little too young to be out cycling on your own on the roads in my opinion. Not just for road safety reasons, but there's a lot of weirdos out there. If the mother wanted her to have a healthy active lifestyle then she could have got up off her arse and cycled to school with her daughter, or they could have done some cycling after school.

ROK ON

Not sure about that. I began cycling to school when I was 9 or 10 (5km each way). Vast majority of my school cycled to school.
On the basis that I was neither killed or injured cycling to school, I think you will agree that it is perfectly safe to travel to school in this manner.

Khannie

Banned person is banned. o/

littleredspot

I lived less than a km from primary school in suburban Dublin in the 70's. There was a rule that you weren't allowed cycle to school until you were in first class (7?) At which point lots of people did. I'm happy to report that I'm still alive to tell the tale.

Jawgap

bannedperson wrote: »

I think making a young girl of 10 cycle to school on her own tho isn't really advisable. 10 is a little too young to be out cycling on your own on the roads in my opinion. Not just for road safety reasons, but there's a lot of weirdos out there. If the mother wanted her to have a healthy active lifestyle then she could have got up off her arse and cycled to school with her daughter, or they could have done some cycling after school.

hmmm, not really.

According to the RSA roads are safer - according to various reports there were a lot more weirdos knocking around in 70s, 80s and even into the 90s with a lot more ready access to vulnerable kids.

What has changed is our perception of risk and our collective propensity to become hysterical driven by the likes of the Daily Heil.

Moflojo

I cycled to primary school too from about age 9 onwards, about 4km each way along winding country roads. My neighbours went to the same school so there'd generally have been between 2 and 6 of us cycling together (A grupetto?). The only dangerous incident that ever befell us was when my neighbour's bike literally fell apart while we were cycling home one day. The frame had completely rusted away where both the top tube and down tube met the head tube and both failed at the same time, resulting in what could only be described as an inward collapse toward the road surface! I laughed hard, my buddy cried a little and God only knows how we got home without mobile phones to call our mammies!

Did I mention we weren't wearing helmets???

I'll get my coat...

tomasrojo

Jawgap wrote: »

According to the RSA roads are safer

I think it should be borne in mind that part of the reason for falling road-related child fatalities is that far fewer children are allowed near a road on their own now.

But I doubt the roads are very much more dangerous than when it was commonplace to allow slightly older children to cycle independently.

twowords

Jawgap wrote: »

hmmm, not really.

According to the RSA roads are safer - according to various reports there were a lot more weirdos knocking around in 70s, 80s and even into the 90s with a lot more ready access to vulnerable kids.

What has changed is our perception of risk and our collective propensity to become hysterical driven by the likes of the Daily Heil.

what report says there were more weirdos in the 70's and 80's? This is all a little stupid. Obviously in the first story something wasnt right if it was reported, it was reported before, protective services had talked to her before, and the cop thought it was unsafe in his judgement.

The second story the children are 5 and 8, a 5 year old shouldn't have to cycle 2 miles a day to and from school especially if the parents can afford the 12 grand to send them there.

Next ye'll be sayin kate and gerry mccann were right to leave their children unattended.

Jawgap

Moflojo wrote: »

Did I mention we weren't wearing helmets???

I'll get my non-hi-vis coat...

FYP:)

On a slightly more serious note - what about the actions of the cop? I would've thought that it wasn't the brightest idea to take the girl back to her home on his own, as that what seems to have happened.

I would've thought common sense would dictate that you wait for another officer, preferably female, before returning the girl to her home together.

smacl

ROK ON wrote: »

Not sure about that. I began cycling to school when I was 9 or 10 (5km each way). Vast majority of my school cycled to school.
On the basis that I was neither killed or injured cycling to school, I think you will agree that it is perfectly safe to travel to school in this manner.

I think there's a few more variables to consider, such as the safety of the route (levels of traffic, availability of cycling lanes, number of junctions etc...), experience and confidence of the child on a bike. Suburban roads with cycling lanes or quiet rural roads are one thing, busy urban roads in rush hour are something else.

I agree that kids should be cycling to school more, and hate to see the moms in 4WDs doing their <1k school runs. One of the big plusses for cycling lanes IMHO, and a better focus for government cycling safety efforts. School aside, I used to cycle all over the place as a kid and really appreciated the extra roaming range the bike afforded me.

tomasrojo

twowords wrote: »

what report says there were more weirdos in the 70's and 80's? This is all a little stupid. Obviously in the first story something wasnt right if it was reported, it was reported before, protective services had talked to her before, and the cop thought it was unsafe in his judgement.

The second story the children are 5 and 8, a 5 year old shouldn't have to cycle 2 miles a day to and from school especially if the parents can afford the 12 grand to send them there.

Next ye'll be sayin kate and gerry mccann were right to leave their children unattended.

Is this going to turn into Whack-A-Troll?

Khannie

tomasrojo wrote: »

Is this going to turn into Whack-A-Troll?

*whack*

Jawgap

twowords wrote: »

what report says there were more weirdos in the 70's and 80's? This is all a little stupid. Obviously in the first story something wasnt right if it was reported, it was reported before, protective services had talked to her before, and the cop thought it was unsafe in his judgement.

The second story the children are 5 and 8, a 5 year old shouldn't have to cycle 2 miles a day to and from school especially if the parents can afford the 12 grand to send them there.

Next ye'll be sayin kate and gerry mccann were right to leave their children unattended.

Exhibit A - Report by Commission of Investigation into Catholic Diocese of Cloyne

Exhibit B - http://www.childabusecommission.ie/

As for the McCann comment - ":rolleyes:" is all I have to say to that

Vélo

Khannie wrote: »

*whack*

Was that a roundhouse kick?

Jawgap

twowords wrote: »

what report says there were more weirdos in the 70's and 80's? This is all a little stupid. Obviously in the first story something wasnt right if it was reported, it was reported before, protective services had talked to her before, and the cop thought it was unsafe in his judgement.

The second story the children are 5 and 8, a 5 year old shouldn't have to cycle 2 miles a day to and from school especially if the parents can afford the 12 grand to send them there.

Next ye'll be sayin kate and gerry mccann were right to leave their children unattended.

Actually, maybe there are more weirdos out there today than I thought

tomasrojo

Vélo wrote: »

Was that a roundhouse kick?

TBC has been confirmed.

Beasty

OK, just for everyone's info, markcroninbsc, bannedperson and twowords are now all permanently site-banned

If you suspect further re-regs, please don't respond in-thread - report the post(s) and leave it for the mods/admins to deal with

Thanks

Beasty

fat bloke

I think a 10 year old should be ok (depending on the child) for cycling a short distance to school, and I've spent a lot of time in residential suburban America, all over the place, and they're generally the safest roads I've ever seen. Everyone obeys 20 and 30mph speed limits, the roads are generally very wide, and motorists tend to give cyclists a very wide and respectful berth.

The UK couple are a bit off their chops though sending a 5 year old out without a parent, in my opinion

Lumen

fat bloke wrote: »

The UK couple are a bit off their chops though sending a 5 year old out without a parent, in my opinion

They sent the five year old out with the eight year old. Without knowing the children it's impossible to a say whether that's a good idea or not. You'd think, since the parents know their own children, that they'd be the best judge of their capabilities.

I remember seeing a documentary about Mongolian nomads a while back. It featured a three or four year old riding a horse being quite adept with a machete. And no helment!

monument

tomasrojo wrote: »

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/09/01/tennessee-mom-threatened-with-arrest-for-letting-daughter-bike-to-school/

It's worth noting that the police changed their story after the story started to get more attention.

It's mentioned in the comments, but it was very noticeable after reading Bike Walk Tennessee post first and then reading the Street Blog post a few days later.

smacl

Lumen wrote: »

It featured a three or four year old riding a horse being quite adept with a machete. And no helment!

Seem to remember something similar in Ballymun a few years back. Not sure if it was a machete though, might've been a meat cleaver

kincsem

Americans lol.
Its up there with the police officer who drew his revolver at a snowball fight.

Fantasminha

fat bloke wrote: »

I think a 10 year old should be ok (depending on the child) for cycling a short distance to school, and I've spent a lot of time in residential suburban America, all over the place, and they're generally the safest roads I've ever seen. Everyone obeys 20 and 30mph speed limits, the roads are generally very wide, and motorists tend to give cyclists a very wide and respectful berth.

This is true -- especially of children. The cops will take you straight to jail, do not pass go, if they see anyone bothering or endangering a kid on his/her way to school. That would include a motorist trying to come too close (probably why the driver in the story moved into the other lane). Most states have minimum safe passing distance laws too.

I walked or cycled to school when I was a kid too, about 2 miles partially rural and partially small town. I remember riding the school bus was much scarier. Our bus turned over (up-side-down) in a ditch one day on the way home from school. :eek: Amazingly, no helmets, no seatbelts, no cellphones. We survived.

dave2pvd

kincsem wrote: »

Americans lol.

Careful now.

We carry guns.

I could find you

tomasrojo

Some commentary on the Tennessee case:
http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/criminally-confident-in-our-kids/

I remember the woman who wrote the above article having opprobrium heaped on her for allowing her nine-year-old son to travel on a train alone.

rp

Fantasminha wrote: »

I remember riding the school bus was much scarier. Our bus turned over (up-side-down) in a ditch one day on the way home from school. :eek: Amazingly, no helmets, no seatbelts, no cellphones. We survived.

yeah, Otto Mann shouldn't be let drive a school bus.