Those scooters that are so popular with or for little kids

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?

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 .....

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 .

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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'.

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".

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

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.

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).

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.

Children don't think first, because they are children. It is up to drivers to be really watchful in such places and for parents and schools to teach children road safety skills.
In a number of counties now now there seem to be 20mph traffic signs outside schools at the critical school start and end hours.

Do primary schools do road safety lessons any more?

I was about to drive away from school a few weeks ago and looked up to see a group of my grandsons friends standing round the car; they had ran on ahead from the person who was looking after them and ran straight to my car just as I was about to drive away. Roads are dangerous but car parks etc are just as bad. A neighbour once, when my daughter was palying with her daughter put my daughter and hers into the back of her car when she took her son on a driving lesson . I don't understand people sometimes . It must have been awful for you, when .

Tegan a parent knocked my 13 year old son down in her car as she was coming to pick his friend up outside school. He had a broken leg - I arrived as the ambulance pulled up (neighbour phoned me). Whilst he was chatting and at the tail end of a few children crossing the road, she could have been more careful, knowing children were coming out of school. I think parents and drivers all need to be on high alert at school times.

Yes, they are on the way to my GC's school, too.

I am always pleasantly surprised with how the kids round here, on the way home from school, stop and wait patiently at the curb for dad or mum to catch up. Obviously well trained.

One of the problems with young children and roads/drivers is the fact that, with young children [obviously] being smaller than adults drivers, when driving towards them don't automatically realise how close they are as they factor in the size of an adult [if that makes sense]. Therefore, if a child suddenly darts into the road the driver will have thought they were much further away. There is usually lots of traffic around schools anyway as most parents drop their children off on the way to work these days. It isn't those parents who might hit a child as they are child aware due to their circumstances, it's the driver who doesn't have a child at school who might be late for work or [heaven forbid] on the phone.

I don't remember that one, Nellie. We had markings in the juniors playground, and were taught to stand a foot behind the edge of the 'pavement' whilst we checked the 'road' before walking smartly across. I would have been about 6 or 7, when it was rare to see anything more than the odd milk float or tractor on the way to school.

There is moving traffic just about everywhere these days. Children need to learn safe ways to cope with it. Sometimes school is just a bit too far for a child to walk. Scooters or bikes are then ideal.

If the "safest way" is to put another car on the roads, that adds to the un-safety for all children.

Mind you, I'm not talking five year old twins here!

I used to let my son go to school on his scooter, it was a long walk for him otherwise. But when we left the countryside and hit the town and people, it was folded up and put in a bag over my shoulder. I loved seeing him racing ahead of me down the hill on a sunny morning, I used to think, what a wonderful way to start the day. Going home was uphill, but because he had his scooter, he never seemed to notice.

Anyone remember school road safety lessons? A song
"We must have safety on the Queens highway, look right look left then

Here is someone singing this vintage piece.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoCziWItsYk

I haven't time to catch all the lyrics from this. It is probably only relevant to those at primary school after 1952/3 (unless there was one for the Kings Highway). Come on you 60 somethings how much of this can we remember between us.

That's not being over-protective, Tegan. Agree with you - small children need to be kept safe near moving traffic,