Children : Treating busy street as an area to play

hinault · 16-09-2014 02:29AM #1

I've nothing against kids out playing in the residential where I live.

Our area has a lot of traffic coming in to and exitting from our estate though.
And we have kids, some as young as 3 or 4 years of age, with absolutely no "roadsense" whatsoever, running around on to the street without being aware of oncoming traffic.

Our estate is well signposted for speed restrictions (20kmsph) and most drivers observe this rule.
But kids continue run out in front of traffic, or worse will stand in the pathway of cars reversing in to driveways.

It appears that the "parents" of these children are not concerned at the danger that these children present to themselves and to car drivers.

But if an accident does occur, it will be the motor vehicle driver who will be penalised if there is a collision.

Has an accident to occur before these parents get the message?
I don't want to see any kid get hit by a car. But what chance does a driver have if, respecting the speed limits, a kids runs out in front of their car before the driver can take evasive action?
The driver is on to a hiding to nothing.

An accident is going to happen and I'm asking for ways to try to avoid this happening.

Sir Arthur Daley · 16-09-2014 02:40AM

What can you do op is the problem.

con___manx1 · 16-09-2014 02:40AM

hinault wrote: »

I've nothing against kids out playing in the residential where I live.

Our area has a lot of traffic coming in to and exitting from our estate though.
And we have kids, some as young as 3 or 4 years of age, with absolutely no "roadsense" whatsoever, running around on to the street without being aware of oncoming traffic.

Our estate is well signposted for speed restrictions (20kmsph) and most drivers observe this rule.
But kids continue run out in front of traffic, or worse will stand in the pathway of cars reversing in to driveways.

It appears that the "parents" of these children are not concerned at the danger that these children present to themselves and to car drivers.

But if an accident does occur, it will be the motor vehicle driver who will be penalised if there is a collision.

Has an accident to occur before these parents get the message?
I don't want to see any kid get hit by a car. But what chance does a driver have if, respecting the speed limits, a kids runs out in front of their car before the driver can take evasive action?
The driver is on to a hiding to nothing.

An accident is going to happen and I'm asking for ways to try to avoid this happening.

I have seen estates where this happens too. I always drive like snail. I can't understand people who let very small children play near a road. These estates are riddled with speed ramps but I can still see an accident waiting to happen. I really don't think there is anything you can do to be honest. They are not doing anything against the law. Just plain stupid careless parents

The Purveyor of Truth · 16-09-2014 02:44AM

I live close to a part of Dublin where toddlers play on the footpath beside a main road that buses fly down every ten minutes or so and not a speed bump in site. The problem in this area is that they built a sh1t load of apartments with feck all infrastructure and and even less amenities and so kids are left to use footpaths as playgrounds.

TwoShedsJackson · 16-09-2014 07:57AM

hinault wrote: »

But if an accident does occur, it will be the motor vehicle driver who will be penalised if there is a collision.

And rightly so. Slow down going through there and watch out for the kids, what else can you do?

Once a person, child or not, is in the road, they have right of way and you will be at fault if you hit them, so control what you can in this situation i.e. your speed, and be careful.

Certainly easier than going and lecturing their parents on how and where their kids should be playing.

holystungun9 · 16-09-2014 08:06AM

con___manx1 wrote: »

I have seen estates where this happens too. I always drive like snail. I can't understand people who let very small children play near a road. These estates are riddled with speed ramps but I can still see an accident waiting to happen. I really don't think there is anything you can do to be honest. They are not doing anything against the law. Just plain stupid careless parents

As you were the third person to post I'm delighted that you quoted the op (1st post) leaving me in no doubt as to the link between your post and the aforementioned first post relating to issue of children playing on the roads within estates also clearly labeled in the thread title.

Pawn · 16-09-2014 08:07AM

Fairview Strand, Ballybough, Summerhill - all full of little knackers and drunk teenagers treating the public road like it was their living room. Nightmare.

Turtyturd · 16-09-2014 08:12AM

I think the bigger issue is these kids living with their. 'parents'.

Child kidnapping ring?

Teyla Emmagan · 16-09-2014 08:17AM

holystungun9 wrote: »

As you were the third person to post I'm delighted that you quoted the op (1st post) leaving me in no doubt as to the link between your post and the aforementioned first post relating to issue of children playing on the roads within estates also clearly labeled in the thread title.

No coffee yet?

kneemos · 16-09-2014 08:18AM

Turtyturd wrote: »

I think the bigger issue is these kids living with their. 'parents'.

Child kidnapping ring?

Lets take it up a notch.

zl1whqvjs75cdy · 16-09-2014 08:19AM

WE have the same in our estate. There's a communal car park with space for about 50 cars shared by two apartment blocks and a couple of houses. Despite ample green space the kids have decided the car park is the ideal place to play football. The turn into the car park is completely blind and I have to crawl around it as kids regularly pelt it across the opening after a ball or on a bike. The most bizarre thing is the parents of some of these kids stand at their doors watching the little urchins essentially playing in traffic and don't say a word. Someones child is almost certainly going to be hit as not every driver is as cautious as I am with the corner.

Akrasia · 16-09-2014 08:28AM

Feck sake. These are children playing in their neighbourhood

Half the threads on here are about obese kids who just watch tv all day, and those threads are full of 'In my day we were kicked out of the house at 7 am and told not to come home until dark'

In a housing estate, children are going to be playing. It's where they live, they are going to be on the roads. Drivers should be extermely careful and drive very slowly knowing that children (or animals) could appear from anywhere.

OP, you would get a much better response if you posted a thread complaining about arseholes speeding around housing estates and residential areas.

Any driver who hits a child in a housing estate is 99.9% at fault.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k · 16-09-2014 08:31AM

I find parents who let their kids race around unsupervised would generally be the type who'd call their solicitor before an ambulance if anything happened

anncoates · 16-09-2014 08:33AM

My (admittedly small and pretty quiet) estate full of kids out playing, including mine until dusk at this time of the year.

I just drive extra slow from the entrance of the estate to my house as does everybody else by the looks of it.

I don't expect children to be kept indoors under lock and key so I can reach my house 10 seconds faster.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k · 16-09-2014 08:35AM

Akrasia wrote: »

Feck sake. These are children playing in their neighbourhood

Half the threads on here are about obese kids who just watch tv all day, and those threads are full of 'In my day we were kicked out of the house at 7 am and told not to come home until dark'

In a housing estate, children are going to be playing. It's where they live, they are going to be on the roads. Drivers should be extermely careful and drive very slowly knowing that children (or animals) could appear from anywhere.

OP, you would get a much better response if you posted a thread complaining about arseholes speeding around housing estates and residential areas.

Any driver who hits a child in a housing estate is 99.9% at fault.

God be with the days your parents put the swings and a slide and a sandpit with buckets and toy cars in it, and maybe even a goalpost in the back garden to keep you amused, rather than leaving you out on the road.

YOU are responsible for the safety of your child. YOU. Not the general public. They have a duty of care to drive safely and obviously reduce speed in built up areas, not dodge some little brat with no regard for oncoming traffic.

smash · 16-09-2014 08:38AM

hinault wrote: »

I've nothing against kids out playing in the residential where I live.

Well then there was no real need for the next 8 paragraphs, or this thread in fact...

16-09-2014 08:38AM

I live in a small estate so only traffic would be residents and visitors. Kids playing out of the street all the time in the good weather and it is true, some of them have no road sense.

My kids are grown up but I know all my neighbours and their kids. Mentioned we should do some road safety awareness and everybody agreed. It made a huge difference with them running out on the street without looking.

If new neighbours arrive, none of us feel uncomfortable asking them to slow down some more. It's all about talking to each other without bitching.

Bongalongherb · 16-09-2014 08:48AM

Akrasia wrote: »

Feck sake. These are children playing in their neighbourhood

Half the threads on here are about obese kids who just watch tv all day, and those threads are full of 'In my day we were kicked out of the house at 7 am and told not to come home until dark'

In a housing estate, children are going to be playing. It's where they live, they are going to be on the roads. Drivers should be extermely careful and drive very slowly knowing that children (or animals) could appear from anywhere.

OP, you would get a much better response if you posted a thread complaining about arseholes speeding around housing estates and residential areas.

Any driver who hits a child in a housing estate is 99.9% at fault.

Kids shouldn't be playing on the road in the first place. What mentality does your comment come across as ? not wise I must say.

Tons of weight driving slowly down the road and you mostly have cars/vans parked on each side of the road and you are driving at a snails-pace watching out like crazy incase a little person runs right out onto the road.

Keep your kids off the road. The parents should be fined if they let their kids run up/down and all over a road. It's dangerous either way and the road is not a playground. A bit of basic common sense would work wonders for most parents, but it seems a lot of them are brain-dead in relation to the danger.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k · 16-09-2014 08:54AM

Last year there was a small child killed in one of the estates in Portlaoise
http://m.rte.ie/news/2014/0315/602533-rtc/

I know her dad went on to run in the local elections a few months ago, trying to get speed ramps put down. I don't know if he was elected or if the speed bumps were down.

Teyla Emmagan · 16-09-2014 09:14AM

I guess this is only a problem with estates that are rat runs. I grew up in as estate with only 8 houses, and a massive green area, which was also a cul de sac. No one basically came in unless they lived there or were visiting, so there was never a problem with speeding cars. Any parent letting their kid play in a thoroughfare though is being grossly negligent IMO. It doesn't matter if there is no where else, then you take them to the park.

ShadowHearth · 16-09-2014 09:32AM

Akrasia wrote: »

Feck sake. These are children playing in their neighbourhood

Half the threads on here are about obese kids who just watch tv all day, and those threads are full of 'In my day we were kicked out of the house at 7 am and told not to come home until dark'

In a housing estate, children are going to be playing. It's where they live, they are going to be on the roads. Drivers should be extermely careful and drive very slowly knowing that children (or animals) could appear from anywhere.

OP, you would get a much better response if you posted a thread complaining about arseholes speeding around housing estates and residential areas.

Any driver who hits a child in a housing estate is 99.9% at fault.

I moved in to estate with a huge green area in the middle, which is perfect for children to play. Instead, little ****s, always playing on the road going around that green area. I am not even talking about children leaving their toys and bicycles just everywhere. Every time I going to drive somewhere I have to go around my car and push away bikes and throw all sort of toys of my drive way.

anncoates · 16-09-2014 09:35AM

Could the management company not just put an electrified fence around the green area to keep the kids in?

Pawn · 16-09-2014 09:52AM

anncoates wrote: »

Could the management company not just put an electrified fence around the green area to keep the kids in?

Good idea.
If nothing else works and parents don't care...

Bongalongherb · 16-09-2014 09:59AM

It's very simple... The parents of said kids only have to tell them while very young constantly if needed not to play or run blindly onto any road because it is dangerous, it's a no-no end of, and the kids will take this on-board/into their brain telling them it's dangerous to do so.

But trying to tell this basic thing to a parent just goes in one ear and out the other. If the parents can't teach their own kids the basics, then the parents and their children have no hope. A kids brain is like a sponge, it takes a hell of a lot of information in at an early stage so the kids will listen if told, especially if told how dangerous it is, but not to frighten them too much.

A lot of folk just open the door and let the kids run wild, and then when an accident happens in this above scenario, the parents blame everyone else instead of themselves, and all they had to do was teach their children the dangers of playing on a road.

RobYourBuilder · 16-09-2014 10:05AM

We played World Cup/Heads and Volleys in inner city Dublin. When a car approached, we ran to the sides. Someone would give a roar. If it was a local, they would beep to continue until the play finished.

Some craic when there were 20-30 of us playing at 11pm on a summers evening.

SEPT 23 1989 · 16-09-2014 10:05AM

Go out and teach them how to play curbs and stop sitting in your houses giving out Meldrew style

ThisRegard · 16-09-2014 10:08AM

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

I have to crawl around it as kids regularly pelt it across the opening after a ball or on a bike.

You don't 'have' to crawl it because of the reasons you outline, you should be crawling out of common sense if there's kids in the general vicinity, never mind playing in the car park.

Threads like this, yet again (it can be seen in the regular cyclists threads), show that many motorists see themselves as a priority over everybody else.

Kids play on streets in the estate, a bit of cop on will tell you to be aware of this and take it very handy. You're not going to miss performing vital heart surgery or anything like that.

Chill and relax and everyone will be happy. You'd swear this is a new phenomena.

sbsquarepants · 16-09-2014 10:09AM

hinault wrote: »

An accident is going to happen and I'm asking for ways to try to avoid this happening.

At the risk of stating the obvious - drive more slowly?

RobYourBuilder · 16-09-2014 10:12AM

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

WE have the same in our estate. There's a communal car park with space for about 50 cars shared by two apartment blocks and a couple of houses. Despite ample green space the kids have decided the car park is the ideal place to play football. The turn into the car park is completely blind and I have to crawl around it as kids regularly pelt it across the opening after a ball or on a bike. The most bizarre thing is the parents of some of these kids stand at their doors watching the little urchins essentially playing in traffic and don't say a word. Someones child is almost certainly going to be hit as not every driver is as cautious as I am with the corner.

You can't play football in those green areas for at least six months of the year. Walk in the green from October to March. They are like marshes.

I'm in my twenties. I was one of those kids that played football non stop. They don't want to disturb you. I never wanted to put mine out. Chat with them. Strike a deal. You would be surprised how reasonable the kids will be.

Timberrrrrrrr · 16-09-2014 10:14AM

LexieOnRale wrote: »

I find parents who let their kids race around unsupervised would generally be the type who'd call their solicitor before an ambulance if anything happened

Absolute bollox :rolleyes:

hoodwinked · 16-09-2014 10:18AM

how slow do you go as a motorist though? honestly?

i've posted here before about the children around this estate,

one neighbour of mine came out of her house and got in her car, only for me shouting at her to stop there was a child under her car, she was parked in her drive, her car was stopped, would she be responsible for running over that child if i wasn't there?

or is the parent at fault for thinking a 4 year old had the cop on to mind themselves for the day,

i don't get how a parent can fuss over finding a babysitter for a 4 year old, and then do things like leave them out playing unsupervised at 11pm in the pitch black night.

Children : Treating busy street as an area to play

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