2 October 2011

Why aren't school zones in force around daycare centres?!

| BethiePrice
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Standing at the front of my daughter’s daycare (admittedly in Queanbeyan but I have been told it’s the same in Canberra) I watch as at least 3 out of 5 drivers speed past the centre.

Some of them are travelling at more than 50km/hr which is the standard zone in a residential area.

I am puzzled that school zones are in place to protect our kids but not in place to protect our youngest generations.

Apparently if a childcare is connected to a school then the zones apply…does that mean it’s a too bad so sad situation if my daughter gets hit by an idiot outside her daycare?

At that age she doesn’t know road safety, she doesn’t know how to cross a road. And before you start I carry her in and out of the centre so she’s in no way able to run away from me…my point is, it only takes on person speeding down the road in the wet.

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xperfect_darkx6:19 pm 05 Oct 11

Erg0 said :

crackerpants said :

And if they can bung a speed bump on Corinna St for no other reason that to completely disrupt the flow of traffic on an already tricky intersection, why not help out our littlies?

Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks that speed bump is poorly placed.

If you drive really close to the gutter you can actually avoid that one pretty much completely, I’ve got a fairly large sedan and I can still managed to miss it, thought that was a bit of a design fail there.

poetix said :

I know this will be very unpopular, but I think there is a strong argument for a 40km limit in suburban areas, that is actually enforced, and a freeing up of the limit on highways (and roads such as the Tuggeranong Parkway). It seems that on the roads where a little extra speed is unlikely to cause an accident, we often face speed-checks of one sort or another, but near where people live, there is rarely any monitoring of speeds. Tends to add credence to the claim that it’s all just revenue raising.

+10

I find myself thinking the same thing about the speed monitoring pretty much every day when I see another moron speed through our suburb.

crackerpants said :

And if they can bung a speed bump on Corinna St for no other reason that to completely disrupt the flow of traffic on an already tricky intersection, why not help out our littlies?

Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks that speed bump is poorly placed.

crackerpants1:30 pm 05 Oct 11

poetix said :

Henry82 said :

watto23 said :

While i completely agree speeding through school zones is a stupid thing to do, I wonder how effective the 40km/h vs 50 km/h really is.

well, according to the RTA its an extra 9 meters of breaking. However there is an initial breaking distance of 26 meters.

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/speedandspeedcameras/40kmhcbdspeedlimit/index.html

Having said that, there comes a point where parental responsibility should outweigh the governments

I know this will be very unpopular, but I think there is a strong argument for a 40km limit in suburban areas, that is actually enforced, and a freeing up of the limit on highways (and roads such as the Tuggeranong Parkway). It seems that on the roads where a little extra speed is unlikely to cause an accident, we often face speed-checks of one sort or another, but near where people live, there is rarely any monitoring of speeds. Tends to add credence to the claim that it’s all just revenue raising.

I like this idea.

I also like the idea of speed bumps, and there is definitely a precedent with retirement villages, such as the one on Namatjira Dr in Weston. The ANU is chock full of speed humps and slaloms. And if they can bung a speed bump on Corinna St for no other reason that to completely disrupt the flow of traffic on an already tricky intersection, why not help out our littlies?

Yes parents need to be responsible and sufficiently tether their wild unruly children etc etc, but it can be a real juggling act, especially when it comes to loading up 2 kids into a car parked on a narrow street. Just sayin’.

Henry82 said :

watto23 said :

While i completely agree speeding through school zones is a stupid thing to do, I wonder how effective the 40km/h vs 50 km/h really is.

well, according to the RTA its an extra 9 meters of breaking. However there is an initial breaking distance of 26 meters.

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/speedandspeedcameras/40kmhcbdspeedlimit/index.html

Having said that, there comes a point where parental responsibility should outweigh the governments

I know this will be very unpopular, but I think there is a strong argument for a 40km limit in suburban areas, that is actually enforced, and a freeing up of the limit on highways (and roads such as the Tuggeranong Parkway). It seems that on the roads where a little extra speed is unlikely to cause an accident, we often face speed-checks of one sort or another, but near where people live, there is rarely any monitoring of speeds. Tends to add credence to the claim that it’s all just revenue raising.

watto23 said :

While i completely agree speeding through school zones is a stupid thing to do, I wonder how effective the 40km/h vs 50 km/h really is.

well, according to the RTA its an extra 9 meters of breaking. However there is an initial breaking distance of 26 meters.

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/speedandspeedcameras/40kmhcbdspeedlimit/index.html

Having said that, there comes a point where parental responsibility should outweigh the governments

While i completyely agree speeding through school zones is a stupid thing to do, I wonder how effective the 40km/h vs 50 km/h really is.

If a child runs out in front of you and happens to be within the 40km/h stopping zone, you’ll hit the child, unless you are a good driver being attentive and the car has ABS.

I know since I’ve had ABS i’ve missed a wombat and a kangaroo at night, that i may have hit otherwise.

As for child care centres, if a child is wandering outside a child care centre by themselves…. well fix the issue of them being there, lets not try and think of all the things that could happen to them, ie hit by a car, kidnapped, attacked by a dog etc etc. and stop them from happening. Or will it take a child being killed by a driver at 40km/h to justify lowering to 30km/h and so on.

BethiePrice said :

54-11 said :

Just another call for “them” ie, the government, to solve a problem of parental inabilities.

This has nothing to do with my inabilities as a parent or responsibilities when crossing the road…it’s calling for the driver’s in the cars to be aware that they are speeding past my daughter’s daycare when I am dropping her off or collecting her. I am sure every parent exercises duty of care so are we to be held accountable when someone else speeds past our children’s daycare centre or school?
If one idiot driver loses control while I am getting my daughter into or out of the car then what?
I know signs aren’t going to stop every driver but it will at least hold them accountable if they are caught speeding in that area. Maybe I should contact our local police station and see what they can do about it.

Ok! call you local police station.After the nice policeman takes your phone number and says to wait by the phone cause they WILL call you back…Now sit and wait.

54-11 said :

Just another call for “them” ie, the government, to solve a problem of parental inabilities.

This has nothing to do with my inabilities as a parent or responsibilities when crossing the road…it’s calling for the driver’s in the cars to be aware that they are speeding past my daughter’s daycare when I am dropping her off or collecting her. I am sure every parent exercises duty of care so are we to be held accountable when someone else speeds past our children’s daycare centre or school?
If one idiot driver loses control while I am getting my daughter into or out of the car then what?
I know signs aren’t going to stop every driver but it will at least hold them accountable if they are caught speeding in that area. Maybe I should contact our local police station and see what they can do about it.

creative_canberran12:41 pm 03 Oct 11

I was sitting at a cafe once when a pair of women, one with a very young kid (under 2, had a pram but not in it) sat down nearby. Both became engrossed in their bogan conversation and lattes while the kid crawled along the ground into the path of people walking by. Did this several times before almost being run over by a shopping trolley. At no time did either of the women notice or appear to check, and even after the person with the trolley told them, they went back to ignoring the kid until their coffees were finished. It was more akin to taking a dog to the park to let it run around than parenting.

And now people are so engrossed in their iPhones they’re slowing traffic in city centres to 40 or less.

It’s basically an idiot tax. If you’re exercising due care, then there’s no need.

hand leash?

I chose my daycare partly for the quiet street. Unfortunatley now that daycare spots are rare as hens’ teeth people have to take what they can get.

But it isn’t as easy as people think to supervise little kids over roads. Three kids, carry one, carry three daycare bags, (no hands left to hold the other two – even the 2 yr old is on his own) then put everything down to open the child proof gate – I can’t wait til I dont’ have to deal with all this in the mornings.

Henry82 said :

milkman said :

Better still, ban 4WDs, which were what all the parents were driving when they hit their own kids.

To be fair, the type of car wouldn’t make much of a difference – it’s still a 1 tonne chunk of steel on wheels. It looks like parents will need to be more proactive in accounting for kids before reversing.

>”Superintendent Waites denied that either larger 4WDs or the lack of a reverse camera contributed to the deaths.”

It wasn’t a serious comment, just another example of making a silly conclusion..

wildturkeycanoe5:55 pm 02 Oct 11

Milkman – Here we go again with the “Ban 4WDs” movement. Get over it, isn’t going to happen. Your reasoning for banning them will also take away all the people movers, work vans and pretty much all our heavy transport industry. Not all the accidents recently were 4WDs either.
Now suppose you get your way, where do you draw the line as to what is a 4WD and what isn’t? A Subaru Forrester for instance, or a Honda HRV?
The parents are ultimately responsible for the safety of their children, especially when around motor vehicles and traffic flow.
Has anyone got statistics on deaths or injuries to children by vehicles outside day care centers to support this push? I’d like to know.

I tend to agree that lowering the speed limit to school zone will have only an effect on a small number of drivers… BUT my idea is – perhaps write to council asking for speed hump/s near the centre, might be a viable option? it has worked for some of the areas where i am…. the other thing that has worked is asking the local police centre to come down intermitantly but often for a few weeks to fine the speeding drivers and regulars may slow down in the general area then, our school street is a rat run street and have the speed humps and police presence has really helped to slow drivers down, also gave the police rookies a bit of practice. Good Luck BethiePrice

EvanJames said :

I think we need to build special child complexes, where everything is extremely safe for children. Trouble is, you’d have to keep the parents out because it is overwhelmingly parents who pose the greatest risk to children, statistically.

I like the idea though of concerned parents standing outside schools and bombarding speeding cars with eggs and rotting vegetables. I think that would be way more effective than the threat of speed cameras.

I swear I have seriously considered actually doing this! Or better still, throw a child-sized dummy under their wheels as they speed past, just to get the message through.

milkman said :

Better still, ban 4WDs, which were what all the parents were driving when they hit their own kids.

To be fair, the type of car wouldn’t make much of a difference – it’s still a 1 tonne chunk of steel on wheels. It looks like parents will need to be more proactive in accounting for kids before reversing.

>”Superintendent Waites denied that either larger 4WDs or the lack of a reverse camera contributed to the deaths.”

buzz819 said :

Ate said :

With 4 children tragically dying this fortnight after being hit by cars, I think we can say that no one can possibly watch a child every second of the day and it only takes one milisecond for something so horrible to happen its hard to fathom.

The child care workers at this centre didnt even know the child was missing. I am all for school zones around day care centres.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/fury-as-toddler-wanders-from-childcare-centre-20110525-1f3n4.html

Didn’t these children die in driveways?? Maybe driveways should have a no reversing and 1 km/h limit?

Better still, ban 4WDs, which were what all the parents were driving when they hit their own kids.

I think we need to build special child complexes, where everything is extremely safe for children. Trouble is, you’d have to keep the parents out because it is overwhelmingly parents who pose the greatest risk to children, statistically.

I like the idea though of concerned parents standing outside schools and bombarding speeding cars with eggs and rotting vegetables. I think that would be way more effective than the threat of speed cameras.

Ate said :

With 4 children tragically dying this fortnight after being hit by cars, I think we can say that no one can possibly watch a child every second of the day

You know, we could ban parents from having cars when they have kids. That would have solved the problem. Or we could discuss the issue at hand, not something off-topic.

Just another call for “them” ie, the government, to solve a problem of parental inabilities.

blimkybill said :

There are important differences between a school and a day care centre:
– all day care centre have child proof fences, whereas schools are not necessarily fenced
– all parents must bring their children right into day care centres and sign them in, not allow them to make their own way there or take themselves in.

In essence there are no children walking or riding around outside day care centres without an adult right with them. I think that’s enough of a reason not to make them like a school zone.

+1

If a child manages to get out of a childcare centre on their own, there is something seriously wrong with the supervision and the centre is liable for neglecting their duty of care. It’s not any different from letting your toddler wander out of your house and across the road on his own.

And I also agree that the d!ckheads that speed through a 50kph zone are not likely to slow down because there’s a school zone sign. You can come watch this at our school’s school zone in the morning. Bring some eggs or rotten tomatoes to throw at cars.

I don’t think it’s feasible to apply 40 kph outside day care centres. Where do you draw the line? Home day care in individual residences? Should we drive at 40kph past ALL houses in case there’s a toddler in there? Because there is probably much more risk of a toddler exiting a suburban house than a daycare centre.

It may not be possible to watch a toddler every second of the day; what you do is you watch them vigilantly UNLESS they are in a secure fenced area that they cannot get out of. Onus is on adults around children to keep them safe.

Ate said :

With 4 children tragically dying this fortnight after being hit by cars, I think we can say that no one can possibly watch a child every second of the day and it only takes one milisecond for something so horrible to happen its hard to fathom.

The child care workers at this centre didnt even know the child was missing. I am all for school zones around day care centres.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/fury-as-toddler-wanders-from-childcare-centre-20110525-1f3n4.html

Didn’t these children die in driveways?? Maybe driveways should have a no reversing and 1 km/h limit?

Having a sign out the front isn’t going to slow the 3 out of 5 drivers down to an appropriate speed; we’ve seen how effectively lowering the speed limit to 50km/h in the suburbs has worked to slow traffic. Also; Besides, cost of roadsigns, parents should be walking hand-in-hand with those under 4, parents have the duty of care etc…

With 4 children tragically dying this fortnight after being hit by cars, I think we can say that no one can possibly watch a child every second of the day and it only takes one milisecond for something so horrible to happen its hard to fathom.

The child care workers at this centre didnt even know the child was missing. I am all for school zones around day care centres.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/fury-as-toddler-wanders-from-childcare-centre-20110525-1f3n4.html

fabforty said :

I guess this is because children young enough to be in day care should only be entering or leaving the place in the company of an adult.

yep, what he/she said, sounds plausible

There are important differences between a school and a day care centre:
– all day care centre have child proof fences, whereas schools are not necessarily fenced
– all parents must bring their children right into day care centres and sign them in, not allow them to make their own way there or take themselves in.

In essence there are no children walking or riding around outside day care centres without an adult right with them. I think that’s enough of a reason not to make them like a school zone.

I guess this is because children young enough to be in day care should only be entering or leaving the place in the company of an adult.

I would hope your 3 or 4 year old daughter wouldn’t be roaming outside the gates alone.

May as well make everywhere a school zone, because you never know when a ‘responsible’ adult carrying a child may want to walk near a road.

‘Won’t somebody please think of the children!’….

crackerpants10:19 am 02 Oct 11

Not something I’ve ever thought of before! But you’ve raised a good point. We’re lucky in that our daycare is situated in a quiet residential street, on a hill and a curve, so traffic tends to slow around there anyway, and the amount of cars turning in and out at peak times slows it down even more. We also have a dedicated carpark, so only have to park out on the street when it’s full. But I definitely see where you’re coming from…maybe you could contact the Queanbeyan Council with your concerns?

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