Children Are Naturally Inquisitive ...
Discussion
Mr2Mike said:
Apache said:
Thats a bit harsh don't you think? peer pressure is a lot harder to resist when mummy and daddy aren't around and as for 'what is she doing in a field at 6:45 unsupervised?' got to do with anything?
At that time in February it would be dark. Responsible parents would not allow a 12year old girl to be playing outside unsupervised in the dark. Whilst they are surely suffering terribly from their loss, the stupid excuses they have made pertaining to motorway/pedestrian safety are surely just being used to deflect their own feelings of guilt. My sympathies go to the drivers of the Landrover and Rover. There but for the grace of god go I etc..
said:
I think the problem has more to do with deliberately misleading and inaccurate 'safety' ads like the one with a car sliding, wheels locked into a kid. Everything is the drivers fault now and they have even amended the law to make you guilty before the kid has been egged on to do it. This governments insatiable appetite for cash has moved from disgusting and abhorrent to downright dangerous
Whilst those adverts are misleading and annoying, I cannot see any feasable link between them and a child playing chicken on a motorway.
I don't disagree with the parents denial, christ wouldn't you? As the parent of 2 teenagers I can testify to their devilry and have only found out recently that they played often near a railway, I don't find my duties as a parent lacking in any way, kids will be kids.
Misleading because it assumes a child playing on a road is not an unnatural occurance and that, come what may, the driver will be to blame (as the new law insists)
>> Edited by Apache on Sunday 26th September 18:59
What gets me is that the parents are saying that there should be better fences etc.
When I was 12, I didn't go wandering off to the railway line or the motorway or even to the A505 Royston bypass to play chicken with the bloody traffic. I was too busy playing football or arsing about on my bike in the woods. I don't understand how, in 10 years kids have gone from playing football and riding bikes to playing chicken with traffic and trains.
When I was 12, I didn't go wandering off to the railway line or the motorway or even to the A505 Royston bypass to play chicken with the bloody traffic. I was too busy playing football or arsing about on my bike in the woods. I don't understand how, in 10 years kids have gone from playing football and riding bikes to playing chicken with traffic and trains.
I lived near a main road. I knew not to do anything stupid on it as my parents had drummed into me, that if I did, I would get hurt.
Her parents, like far too many these days are trying to hoist the blame onto someone else. The fact is, if they had done their job properly, she wouldnt have died. She would have known that a live carriageway, particularly a motorway one is a very very dangerous place and she would have been at home at 6:30pm on a dark febuary evening.
Calling for fences, lighting and other pedestrian safety crap wont stop something like this. children can get over/under/around/through fences and a car traveling at 70mph will still have problems avoiding a child even on a lit strech of motorway.
Saying the highways agency should educate youngssters about the dangers of playing on the motorway takes the biscuit. Its their job to do it in the first place.
Her parents, like far too many these days are trying to hoist the blame onto someone else. The fact is, if they had done their job properly, she wouldnt have died. She would have known that a live carriageway, particularly a motorway one is a very very dangerous place and she would have been at home at 6:30pm on a dark febuary evening.
Calling for fences, lighting and other pedestrian safety crap wont stop something like this. children can get over/under/around/through fences and a car traveling at 70mph will still have problems avoiding a child even on a lit strech of motorway.
Saying the highways agency should educate youngssters about the dangers of playing on the motorway takes the biscuit. Its their job to do it in the first place.
''I think the problem has more to do with deliberately misleading and inaccurate 'safety' ads like the one with a car sliding, wheels locked into a kid. Everything is the drivers fault now and they have even amended the law to make you guilty before the kid has been egged on to do it. This governments insatiable appetite for cash has moved from disgusting and abhorrent to downright dangerous''
I'm sorry, but i don't quite get the link here. No one is blaming the driver at all for driving too quickly, its a completely irrelevant argument isnt it? Why is the 'Think' campaign dangerous exactly?? I'm getting more than a hint of anger-politics here
!RickApple said:
I'm sorry, but i don't quite get the link here. No one is blaming the driver at all for driving too quickly, its a completely irrelevant argument isnt it? Why is the 'Think' campaign dangerous exactly?? I'm getting more than a hint of anger-politics here
Ok I'll try again, try thinking on a more subliminal level, the ad in question shows a kid being hit by a car, apart from the improbable physics, was there anything other than the drivers speed called to task here? All the accidents you see in the local news and papers, does the item finish off with a police spokesperson saying somewhere 'people were driving too quickly, is there any child education such as the 'green cross code' anymore? is there any other method being employed by the government to arrest road fatalities other than the 'speed kills' angle?
All of these build a sense of false security, much like airbags, in that an accident will, more than likely, be caused by some idiot driving too quickly, anything else is irrelevant. Throw in some, admittedly, poor parental guidance and a culture of blame.
Now think of some kid being egged on by its peers to play chicken.
you are quite correct about there being more than a hint of anger-politics here
Apache said:
I'm sorry, but i don't quite get the link here. No one is blaming the driver at all for driving too quickly, its a completely irrelevant argument isnt it? Why is the 'Think' campaign dangerous exactly?? I'm getting more than a hint of anger-politics here
Ok I'll try again, try thinking on a more subliminal level, the ad in question shows a kid being hit by a car, apart from the improbable physics, was there anything other than the drivers speed called to task here? All the accidents you see in the local news and papers, does the item finish off with a police spokesperson saying somewhere 'people were driving too quickly, is there any child education such as the 'green cross code' anymore? is there any other method being employed by the government to arrest road fatalities other than the 'speed kills' angle?
All of these build a sense of false security, much like airbags, in that an accident will, more than likely, be caused by some idiot driving too quickly, anything else is irrelevant. Throw in some, admittedly, poor parental guidance and a culture of blame.
Now think of some kid being egged on by its peers to play chicken.
you are quite correct about there being more than a hint of anger-politics here
Apache, you have it dead to rights.
For a lot of info on this please read my post INSURRECTION-Part 1. Tell me what you think.
Mr2Mike said:
At that time in February it would be dark. Responsible parents would not allow a 12year old girl to be playing outside unsupervised in the dark. Whilst they are surely suffering terribly from their loss, the stupid excuses they have made pertaining to motorway/pedestrian safety are surely just being used to deflect their own feelings of guilt. My sympathies go to the drivers of the Landrover and Rover. There but for the grace of god go I etc..
Indeed. Both Wildy Cat and myself had travelled along that motorway about that time that day. Either of us could have been involved in this.
Of course - the authorities should check the adequacy of the fencing if these kids are able to access this motorway so easily.
But having said that - our eldest is now 17. We will expect him to keep us informed of his whereabouts for as long as he is home-based - even after age 18 - as this is courtesy towards the family home.
These parents are angry and racked with grief- They will feel anger towards their dead daughter, then anger at themselves for failing to supervise properly, then guilty for feeling this, and the only way they feel they can get over this is by asking for better fencing to prevent others from going through this.
I see it all the time in my work day - I deliver bad news - the relatives feel anger towards their dying relative for putting them through this - and guilty at same time for it.
So I can understand how all will be feeling - the drivers of the two cars and the parents themselves. Not nice.
(I also know what emotions have gone through this entire family over the cousin killed by dody articulated, the one who died in the plane crash and my own wife's incident.)
apache said:
I don't disagree with the parents denial, christ wouldn't you? As the parent of 2 teenagers I can testify to their devilry and have only found out recently that they played often near a railway, I don't find my duties as a parent lacking in any way, kids will be kids.
Remember as boy - there was an advert on the telly warning of dangers of playing near the railways. Trains were very much a Boys' Own thing in those days (OK - am 45
and my odd grey hairs make give me a "distinguished look" - so I am reliably informed! 
) Anyway the advert did not show the gory details - but you were in no doubt as to what happened. It then had a very sarcastic voice saying "And All Because He Wanted To Watch The Trains!"
Your parents and teachers reinforced the messages of numpty behaviour - and if you broke the rules in those days - you got a hard slap.
But apache, agree, kids will be kids and - our kids do test us. I expect them to test our limits - they would not be normal if they did not. I have grounded one for cheeking his teacher, being copped smoking behind the school bike shed - and he is currently doing some "research" for me on the dangers of smoking and what it is likely to do to his body. he will not be allowed out until I am satisfied with the standard and quality of his research. he has been informed that I do not care how long it takes - he ain't going anywhere or doing anything fun until I am satisfied.
His twin sister?
I am not that brave when it comes to ticking her off over the make-up. I leave that to Wildy - who usually hands her a garden trowel and tells her to scrape it off in that acid tone she uses for discipline! >> Edited by Mad Moggie on Sunday 26th September 23:31
Mad Moggie said:
Remember as boy - there was an advert on the telly warning of dangers of playing near the railways. Trains were very much a Boys' Own thing in those days (OK - am 45
Wow, I'm as young as you, I'd forgotten this ad. Did we think the, then, encumbant govt was nannying us? I don't, the ads were honest, and clearly aimed at saving lives.
Apache said:
Remember as boy - there was an advert on the telly warning of dangers of playing near the railways. Trains were very much a Boys' Own thing in those days (OK - am 45
Wow, I'm as young as you, I'd forgotten this ad. Did we think the, then, encumbant govt was nannying us? I don't, the ads were honest, and clearly aimed at saving lives.
I know! The adverts said more without being nannified - and that tone of voice at the end of that particular advert had impact.
Yhey did not pussyfoot around in those days....
Mad Moggie said:
Mad Moggie said:
Remember as boy - there was an advert on the telly warning of dangers of playing near the railways. Trains were very much a Boys' Own thing in those days (OK - am 45
Wow, I'm as young as you, I'd forgotten this ad. Did we think the, then, encumbant govt was nannying us? I don't, the ads were honest, and clearly aimed at saving lives.
I know! The adverts said more without being nannified - and that tone of voice at the end of that particular advert had impact.
Yhey did not pussyfoot around in those days....
kin right, scared the poo out of me
Apache said:
Apache said:
Mad Moggie said:
Remember as boy - there was an advert on the telly warning of dangers of playing near the railways. Trains were very much a Boys' Own thing in those days (OK - am 45
Wow, I'm as young as you, I'd forgotten this ad. Did we think the, then, encumbant govt was nannying us? I don't, the ads were honest, and clearly aimed at saving lives.
I know! The adverts said more without being nannified - and that tone of voice at the end of that particular advert had impact.
Yhey did not pussyfoot around in those days....
kin right, scared the poo out of me
Yes, that rings a bell. It was scary in a kind of Dr Who hide behind the sofa sort of way..........
MoJo.
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