Not only but also...
#13 - Their gut-churning, head-spinning, hand-wringing, downright stupidity.
This, while seeming quite a broad category, actually isn't. I'm referring to those people who, following the collision between a four year old and a car outside a child-care centre, are now calling for the 40km/h School Zone to be applied outside all child care centres and kindergartens.
Apparently this child 'ran away' from his mother, and managed to throw himself in front of a car in the process. This is the Speed Limit (and ipso facto, the Driver's) fault. NOT the parent's fault...
Why don't we just go the whole hog and make ALL roads 40km/h, because you never can be too sure when a kamikaze toddler isn't going to do his dash???? I mean, he could sneakily wait until he was passed the 'School Zone' before making a break for it... and then what would we do? Hmmm? Better to be safe than sorry...
This has got me as cranky as when they changed the speed limit on the Highway at Heathcote to 50k/h...
GRRRRRRR.....
This, while seeming quite a broad category, actually isn't. I'm referring to those people who, following the collision between a four year old and a car outside a child-care centre, are now calling for the 40km/h School Zone to be applied outside all child care centres and kindergartens.
Apparently this child 'ran away' from his mother, and managed to throw himself in front of a car in the process. This is the Speed Limit (and ipso facto, the Driver's) fault. NOT the parent's fault...
Why don't we just go the whole hog and make ALL roads 40km/h, because you never can be too sure when a kamikaze toddler isn't going to do his dash???? I mean, he could sneakily wait until he was passed the 'School Zone' before making a break for it... and then what would we do? Hmmm? Better to be safe than sorry...
This has got me as cranky as when they changed the speed limit on the Highway at Heathcote to 50k/h...
GRRRRRRR.....
Labels: Cranky (again), memelicious
posted by actonb at 3:40 pm
7 Comments:
One day we'll all have to wear crash helmets. Even pedestrians.
they should make it compulsory for all children to be harnessed and kept on a short leash. especially within the sights of a child care centre or school.
TMATP - You're back!!! And yes, the way things are going in this Nanny State, it's probably not far off...
Mex - That, my dear, is a BRILLIANT plan!
Okay, at the risk of being out on my own on this one....
I think 40km speed limits outside schools are a good thing, although I'm not sure it's practical to put them outside every single kinder and childcare.... as a side note one thinks that if the Federal government had any sense (pah!) they would co-locate schools, kinders and childcare to reduce this problem, but you know, that was Latham's idea and he was clearly bonkers.
But they're no substitute for parental vigilance.
Having said this, nor should people be driving like d-ckheads anywhere, but there are freakin' big signs saying SCHOOL etc everywhere now - it isn't that hard to be on the lookout for kids. One might argue that you should do that anyway, you know, as part of the whole driving thing.
/end psychotic spray.
I was shocked and horrified the last time I drove through Heathcote. If I recall correctly it is a THREE LANE HIGHWAY but I could be wrong, it might be FOUR. What possible excuse could there be for making it 50kms an hour? I'd like to know which delicate genius is responsible for this absolutely insane and absurd idea?
We would bypass Heathcote entirely, but it's a bit impossible when you live on the South Coast. So yeah cheers thanks a lot to the people involved, what a great idea. NOT.
Gigglewick - I have no problem with 40kms an hour - in SA it used to be 25kms an hour. However, I do have a problem with it lasting from 8am to 9:30 and 2:30pm to 4pm. That's an hour and a half of 40. Insane. I also have a problem with the schools out in the middle of nowhere to which all kids are brought by school bus having enormous zones around them in which I have never yet seen one single child.
In fact I never see children in these zones and that might be to do with the fact that over here in NSW they get picked up in their home street by a school bus and taken to school - and they get dropped home in their street by a school bus. Do I need to do 40 just because the school bus is not capable of reaching that speed, cos I don't think it has anything to do with children at all. I'm more worried about hitting a roo than a kid.
Snoskred
http://www.snoskred.org/
GW - I absolutely don't have a problem with 40 zones outside schools! But I am worried that parents may be lulled into a false sense of security... a car travelling at 40kph will still do a fir bit of damage to a kidlet after all. The thing with kindys is that the parent should always be WITH the child, and with Schools the parent often ISN'T.
I think it's just the typical knee-jerk 'blame the driver' mentality that is shitting me. And the 'Think of the Children' sentimentality that goes with it.
I have children who walk unaccompanied to and from school, so am always mindful of driving in school zones...
Snoskred - Heathcote is 3 lanes driving north. I do it everyday. They changed the speed limits jus before the election, in response to a very small but noisy lobby group in Heathcote. A couple of teenagers had been killed in the last couple of years when they had been trying to dash across the 6 lanes of traffic against the lights. In my opinion the police thought it was a most fabulous idea, and always have speed traps just at the end of the 50 zone. Right before it turns into a 100 zone, 500m from the station! GRRR indeed.
Bah. You know what? Canberra has 40 zones ALL DAY. Not 8 - 9.30 or whatever. All Day.
Stupid.
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