Playing on the road
Fay is wrong. No, not this Fay, of course not. I haven't been wrong since 1984 (and we don't want to go there). I mean Liam Fay of the Sunday Times.
Writing about speeding in his area, he says that he has "never seen a car travel at anything approaching speed inside the estate". I find that very difficult to believe, unless his neighborhood is distinctly different from mine here on the Southern Cross Route. He describes his estate as a "labyrinthine estate where speeding is almost impossible anyway". Again, I doubt it.
Our estate is tiny and the roads are fairly twisty. What that means is that for many people, driving through our estate gives them the opportunity to hone the skills they'll need on the streets of Monte Carlo. They have no regard for the safety of children. They cannot even imagine that anything above 10-12 MPH is excessive where little kids are playing. They don't know what all parents do know — children often make completely irrational and bizarre decisions and can easily find themselves running out in front of a car.
Fay (I'm guessing he has no children of his own) has highlighted the chasm that exists between those who have children and those who do not in our suburban neighborhoods. Those with children know (and, yes, KNOW) that it is absolutely nuts to suggest that "parents should keep their kiddies off the roads, in the interests of child safety". True, some parents (too many, really) are excessively lax in allowing children who are too young to be out playing alone and others are too lax in allowing children to be outside when darkness falls. But, children MUST be able to play outside in the streets in front of their own homes. This is particularly true when your house is in an estate and on a cul de sac.
Too many childless people living in our estate (and in the estate we lived in previously in Co. Kildare) seem to believe that children should only play in their back yards. I've seen neighbors quarrel over this issue. I've often wanted to ask those without children where they played when they were children, but I'm sure the answer would be "our parents didn't let us out to play on the road". I'm also sure that for most of them, that would be a lie.
Most of Fay's article is about the spread of speed ramps (bumps). His point about the regulations regarding these ramps made me wonder if all the new red brick ramps in Bray (Putland Road, etc.) & Killiney (Killiney Hill Road) are meeting these guidelines.
Writing about speeding in his area, he says that he has "never seen a car travel at anything approaching speed inside the estate". I find that very difficult to believe, unless his neighborhood is distinctly different from mine here on the Southern Cross Route. He describes his estate as a "labyrinthine estate where speeding is almost impossible anyway". Again, I doubt it.
Our estate is tiny and the roads are fairly twisty. What that means is that for many people, driving through our estate gives them the opportunity to hone the skills they'll need on the streets of Monte Carlo. They have no regard for the safety of children. They cannot even imagine that anything above 10-12 MPH is excessive where little kids are playing. They don't know what all parents do know — children often make completely irrational and bizarre decisions and can easily find themselves running out in front of a car.
Fay (I'm guessing he has no children of his own) has highlighted the chasm that exists between those who have children and those who do not in our suburban neighborhoods. Those with children know (and, yes, KNOW) that it is absolutely nuts to suggest that "parents should keep their kiddies off the roads, in the interests of child safety". True, some parents (too many, really) are excessively lax in allowing children who are too young to be out playing alone and others are too lax in allowing children to be outside when darkness falls. But, children MUST be able to play outside in the streets in front of their own homes. This is particularly true when your house is in an estate and on a cul de sac.
Too many childless people living in our estate (and in the estate we lived in previously in Co. Kildare) seem to believe that children should only play in their back yards. I've seen neighbors quarrel over this issue. I've often wanted to ask those without children where they played when they were children, but I'm sure the answer would be "our parents didn't let us out to play on the road". I'm also sure that for most of them, that would be a lie.
Most of Fay's article is about the spread of speed ramps (bumps). His point about the regulations regarding these ramps made me wonder if all the new red brick ramps in Bray (Putland Road, etc.) & Killiney (Killiney Hill Road) are meeting these guidelines.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home