Does your kid scoot home from school?

[Ronnijade]

Little boy maybe no older than 10 wearing a green school uniform scooted straight across the junction in front of my car near the The Great Exhibition earlier today at around 4pm. No parents in sight and the kid didn?t even look our way despite nearly hitting him with the car. If this is your son you should not only be absolutely ashamed that you?re letting a kid so young travel on the road by himself, but that you?ve let him do so with obviously no road safety awareness whatsoever. Disgusting.

[womanofdulwich]

I think a sensible 10 year old can travel by themselves.

[Nigello]

This child does not sound sensible, according to what the OP wrote. I agree some children are totally ok with obeying traffic and pedestrian rules, etc. but this one didn't, at least this one time. (At least he wasn't in the back of a car being driven, though!)

[malumbu]

I've seen 1000s of people behaving badly on the roads since living in London - on foot, bike, motorbike and car. Scooters are a new dimension. This is a society issue, instilling good awareness etc whether that be from parents, schools or the authorities. I was walking home a mile from about the age of 7 with numerous other kids and spending the bus money on sweets (not so good for my teeth). I ran across the road to follow a mate to get to the conker tree first, and almost got run over. Parents will have to accept a certain level of risk.

Did enjoy the two kids cycling to Harris East Dulwich up on one rear wheel a couple of days ago. Totally oblivious that I was behind them but impressed with their cycling skills.

Scooters as said are a new dimension and not sure how this is best dealt with - there have been discussions already on the forum. There is a bigger picture question on entitlement and parent's indulging their kids.

[Ronnijade]

Yet it would have been a different story completely if we hadn?t hit the brakes on time and ended up running him over. No idea how this is even up for debate. If people aren?t allowed to start driving on the roads until they?re 16 then ten year olds definitely shouldn?t be, especially 1) by themselves 2) without any basic knowledge of road safety, which this kid obviously lacked. I?m not blaming him but the parents and if you want to defend them then maybe you should question your own parenting skills.

[Monkey]

I had a near miss with a 16-year-old on an electric scooter. I meant to write a post similar to yours but thought the parents probably wouldn?t care. Perhaps I?m wrong but why would you let your kid go on one of those?

[Nigello]

If you are concerned about the safety of thsi child and others, the very least you can do (apart from tapping away on a keyboard to put a post here) is to get in touch with the school and the local police. You can search both easily, and the police - probably Goose Green division - do put themselves out there on Twitter, etc. So, if you really want to at least be in with a chance of effecting change, that's your best route. If not, continue to be outraged and all eye-rolly; that way, at least your predictions can keep you company when you hear about the next near-miss (whcih is what I hope it will only be).

[rachp]

Agree with Nigello, best thing is to contact goose green school as it sounds like it was one of their pupils. Chances of the message getting to the parents this way are slim. We also don?t know what those parents are dealing with, they could be juggling difficult work shifts and not have the option of affording childcare. Life is very tough for some parents. I will let the school know.

[KidKruger]

Rachp - While you?re in contact with the boys school pls also mention pedestrian road crossing behaviour.

Yesterday I don?t know how I didn?t knock over the lad who impulsively just darted across Upland Rd as I approached from Barry. I?m not sure whether it was stupidity or for a dare with his mates, but he was a hairs-breadth from being flattened. It was upsetting and I?m sure I?d have been the one blamed if he?d been hurt.

[rachp]

KidKruger, I sent it to Goose Green Primary- are you talking about Harris Boys Secondary?

GG has already come back to me to say they'll let the head teacher know.

[vmdgg]

It is amusing the see a bunch of adults taking time out of their busy "work from home" day to conspire to get a 10 year old kid in trouble with his school because he didn't follow the safety cross code.

[prit]

Green school uniform could also be St Anthonys(?) the catholic school on Etherow St.

[intexasatthe moment]

Excellent idea to contact school .

My knee jerk reaction is to hope they could organise some kind of road awareness sessions .Then I thought poor teachers ,responsible for educating and keeping safe across every conceivable spectrum .And currently trying to ameliorate the extended absences of their pupils .And having had to provide on site support throughout the school closures for children with specific needs and key worker parents while also organising on line education .

Given the green uniform I wondered if it might be a St Anthonys pupil . The school has a wide catchment area .

[rachp]

Not trying to get anyone in trouble... just concerned someone might get hurt

[rachp]

Yeah, could be St Anthony?s, good point. I guess it?s all a bit stab in the dark

[Nigello]

PUNTER FROM EDF: Tell schools about incident, express concern and suggest ways of avoiding this happening again.

SCHOOL: Headteacher writes short note about the incident and ways of avoiding it, and emails it to all teachers, who tell kids, and also to all parents, who tell kids.

[intexasatthe moment]

Well put Nigello .Doesn't need to be complicated or time consuming .

[Monkey]

Not complicated but I?ve contacted schools twice on similar issues and never got a reply.

[Jules-and-Boo]

why didn't you yell out the window to him to be more careful /stop at the road etc

kids are not aware of the dangers

[spider69]

If you did that in today's strange world you would probably get your collar felt for causing emotional distress

[GG governors]

Thanks for flagging this @Ronniejade and thanks too for passing it on @rachp.

It might not be a child who attends Goose Green but our head will be highlighting this in our newsletter and also using it as an opportunity to discuss road safety with the children at school.

[Ronnijade]

Thanks to the person who forwarded it on.

There was no point in shouting at the window as like I said, the kid didn?t even turn around once we?d stopped and wouldve been halfway up the road the time we unrolled our windows. But again, not sure why some particular people on here are trying to blame me for not reacting correctly... I?m not the kids parent who allowed it to happen in the first place.

And Nigello, if I want to write a post on the forum in hope of opening a couple of irresponsible parents? eyes, I will. I don?t feel it should be my obligation to call the police (and why the Hell would I call the police in the first place?) so please, if you have nothing productive to spew, pipe down.

[Ronnijade]

Jules-and-Boo Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> why didn't you yell out the window to him to be

> more careful /stop at the road etc

>

> kids are not aware of the dangers

No, they?re not, thus they shouldn?t be allowed on the road alone.

[JEG1]

Could also be an ED Charter pupil (green sweatshirt). Some of the Y7s could look as young as 10.

[Nigello]

Ronni, I did not suggest you call the police about the child's misdemeanour but about teh general danger, you know, as a responsible and rational adult attempting to use a few minutes of his or her time to at least do something positive. As it stands, your original venting on this forum was picked up by the internet gods and goddesses and it got to at least one schoool, so you did something good - be proud of yourself for your input! You may have saved a life or limb. Good on you!