RE: Casualty Reduction
Thursday 26th February 2004

Casualty Reduction

A balanced approach for deprived areas?


Four local authorities have been awarded over £4 million for extra road safety measures to reduce casualties in deprived areas.

The money has been allocated to Bradford, Liverpool, Nottingham and Sandwell in the West Midlands from the 'Dealing with Disadvantage' initiative and will be used to address road safety problems in poorer areas. It follows the award of over £11million to deprived areas in Greater Manchester and Lancashire last year.

Children from the most deprived areas are five times more likely to be killed in road accidents than children from more affluent areas.

Projects will include:

  • Making routes to schools, parks and play areas safer
  • Educating children and adults to dangers on the road
  • Traffic calming measures
  • New pedestrian crossings
  • Child car seat inspection and fitting services

Road Safety Minister David Jamieson said:

"We are committed to improving road safety in deprived areas, where children are at much greater risk of being killed in road accidents. This funding will go a long way to improving education and crossing facilities for young people, as well as for older people.

"The money is part of £17 million in total which we have allocated as part of our 'Dealing with Disadvantage' programme and I hope that all the local authorities which have benefited will see real improvements in road safety in their deprived areas."

The total grants announced today are:

Bradford £1,160,000
Liverpool £1,017,000
Nottingham £862,000
Sandwell £1,282,750
TOTAL £4,321,750
Author
Discussion

Don

Original Poster:

28,378 posts

302 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
So why are kids in deprived areas several times as likely to be killed in road accidents?

Could it be that:

a) Their parents allow them to play in the road
b) Once they hit seventeen they drive like tools everywhere and, funnily enough, do so at home too.

Not a politically correct thing to say but it seems likely to me...

nonegreen

7,803 posts

288 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
Don said:
So why are kids in deprived areas several times as likely to be killed in road accidents?

Could it be that:

a) Their parents allow them to play in the road
b) Once they hit seventeen they drive like tools everywhere and, funnily enough, do so at home too.

Not a politically correct thing to say but it seems likely to me...




A child is for life not just to satisfy some hormonal imbalance.

Because of the hysteria culture that means concentration spans are now 30 seconds. Children are increasingly kicked out of the house. Result is carnage. Some of this money should be spent on erecting big blue and white roadsigns saying. "You are now entering the ghetto where irresponsible parenting is the norm and loads of kids will be running about willy nilly. Some of them will be deliberately trying to injure themselves on your car for the compensation. You have been warned"

V6GTO

11,579 posts

260 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
Could it be that the people with enough savvy to realise that cars and roads are dangerous are savvy enough to realise the benefits of getting a job so you can move out of these shytholes?

ian d

986 posts

273 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
remember they are not allowed to pay voters directly.

Don

Original Poster:

28,378 posts

302 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
ian d said:
remember they are not allowed to pay voters directly.


Now that's cynical

I don't think the idea of trying to improve kids lives in deprived areas is bad. I don't even begrudge the money. I'm just not sure it will work, however.

ian d

986 posts

273 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
it wasn't as bad as what first came to mind!

james_j

3,996 posts

273 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
Don said:
So why are kids in deprived areas several times as likely to be killed in road accidents?

Could it be that:

a) Their parents allow them to play in the road
b) Once they hit seventeen they drive like tools everywhere and, funnily enough, do so at home too.

Not a politically correct thing to say but it seems likely to me...


Agree.

Just when I thought this government couldn't think of any more ways to pander to the stupid. What a bl00dy waste to other peoples' money. The money won't be used to educate the stupid, it will be used to p155 off the motorist with nanny-state pinch points, speed humps, revenue cameras and so on.

The wise and aware suffering for the stupid yet again.

hornet

6,333 posts

268 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
Horse. Stable. Door. Bolted.

Never mind finding out WHY the areas are deprived. No, let's just stick in a few chicanes so there's something ele for the 12 year old joyriders to crash into, that'll help.

v8thunder

27,647 posts

276 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
So, next time you enter an official 'Deprived area' (if the signs haven't been nicked), you'll be faced with an urban assault course of speed humps so big you can't see the other side, traffic slaloms that appear out of nowhere, a crazy one-way system which forces you to drive to the other side of the city to get out again, to add to the kids who think it's a playground playing football in the middle of the road and shooting your car with a paintball gun.


Brilliant

streaky

19,311 posts

267 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
james_j said:
... What a bl00dy waste to other peoples' money.
Sorry to correct you. It's not "other people's money" ... it's our money.

At least the Yanks have the sense to say, "Your tax dollars at work"; here it's "the government's money" or "the council's money". No it fing isn't; it's OUR MONEY!

Streaky

XM5ER

5,094 posts

266 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
[quote=Don]So why are kids in deprived areas several times as likely to be killed in road accidents?

quote]

Because evil, middleclass, tory voting, car owners like nothing better than to take their polluting examples of capitalist, imperial war machinery into these areas to engage in their mindless lust for blood sport.

This is what happens when you take away the normal outlets for their mindless aggression such as fox hunting.

mondeoman

11,430 posts

284 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
XM5ER said:
[quote=Don]So why are kids in deprived areas several times as likely to be killed in road accidents?

quote]

Because evil, middleclass, tory voting, car owners like nothing better than to take their polluting examples of capitalist, imperial war machinery into these areas to engage in their mindless lust for blood sport.

This is what happens when you take away the normal outlets for their mindless aggression such as fox hunting.


PMSL

The noble gentry get their own back on the townies - Brilliant idea!

sgt^roc

512 posts

267 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
Don said:
So why are kids in deprived areas several times as likely to be killed in road accidents?

Could it be that:

a) Their parents allow them to play in the road
b) Once they hit seventeen they drive like tools everywhere and, funnily enough, do so at home too.

Not a politically correct thing to say but it seems likely to me...


Exactly single parent families with kids running amoke and getting run over in the process it proved this government does not have any intention of resolving the real issues but using it as another lever on the motorist, why not spent it on youth clubs and free sport facilities and lots of other directly benificail stuff. I drive a commercail vehicle do they know what it is like banging over fukin speed bumps all day long?

V8 Archie

4,703 posts

266 months

Thursday 26th February 2004
quotequote all
[quote=sgt^roc]do they know what it is like banging over fukin speed bumps all day long?[/quote]I'll have to find a girl to educate me in that tomorrow .

streaky

19,311 posts

267 months

Friday 27th February 2004
quotequote all
V8 Archie said:
sgtroc said:
do they know what it is like banging over fukin speed bumps all day long?

I'll have to find a girl to educate me in that tomorrow .
Reminds me of a "humps" road sign I saw a couple of years ago on the outskirts of London. It had been modified so that there was a vertical protrusion in the middle of the "hump" and the wording read "Humps for 80 min" - Streaky

>> Edited by streaky on Friday 27th February 08:11

JMGS4

8,851 posts

288 months

Friday 27th February 2004
quotequote all
mondeoman said:
The noble gentry get their own back on the townies - Brilliant idea!


And what about the TVR, Porsche, Lotus, Fezza gentry???
sorry if I missed someone!

WildCat

8,369 posts

261 months

Friday 27th February 2004
quotequote all
David Jamieson said: "Funds will go a long way to improve education and crossing facilities for young people!"

Perhaps. But some people are lazy! Too much effort to walk just a couple of yards to the crossing at present! Will they learn? Are they willing to learn?

By all means - provide the education/parenting classes for them - and then recap OUR money in fining THEM when they BREAK the LAW by J-walking! After all - many, many accidents are caused by these people - and all blame is placed on the driver, who is judged guilty, immediately, of driving too fast - even if it transpires later that s/he was driving at appropriate speed!

(WildCat bein' naive 'ere! 'cos in some of these cases - they "cannot afford/will not pay the fine!"

Cannot lock them up - too many motorists clogging up the jails and there is thus no room at th'Inn for these folk!

In any case - it is not politically correct to discipline the so-called "deprived" in any way.

In my opinion - it is very much politically incorrect and incredibly condescending, even disprespectful to them, to pussyfoot around soft-soaping these people.

Course - all that will happen - as people have pointed out will be: more humps, scams, chicanes....

Though perhaps they should go easy on those humps - do not want any more "BUMPties!" to "educate" later!




>> Edited by WildCat on Friday 27th February 09:47