Safe Speed Forums

Hi All!

Been away for a bit... Busy at work .. then took a family holiday and met up with other family members for a get together on our relative "jollies".. cracking drives all the way though.

Anyway.... on my return .. back to the perusal of the local press and my chosen towns of interest .. the big 'burbs of Manchester (which I have some connection with as my sisters and a brother live in that area and I did complete my training there.. )

This story has caught my eye .. because it appears to be a NIMBY on the one side.. tinged with a backlash against the "Think of the Childrun" mind-set..



I can see the problem for the residents to be honest here. ..

I think .. maybe the puffin crossing .. a lolly lady... warning signs and perhaps even.. I have to say it.. some enforcement of a 20 mph at SCHOOL PEAK TIMES ONLY .. might be a solution here as these folk have to live with a problem when the school is not "in term-time session"

I think there are grounds for some kind of compromise here.. but really for discussion purposes .. how would you react if your right to park your car or BICYCLE outside your OWN home were compromised badly..

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Sounds similar to my road where council want to introduce speed humps, raised crossing points and raised junctions - there is a school down my road. In 20 years of living here no kid to my knowledge has been run over, nor any accidents (aside from clipped wing mirrors etc) occured... it's already been turned down once about 5 years ago, so they've tried again this year but decent opposition seems to have stalled it - at least as far as we can tell.

Yes there may be a school there, has anyone been run over? If it aint broke, don't fix it!

Sounds like another case of over-kill to me too.

What problems *have* they actually experienced ?
What were ALL the causation factors ?
Are they all down to drivers of cars *other* than the parents of the kids ?
Can the school look at filtering children out in times stages (I know that can be an 'age' issue) or other exits ?
Can a park of the playground be used for pick-up's drop-offs ?
What ARE the real issues - really ?
Who complained & why ? What caused their complaint ?
Has any one been injured / killed ? When was the last ? And the stats for that road over the last 25 yrs ?
What if any recent / old changes have occurred to the road in the last 25yrs that may effect the road / drivers / pedestrians ?
What good can 20mph possible achieve anyway apart from everyone then being further distracted from the school and the children and the car activities etc etc !!! ?
Increases in accidents at 20mph will do nothing to make it safer in fact at least 4% more dangerous than a 30mph ....
If they really want to help show the dangers -- a proven Kent study showed that you take away the pavements and simply make drivers see that a person's risk was greater and they naturally slowed down - if they don't then helping the driver understand the risks, was, and is, far better.
Make sure that no un-necessary signs exist, in the nearby area, so that the existing school sign stands out !

.... and ... off the wall idea ...if they are really stuck and not much space, why not just build a portable road bridge (or two) to help youngsters cross the road ? (A kind of twin (linking), large airport ladder ?) Off the all I know, but ... if you are going to spend a silly amount of money ....

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