Safe Speed Forums

I was at my local sports center (K2 in Crawley) last night.

This sports center is situated on a 50MPH DC and has a light controlled pedestrian crossing. The center was opened in November last year. About a week after opening a lad was killed crossing the road, it turned out that the car was passing through on green and the driver was cleared.

Anyway as stated above I was at the center last night and there was a petition at the reception desk calling for either a bridge or a 30MPH limit due to this accident.

Perhaps this is an understandable reaction to a tragic death, but wouldnt educating our children in using the roads safely have far more effect on road safety.

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Nick

Yes


What’s the betting that when someone else gets killed after the limit is reduced, they’ll petition for a speed camera?

For me, the parents are to blame, not the police, not the teachers, not the police - but the parents. It is the responsibility of the legal guardians to ensure their dependents can handle the dangers of this world, or to supervise if necessary. However, the government are culpable for not pushing the importance of parental responsibility. That’s Blair’s Britain for you!

When I was 4 yrs old or there abouts I "drove" my pedal go-kart straight across a junction without looking and remember staring at the grill of a red car at head level inches from my face, and the massive bawling out I got from my parents I was with for ignoring them and failing to stop.

I learned quickly that I would always come off worse when fighting with vehicles/horses/bicycles etc.

That emphasis on the "green cross code" seems to have been lost. I can't remember the last time I saw advertising targeted at pedestrians, apart from that camera phone video with the teenager running across a road without looking and getting hit.

Children need things spelt out to them though, not shock tactic adverts stating "Every Year xxx Teenagers Wish They'd Given the Road Their Full Attention".

In late 2004 when on my way to visit my dying grandmother I stopped at a red light. A pedestrian with earphones and music playing then proceeded to run himself over using my stationary car. Walked straight into my front wing and fell over.

He wasn't drunk, drugged or handicapped. Just bloody stupid and daydreaming.

So long as pedestrians act and think like this, they will continue to wipe themselves out regardless of speed limits on the roads.

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There's an issue of driver responsibility too. A green light doesn't mean 'go right ahead and plough into anything that's in your way'.

But much more than that - any decent pedestrian crossing (light controlled or otherwise) affords excellent visibility to drivers. If the driver's observation had been up to scratch, it's unlikely that there would have been a crash at all.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I agree it works both ways, but there's only so much a driver can do. Some pedestrians have a nasty habit of turning and walking onto these crossings without showing any prior signs of them wanting to do so, others just run onto them from side roads and such. Pedestrians still have to stop and look before making use of such crossings.

There is a road outside my parents' house where there are accidents on a not irregular basis. What I love from the local papers and community council any time there's an accident is that it's not the fault of the pedestrian, nor of the driver, but of the council for not installing a pedestrian crossing/lower speed limit/whatever.

Always blame someone else for not doing enough to protect you, never take any responsibility into your own hands...

I agree we all have responsibilities, but the little red man doesn’t mean step straight onto the crossing either. If pedestrians want to take chances crossing, step onto the road without looking, then they should not expect drivers to stop. This person could have stepped straight out onto the crossing from the same side as the car was travelling, as the driver was approaching the person could have been hidden by the traffic light post and not be seen giving the driver no time to react.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.