Safe Speed Forums

not entirely sure what i make of this.....



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... eders.html
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/n ... ticle.html

certainly their positioning so close to the kerb would make you cautious if it were a child, but then you'd be cautious round there at start/end of school when the pavements packed with parents & kids (and probably parked up with school run cars too) anyway wouldn't you ?
I expect when it's busy they may actually be a distraction from the real hazards.

Is it me being a bit bleary eyed over my morning coffee (after a fairly late night at work...) or is the little girl looking a bit like the "Leaning Tower of Pisa? "

I agree - the "children" could be more of a distraction than a real child and the other danger to me is that if they are always "there" - eventually - they could even be ignored.

I think I'd prefer bollards looking like Tufty and (juist to annly my wife and our son Lukas - a singing hedghog personally as it would always look cute.. a bit silly but still get the message across?

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alledgedly one of them has already taken a hit maybe the wonky one.

according to the comments on the leics. news site it's a quite dead end road anyway and only busy during school drop off / pick up times, i've not verified that myself tho.

We have them in southampton and you do learn to ignore them. It just increases the risk for 5 year olds. The ones in your picture have very dull clothing. Southamptons have mustard yellow jumpers.

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

obviously another bright idea from a "bright spark" who probably doesn't even drive.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

It's a one-way street. So, not dead-end.

Avenue Primary School

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

Tomorrow's news:

"Man taking photographs of child bollards arrested on suspicion of being a paedophile."

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

I know what I'd make of them in the land rover.

Looks like they've made the road narrower too?

Someone should stick a bottle of beer or something on the wonky one.

But yeah, you would end up classifying "things which look like standing children" as "not a hazard".

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Andrew.

Right. Build-outs.

Just around the corner, the road has been artificially narrowed by build-outs being constructed from each kerb. On one side is a junction and one of these new features is directly on the left as you emerge from the turning.

The effects, IMO are:

- if you are waiting to turn right into the side road, the opposing traffic now has to pass much closer to you than before thus decreasing the margin of safety. Also, no traffic can now pass you on the inside while you are waiting.
- if you are emerging from the side road to turn left, you now have to cross the central white line in the main road as there is insufficient turn space. You thus have to wait for a clear road in both directions even though you only want to turn left.

I'm surprised they haven't moved the bus stop to be in this position also so that the road is totally obstructed at regular intervals.

As I have to drive much more slowly past these obstacles now, I make up the time by going much faster just further down the road past the school.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Ah. Road safety by causing people to drive in the path of oncoming traffic. I see. This is the sort of thing I am meant to think is a good idea, right?
The rare occasions I have encountered swerve points I tend to do them as fast as I can and usually accidentally hit the horn. Oops. I do so hate to do what the council want.

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Andrew.

Yep in this country, road safety is all about putting as many obstacles in the road, for traffic to either hit or take their attention off the important things about driving, like observation and giving other road users a safe space. Makes lots of sense....to someone who has never driven in their life...but to the rest of us???????....NOT REALLY!

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

When it comes to road safety, there are many who believe that making something more dangerous makes it safer...

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

That could work...
let's make drink, drugs, cigarettes, guns, knives all so dangerous that the user of any of them is going to be commiting suicide by doing so....simple really....I could be in parliament, you know....

_________________
My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

It seems daft when you put it that way but the idea is to keep attention levels up by putting something in periodically that will make you concentrate.

I find other road users keep my mind focussed, where it ought to be, in front of me , not on useless bits of junk on the roadside that distract from the important things that may be lurking on road sides like children and animals that may run out. Have you ever wondered why so many bollards in the centre of the road get hit, repeatedly sometimes???

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Concentrate on what: the road, or the hazard? Should it not be the latter?

edited to add: motorways are the fastest, least hazardous roads of all (where speed limit non-compliance is greatest), yet they are the safest roads of all - even when accounting for fatigue. That tells me something!

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

It seems daft because it is daft. One of the reasons that there are more accidents in urban areas and less on motorways is because of lack of concentration and innattention . There is nothing on motorways to distract drivers. In towns it is the ever changing distractions that cause people to not see the child stepping out in front of them or the car thats suddenly stopped in front. Stupid distractions every few yards on pavements aren't going to help drivers concentrate on the roads.

_________________
My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Well if the bollard has been hit already - they don't really work then?

Are they wearing the uniform of this school. They should be in day-glo or have day-glo wrist bands on them ..

To be authentic - our own brood suggest they should design them in "jazzed up uniforms" (We get umpteen letters each term as to what Lukas has done next It won't happen when he starts his new school as they don't bother with uniforms over there )


Seriously though - the bollards look to be what they are - a pointless gesture. They'd do better to teach the Green Cross Code and then the Highway Code to all our kids - reinforcing what parents should already have been teaching.

_________________
If you want to get to heaven - you have to raise a little hell!

Smilies are contagious
They are just like the flu
We use our smilies on YOU today
Now Good Causes are smiling too!

KEEP SMILING
It makes folk wonder just what you REALLY got up to last night!

Smily to penny.. penny to pound
safespeed prospers-smiles all round! !
But the real message? SMILE.. GO ON ! DO IT! and the world will smile with you!
Enjoy life! You only have the one bite at it.

Assessing the risk of a car/child collision always throws-up the problem that the actions of a child are unpredictable.
So they share a common link with drunks.
Both sets show a considerably higher chance of road accidents than with normal non-drunk adults.
Keeping children, and drunks, off the roads/footpaths reduces the chance of accidents to extremely low levels.
There must be a way of meeting all the criteria for a low-accident culture....it just seems that joined-up thinking is on the decrease.
The only other way to reduce the severity of accidents is to lower the speed of traffic. Unfortunately the average speed of vehicles when the accident occurs would seem to be 11mph. Must be a moral in there somewhere.

_________________
The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

And not letting anyone out of their house except in a motor car would reduce the chance of that kind of accident to zer0.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown