Those scooters that are so popular with or for little kids

I live near 3 schools and it is the behaviour of drivers that most worries me. We have permanently a 20 mph limit, which is regularly ignored. Parents often seem to be the worst offenders - parking on double yellows or zigzags to be as close to the school as possible. Whilst taking a neighbour's daughters to primary school one morning, I was verbally attacked by a woman driver who almost reversed into us whilst trying to perform a U turn after dropping her child off.

They do by invitation, Nellie. My nephew's wife is a road safety officer and will go along with her colleague to do sessions with parents and children, in Blackburn. She also offers checking of car seats to advise if they're safely fitted (been on telly a few times in supermarket car parks).

In answer to the OP, a child of that age should be held by the hand to cross roads, not left to follow an adult. Ideally the scooter/toy pram/trike should be carried. I'm very glad the child was not hurt and I feel sorry for the bus driver, though s/he should perhaps have anticipated more 'randomness' than s/he did.

I carried a whistle when my kids were big enough to be allowed to run ahead but not old enough to be trusted to cross roads safely by themselves. If they heard the whistle they were to freeze to the spot until I drew level with them. I made it a game initially and explained the whys and wherefores. They understood.

Later We payed a game whereby I had to close my eyes and pretend to be blind and they had to get me across the road safely. I chose which roads quite carefully, you can bet! I got shouted at if I 'cheated' and peeped.

There must be something seriously wrong with the design of the bus if the driver couldn't see a child on a crossing!

I agree with those who say that parents should be vigilant.

jing it was just a passing thought from me - that perhaps the bus driver was focussed on the traffic light changing, and sitting high up in the seat, looking ahead, maybe didn't see the small person at the LH corner of the bus - perhaps already in a "blind spot".

I had once stopped at a crossing; a mother and her child had crossed the road. The lights changed and, just as I was about to drive away [the mother wasn't holding his hand] the child ran back across the road. Thankfuly I do eveything slowly; had a been the sort that shreaks away from traffic lights I would have driven straight into him. If I see a child careering on ahead of their parents my instinct is to slow down 'just in case'.

When I take GS2 (18 months) to meet his brother from school he is often nearly mown down by 5 year olds belting along on scooters they can barely control while their mothers walk in a gaggle behind them talking about Big Brother.

I used to dash about on my scooter when I was about 7, never near the road though! Of course I did ride down to the railway line, but that's another story!

I have to admit that DS fell off his bunk bed and cut his head open. Can't remember whether it was stitched that time or not.

Yes, I know what you mean Grannyknot, but surely they should be able to design buses these days without blind spots. Mirrors and suchlike. But I think you are right. The bus driver probably couldn't see. Very bad.

It only takes a split second to miss something when you're driving, no matter how careful you are. I drive along looking out for dogs, cats, small children etc but every so often I realise that I've been on some sort of automatic pilot and feel that I've lost concentration [I probably haven't]. If the bus was approaching a crossing maybe the driver was focusing to the right to check that everyone had reached the pavement on that side and assumed [rightly or wrongly] that no one was crossing still from the left. They say that accidents are caused by 'a series of unlikely events'; someone doing something out of the ordinary at the same time that someone else has a lapse of concentration. We were once late for work and, driving in the outside lane of a group of cars waiting at a junction, a boy ran out in front of us from between the stationary cars. He was late for school; we were late for work. Our car had lousy brakes [it was a Morris 1,000]. Thankfully the boy was unhurt. He ran off but we went straight to a police staion and reported it. 45 years later and it still seems like 5 minutes ago.

It always worries me to see children racing ahead of parents, whether on scooters or not. Often the parent's attention is focussed on a mobile phone, which makes my blood boil!
A friend used to bring her dog with us jogging, but not on a lead, saying he wouldn't run onto the road. Kids and dogs can never be 100% trusted and the possibility of an accident is always on my mind, making driving in built up areas scary.

Children cannot judge the speed of traffic and are hopeless at predicting risks like cars backing out of drives or our of parking spaces in car parks. Teenagers too are poor at assessing risks.
Seems mothers not brilliant either.
It does piss me off when parents allow scooters inside shops!

It also freaks me out seeing babies in those car chair things left on the pavement as their mums pack things into their car; want to say 'please put the baby into the car and then do everything else'. I saw a child [4] on a scooter yesterday and counted at least twenty other parents before the mother sauntered along by which time he was completely out of her sight [not that she was looking at him anyway]. I just don't understand it .

The S.O. tells me that yesterday morning someone pulled of the main road onto a side road opposite the school where all the parents park at drop off time. She had three children in the back of the car, one in the front and had one hand on the steering wheel, the reason being that she had a cup of tea in her other hand .....

Hate to be a killjoy, but nearly collided with an under five whizzing about local supermarket on a scooter earlier today, can't help thinking they shouldn't be allowed in large shops such as supermarkets where there is scope to go quite fast. The mother wasn't taking it on at all, but a very elderly person might find something like this quite alarming, maybe I should have said something, but didn't want to get into an argument. I think the onus should be on shops to deal with this sort of thing, anyone else agree?