Be careful biking with your family

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You wait till the cars are stopped or it’s all clear. You don’t walk if you see an SUV speeding towards the intersection. These crosswalks are crazy and you cannot trust the driver sees you or will stop. Why are people intent on arguing that there was just nothing more the parents could have done here? When it’s my kid in the crosswalk, I don’t care that the SUV driver will be found liable.

How about when it's you driving the SUV?

You make zero sense. Not a single person disagrees about what the SUV driver should have done. I’ll never be unhappy that I used extra caution to get my 4 yr old bike rider across a busy crosswalk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My kid is grown. I want a better world for all kids. I am trying to change the world, not just figure out what advice to give my kids. I would certainly tell my daughter not to drink at frat parties, to be careful going out alone at night - but I am not going to focus on stuff like that when a sexual assault takes place. When a driver nearly kills a child, because they were driving negligently, probably speeding - I am not going to focus on parenting. But you be you, I guess.

Good for you I guess if you’re willing to sacrifice your kid to better the world. But the rest of us want both: our kids alive and idiot drivers to obey traffic laws. But only one of these I can control today.

If only there were something that could be done to increase driver compliance with traffic laws...Oh! Actually there is! Traffic enforcement. We need more of it. Write to your county and state elected officials - that's something you can do today. And while you're at it, tell them that you want streets to be designed/redesigned so that pedestrians and bicyclists can cross safely and conveniently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You wait till the cars are stopped or it’s all clear. You don’t walk if you see an SUV speeding towards the intersection. These crosswalks are crazy and you cannot trust the driver sees you or will stop. Why are people intent on arguing that there was just nothing more the parents could have done here? When it’s my kid in the crosswalk, I don’t care that the SUV driver will be found liable.

How about when it's you driving the SUV?

You make zero sense. Not a single person disagrees about what the SUV driver should have done. I’ll never be unhappy that I used extra caution to get my 4 yr old bike rider across a busy crosswalk.

Plenty of people have disagreed about what the SUV driver should have done.

Will you ever be unhappy that you were ignorant of, or disregarded, the state law that forbids you from passing a car stopped at a crosswalk? Or, since it seems pretty likely that the car was speeding, and that the excess speed contributed to the dangerous situation, will you ever be unhappy that you drove faster than the speed limit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My kid is grown. I want a better world for all kids. I am trying to change the world, not just figure out what advice to give my kids. I would certainly tell my daughter not to drink at frat parties, to be careful going out alone at night - but I am not going to focus on stuff like that when a sexual assault takes place. When a driver nearly kills a child, because they were driving negligently, probably speeding - I am not going to focus on parenting. But you be you, I guess.

Good for you I guess if you’re willing to sacrifice your kid to better the world. But the rest of us want both: our kids alive and idiot drivers to obey traffic laws. But only one of these I can control today.

If only there were something that could be done to increase driver compliance with traffic laws...Oh! Actually there is! Traffic enforcement. We need more of it. Write to your county and state elected officials - that's something you can do today. And while you're at it, tell them that you want streets to be designed/redesigned so that pedestrians and bicyclists can cross safely and conveniently.

No can do. I have funeral arrangements to make because I was more of an idiot to let my 4 yr old bike across a dangerous crosswalk than the idiot driver who see through the crosswalk. But no one is against enforcement. We can be safe and vigilant and campaign for better crosswalk safety.

[Anonymous]

Why do you insist that we blindly trust others to do the right thing? In this case when it is so easy for a parent to prevent the near miss. Sure enforce the traffic laws, fine the driver. Whatever you want. But more than that, I want my kid alive. Call me selfish. I can live with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My kid is grown. I want a better world for all kids. I am trying to change the world, not just figure out what advice to give my kids. I would certainly tell my daughter not to drink at frat parties, to be careful going out alone at night - but I am not going to focus on stuff like that when a sexual assault takes place. When a driver nearly kills a child, because they were driving negligently, probably speeding - I am not going to focus on parenting. But you be you, I guess.

Good for you I guess if you’re willing to sacrifice your kid to better the world. But the rest of us want both: our kids alive and idiot drivers to obey traffic laws. But only one of these I can control today.

If only there were something that could be done to increase driver compliance with traffic laws...Oh! Actually there is! Traffic enforcement. We need more of it. Write to your county and state elected officials - that's something you can do today. And while you're at it, tell them that you want streets to be designed/redesigned so that pedestrians and bicyclists can cross safely and conveniently.

No can do. I have funeral arrangements to make because I was more of an idiot to let my 4 yr old bike across a dangerous crosswalk than the idiot driver who see through the crosswalk. But no one is against enforcement. We can be safe and vigilant and campaign for better crosswalk safety.

Lots of people are against enforcement. Lots and lots and lots of people. Similarly, lots of people are against changes to road design that make streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists - because these changes require changes in driver behavior.

All of the vigilance in the world can't protect your kids from unsafe drivers on unsafe roads. Just ask the parents of the high school students who got hit by a car ON THE SIDEWALK on Georgia Avenue while walking to their school bus stop. One of the kids is in the hospital in critical condition. The Planning Department is hosting a safety audit in Aspen Hill on November 3, starting from the Aspen Hill library, where people will walk the Aspen Hill community and rate the experience of the sidewalks, intersections and roads. Would you like to come?

http://montgomeryplanningboard.org/statement-from-montgomery-county-planning-board-chair-casey-anderson-on-aspen-hill-collision/

[Anonymous]

This is one of the most bizarre threads I’ve ever read on a DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you insist that we blindly trust others to do the right thing? In this case when it is so easy for a parent to prevent the near miss. Sure enforce the traffic laws, fine the driver. Whatever you want. But more than that, I want my kid alive. Call me selfish. I can live with that.

Nobody is telling you that you shouldn't try to protect your child. And nobody is saying, let alone insisting, that we should blindly trust others to do the right thing. Quite the contrary, in fact. The reporter in the WJLA story went out to the crosswalk and observed that drivers frequently failed to stop at the crosswalk. The story also quotes a pedestrian who says, "“I walk a lot and walk with my dog a lot and people just don’t stop and they are going way past the speed limit."

https://wjla.com/news/local/girl-on-bike-almost-hit-by-car-silver-spring

[Anonymous]

The SUV was at fault for not stopping at the crosswalk but they probably had no idea that the car in the left turn lane was stopped for pedestrians/bicyclists. I fault the parents for not walking the kid across the road (the mom actually walked her bike) and waiting to be sure that all traffic was stopped.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who is at fault. A dead child is a much larger punishment for being "right" in this case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The SUV was at fault for not stopping at the crosswalk but they probably had no idea that the car in the left turn lane was stopped for pedestrians/bicyclists. I fault the parents for not walking the kid across the road (the mom actually walked her bike) and waiting to be sure that all traffic was stopped.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who is at fault. A dead child is a much larger punishment for being "right" in this case.

You're right. At the end of the day, the question is: how can we prevent this from happening? And, in decreasing order of effectiveness, the answer is:

1. Good roadway design.
2. Safe and lawful driving.
3. Constant unrelenting vigilance by pedestrians and bicyclist.

Pedestrians and bicyclists - and drivers - are human. Humans do not always pay attention as they should. We know that. So therefore any transportation system that is only safe if people are constantly and unrelentingly vigilant is a transportation system that is not safe. And that's what we've got here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You wait till the cars are stopped or it’s all clear. You don’t walk if you see an SUV speeding towards the intersection. These crosswalks are crazy and you cannot trust the driver sees you or will stop. Why are people intent on arguing that there was just nothing more the parents could have done here? When it’s my kid in the crosswalk, I don’t care that the SUV driver will be found liable.

How about when it's you driving the SUV?

You make zero sense. Not a single person disagrees about what the SUV driver should have done. I’ll never be unhappy that I used extra caution to get my 4 yr old bike rider across a busy crosswalk.

Plenty of people have disagreed about what the SUV driver should have done.

Will you ever be unhappy that you were ignorant of, or disregarded, the state law that forbids you from passing a car stopped at a crosswalk? Or, since it seems pretty likely that the car was speeding, and that the excess speed contributed to the dangerous situation, will you ever be unhappy that you drove faster than the speed limit?

Did anyone claim the driver was free of fault? No. No one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Did anyone claim the driver was free of fault? No. No one.

Actually, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Did anyone claim the driver was free of fault? No. No one.

Actually, yes.

Nope. No one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Did anyone claim the driver was free of fault? No. No one.

Actually, yes.

Nope. No one.

You missed some posts then. Go back and read all 25 pages again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Did anyone claim the driver was free of fault? No. No one.

Actually, yes.

Nope. No one.

You're making an assertion that is factually incorrect. Look:

But if the child got hit, would the car be at fault? I don’t see why it actually would

This is the fourth follow-up post to the OP, right there on the first page of the thread.