|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Eight-year-old slaughtered by taxi driver
http://lcc.org.uk/articles/death-of-...-street-design
=====Quote===== On Tuesday this week an eight-year-old boy, Ali Nasralla, was tragically killed while cycling home from school in the borough of Kingston. Tragedy is an overused word, but try reading the sad messages in the video above from his Year 3 schoolfriends without feeling a well of emotion. According to witnesses, the fatal crash took place outside shops on a side street, near the busy A3 Kingston Bypass. At around 3.45pm on Monday the young boy, who was being accompanied by a nanny and his sister, was hit by a black taxi just a few hundred metres from Robin Hood Primary School. Ali was air-lifted to St Georges Hospital in Tooting, but died the following day. It’s impossible to know the extraordinary pain the boy’s family must be suffering, but one can’t help wonder if this pain is being compounded by wondering if they did something wrong in allowing their son to cycle to school, even accompanied. We can imagine that Ali desperately wanted to cycle (kids at that age love their bikes with a passion), and the parents probably thought the risk was negligible. Whatever their thoughts, the the parents in this awful case will know the Mayor of London Boris Johnson is supporting them, because it was less than two years ago that he wrote a rather gung-ho article in The Telegraph hailing the “heroes” who let their children cycle to school. His article was strongly supportive of a couple in Dulwich that allowed their children, aged 5 and 8, to cycle less than a mile to school (on the pavement, in this instance) against the wishes of the headteacher. What’s telling about Johnson’s article is that in boisterously supporting these parents in their fight against the “barmy” world of “elf and safety” and “political correctness”, he barely mentions the unacceptable levels of road danger in the streets over which he himself has so much power. He proudly points out that “London is now one of the safest big cities on earth, with youth violence down 10 percent over the past two years, robbery down 20 percent – and the murder rate the lowest since 1978”. This is clearly something of a smoke and mirrors trick, because the biggest danger to primary school children cycling to school in broad daylight in London isn’t knife crime. The single biggest risk to young people in this country is from motor vehicles, with road crashes being the largest cause of death and disability for children in the UK. Yet the mayor conveniently ignores the danger over which he presides. We know that most adult Londoners themselves won't ride a bicycle on London's streets because of fear of motor traffic (which they say the mayor has it in his power to change). So it’s not surprising that many parents in London wouldn’t dream of allowing their young children to cycle on the road ... ever. We can explain all day that the absolute risks are very low (according to available data, Ali is the first primary-school-age child to be killed cycling in Greater London for at least six years), but until we do something radical to our city, most parents will say putting a young child on a road with fast-moving traffic is unacceptable. The result is that in the UK a tiny 1% of UK primary children cycle to school, while London is facing a £1 billion obesity epidemic, and the nation a long-term health crisis caused by sedentary lifestyles. There are organisations trying their best to encourage cycling to school, such as Sustrans’ worthy Big Pedal, but if we want to see significant increases in cycling to school, we must start redesigning our streets for people, especially young people. In the Netherlands, urban planners think nothing of designing vast residential areas entirely around the needs of the family, with the test of suitability being whether a young child can play safely alone in the street. The woonerf (or 'living street') is a classic example of that – a design that’s been around since the 1970s. Whatever the precise design used, the principle is clear: as Steven Schepel, architect of the Dutch approach, says: “In places with good housing people should drive very slowly.” Compare this with our current mayor’s approach, which might be paraphrased: “All over London cars must drive without impediment.” The Dutch approach of 'Sustainable Safety' ensures that when children move from areas where streets have been properly calmed on to busier roads, they're typically provided with high-quality, segregated bike tracks, affording them the necessary safety from a young age. And this approach works: as well as having the highest proportion of bike journeys in the world for the whole population, the Netherlands has nearly half its primary-age children cycling to school in what are the safest streets for cyclists in the world. Here in London, our main roads are mostly no-go areas for young kids, while even streets near schools often get only the tiniest concessions to reducing danger: look how close to Ali’s school you have to drive before there’s a 20mph zone? Cars are encouraged to drive at 30mph until they’re no more 15 metres from the school gates. How can this be right? And the street where Ali died was a one-way street in a 30mph zone, even though it’s directly outside a row of neighbourhood shops. No-one is blaming the driver (we don't know what really happened), but it’s easy for politicians to dismiss a tragedy like Ali’s death as an unfortunate set of circumstances when the reality is that in many places fatalities have been designed into London's built environment. Until we adopt a new approach, these tragedies will continue to happen. The current mayor’s culture of accepting motor traffic flow as the prime indicator of street design success must be banished forever. LCC’s Love London, Go Dutch campaign is calling on the next mayor to embrace Dutch-style solutions (and those from other successful cycling nations). Please sign our petition calling for a more liveable city, one that has streets that are safe and inviting for all... especially eight-year-old boys. =====/Quote===== |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Eight-year-old slaughtered by taxi driver
On Mar 13, 7:25*pm, Bertie Wooster wrote:
http://lcc.org.uk/articles/death-of-...ist-in-kingsto... Who but a loon would let their 8 year old loose on a bike on a busy London Road. I was encouraged to use a bike at a very early age but I remember the admonishments from the parents, "Keep away from the main roads", "If you have to cross a main road get off and push the bike across" and lots of similar advice, that was nearly sixty years ago when the level of traffic was tiny compared with now. I lived in Amsterdam and other Dutch cities, some very modern, one built from scratch from reclaimed sea bed, when planning from the outset is incorporated for cycles the results are very good however they become increasingly poor the older the environs, where I live at the moment is 1940's development and there was no extra provision in the initial build, all has been added later with the inevitable compromises. To recreate such a system in London would be prohibitively expensive and take years and years, as cycling will never take off in London, apart from minority use, the poor, the enthusiasts etc. because of the simple unavoidable fact that there are too many hills such proposals are doomed to be dead in the water. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Eight-year-old slaughtered by taxi driver
On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:17:21 -0700 (PDT), NM
wrote: On Mar 13, 7:25*pm, Bertie Wooster wrote: http://lcc.org.uk/articles/death-of-...ist-in-kingsto... Who but a loon would let their 8 year old loose on a bike on a busy London Road. I might be inclined to have some sympathy for your view if it wasn't for this: =====Quote===== the fatal crash took place outside shops on a side street, near the busy A3. =====/Quote===== Somewhere along he http://g.co/maps/2we64 I expect the taxi was bombing down the service road at excessive speed to escape the traffic clogged A3. And why that service road does not have a 20mph limit is something that I cannot explain. I was encouraged to use a bike at a very early age but I remember the admonishments from the parents, "Keep away from the main roads", "If you have to cross a main road get off and push the bike across" and lots of similar advice, that was nearly sixty years ago when the level of traffic was tiny compared with now. I lived in Amsterdam and other Dutch cities, some very modern, one built from scratch from reclaimed sea bed, when planning from the outset is incorporated for cycles the results are very good however they become increasingly poor the older the environs, where I live at the moment is 1940's development and there was no extra provision in the initial build, all has been added later with the inevitable compromises. To recreate such a system in London would be prohibitively expensive and take years and years, as cycling will never take off in London, apart from minority use, the poor, the enthusiasts etc. because of the simple unavoidable fact that there are too many hills such proposals are doomed to be dead in the water. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Eight-year-old slaughtered by taxi driver
On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:25:46 +0000, Bertie Wooster
wrote: http://lcc.org.uk/articles/death-of-...-street-design The single biggest risk to young people in this country is from motor vehicles, with road crashes being the largest cause of death and disability for children in the UK. Approximately twice as many children are killed or seriously injured when passengers in cars compared with cycling. About 3 times as many child pedestrians are killed or seriously injured as child cyclists. Should not both these groups be a higher priority? We can explain all day that the absolute risks are very low (according to available data, Ali is the first primary-school-age child to be killed cycling in Greater London for at least six years), but until we do something radical to our city, most parents will say putting a young child on a road with fast-moving traffic is unacceptable. So cycling is incredibly safe therefore we should spend a vast amount of money "doing something" to achieve nothing other than to convince a few of the chattering classes that something has been done and therefore the non-problem which wasn't there has become a non-problem which isn't there? I can see the logic behind that. There are organisations trying their best to encourage cycling to school, such as Sustrans’ worthy Big Pedal, but if we want to see significant increases in cycling to school, we must start redesigning our streets for people, especially young people. I though you just said cycling was incredibly safe? In any case why do we want more cyclists when walking is better exercise? The Dutch approach of 'Sustainable Safety' ensures that when children move from areas where streets have been properly calmed on to busier roads, they're typically provided with high-quality, segregated bike tracks, affording them the necessary safety from a young age. Unfortunately the UK cycling powers that be are totally opposed to separate bike lanes. The idea that cyclists should be put on their own little streets and banned from roads is an anathema to the Lycristas who worship "momentum" above all else and dread the thought of being held up by utility cyclists. And this approach works: as well as having the highest proportion of bike journeys in the world for the whole population, the Netherlands has nearly half its primary-age children cycling to school in what are the safest streets for cyclists in the world. Because they are for bikes alone. What everyone ignores of course is the very simple correlation between the Netherlands having the highest number of bike journeys and being the flattest country in the world. Put a few small inclines in place and Dutch cycling numbers would plummet. No-one is blaming the driver (we don't know what really happened), Would it not be a really good idea to find out what happened _before_ producing these rambling waily waily articles? Until we adopt a new approach, these tragedies will continue to happen. Once every six years according to the author. Wouldn't the money be better spent on improving pedestrian facilities for children rather than wasting it on the insignificant number of child cyclists? |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Eight-year-old slaughtered by taxi driver
On Mar 14, 7:03*am, Bertie Wooster wrote:
On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:17:21 -0700 (PDT), NM wrote: On Mar 13, 7:25*pm, Bertie Wooster wrote: http://lcc.org.uk/articles/death-of-...ist-in-kingsto.... Who but a loon would let their 8 year old loose on a bike on a busy London Road. I might be inclined to have some sympathy for your view if it wasn't for this: =====Quote===== the fatal crash took place outside shops on a side street, near the busy A3. =====/Quote===== Somewhere along hehttp://g.co/maps/2we64 I expect the taxi was bombing down the service road at excessive speed to escape the traffic clogged A3. And why that service road does not have a 20mph limit is something that I cannot explain. Pure supposition on your part, the road was busy although not the A3. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Eight-year-old slaughtered by taxi driver
On Mar 14, 1:33*pm, NM wrote:
On Mar 14, 7:03*am, Bertie Wooster wrote: On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:17:21 -0700 (PDT), NM wrote: On Mar 13, 7:25*pm, Bertie Wooster wrote: http://lcc.org.uk/articles/death-of-...ist-in-kingsto.... Who but a loon would let their 8 year old loose on a bike on a busy London Road. I might be inclined to have some sympathy for your view if it wasn't for this: =====Quote===== the fatal crash took place outside shops on a side street, near the busy A3. =====/Quote===== Somewhere along hehttp://g.co/maps/2we64 I expect the taxi was bombing down the service road at excessive speed to escape the traffic clogged A3. And why that service road does not have a 20mph limit is something that I cannot explain. Pure supposition on your part, the road was busy although not the A3. Where does it say the road was busy? |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Eight-year-old slaughtered by taxi driver
Bertie Wooster spake thus:
On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:17:21 -0700 (PDT), NM wrote: On Mar 13, 7:25Â*pm, Bertie Wooster wrote: http://lcc.org.uk/articles/death-of-...ld-cyclist-in- kingsto... Who but a loon would let their 8 year old loose on a bike on a busy London Road. I might be inclined to have some sympathy for your view if it wasn't for this: =====Quote===== the fatal crash took place outside shops on a side street, near the busy A3. =====/Quote===== Somewhere along he http://g.co/maps/2we64 I expect the taxi was bombing down the service road at excessive speed to escape the traffic clogged A3. And why that service road does not have a 20mph limit is something that I cannot explain. Is that why "no-one is blaming the driver"? |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Rare occurrence - the stats show that cycling in London is safe,so this must be a statistical blip
On 14/03/2012 07:03, Bertie Wooster wrote:
wrote: Bertie wrote: http://lcc.org.uk/articles/death-of-...ist-in-kingsto... Who but a loon would let their 8 year old loose on a bike on a busy London Road. I might be inclined to have some sympathy for your view if it wasn't for this: =====Quote===== the fatal crash took place outside shops on a side street, near the busy A3. =====/Quote===== Somewhere along he http://g.co/maps/2we64 Would you accept: "Who but a loon would let their eight-year-old loose on any road (especially in London)?"? I expect the taxi was bombing down the service road at excessive speed to escape the traffic clogged A3. A demonstration of an over-vivid imagination. The mere fact that you (cannily) put it that way is that you and everyone else knows that there is *no* evidence to support what you say, but you choose to say it anyway (this is also illustrated by your quite disgraceful choice of thread title - have a care for the law of libel; you are not exempt from it). And why that service road does not have a 20mph limit is something that I cannot explain. A service road and a side-street are the same thing, are they? |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Eight-year-old slaughtered by taxi driver
On Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:26:20 +0000 (UTC), Scion
wrote: Bertie Wooster spake thus: On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:17:21 -0700 (PDT), NM wrote: On Mar 13, 7:25*pm, Bertie Wooster wrote: http://lcc.org.uk/articles/death-of-...ld-cyclist-in- kingsto... Who but a loon would let their 8 year old loose on a bike on a busy London Road. I might be inclined to have some sympathy for your view if it wasn't for this: =====Quote===== the fatal crash took place outside shops on a side street, near the busy A3. =====/Quote===== Somewhere along he http://g.co/maps/2we64 I expect the taxi was bombing down the service road at excessive speed to escape the traffic clogged A3. And why that service road does not have a 20mph limit is something that I cannot explain. Is that why "no-one is blaming the driver"? I suppose it is possible the driver experienced mechanical failure, had a seizure, or some other unforseeable misfortune. But that is not my expectation. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Eight-year-old slaughtered by taxi driver
On Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:32:41 +0000, Peter Parry
wrote: On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:25:46 +0000, Bertie Wooster wrote: http://lcc.org.uk/articles/death-of-...-street-design The single biggest risk to young people in this country is from motor vehicles, with road crashes being the largest cause of death and disability for children in the UK. Approximately twice as many children are killed or seriously injured when passengers in cars compared with cycling. About 3 times as many child pedestrians are killed or seriously injured as child cyclists. Should not both these groups be a higher priority? We can explain all day that the absolute risks are very low (according to available data, Ali is the first primary-school-age child to be killed cycling in Greater London for at least six years), but until we do something radical to our city, most parents will say putting a young child on a road with fast-moving traffic is unacceptable. So cycling is incredibly safe therefore we should spend a vast amount of money "doing something" to achieve nothing other than to convince a few of the chattering classes that something has been done and therefore the non-problem which wasn't there has become a non-problem which isn't there? I can see the logic behind that. There are organisations trying their best to encourage cycling to school, such as Sustrans’ worthy Big Pedal, but if we want to see significant increases in cycling to school, we must start redesigning our streets for people, especially young people. I though you just said cycling was incredibly safe? In any case why do we want more cyclists when walking is better exercise? The Dutch approach of 'Sustainable Safety' ensures that when children move from areas where streets have been properly calmed on to busier roads, they're typically provided with high-quality, segregated bike tracks, affording them the necessary safety from a young age. Unfortunately the UK cycling powers that be are totally opposed to separate bike lanes. The idea that cyclists should be put on their own little streets and banned from roads is an anathema to the Lycristas who worship "momentum" above all else and dread the thought of being held up by utility cyclists. And this approach works: as well as having the highest proportion of bike journeys in the world for the whole population, the Netherlands has nearly half its primary-age children cycling to school in what are the safest streets for cyclists in the world. Because they are for bikes alone. What everyone ignores of course is the very simple correlation between the Netherlands having the highest number of bike journeys and being the flattest country in the world. Put a few small inclines in place and Dutch cycling numbers would plummet. No-one is blaming the driver (we don't know what really happened), Would it not be a really good idea to find out what happened _before_ producing these rambling waily waily articles? Until we adopt a new approach, these tragedies will continue to happen. Once every six years according to the author. Wouldn't the money be better spent on improving pedestrian facilities for children rather than wasting it on the insignificant number of child cyclists? Perhaps it wouldn't be such an insignificant number of child cyclists on the roads if there were Dutch style cycle facilities around primary schools. |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Manchester bus driver convicted of assaulting 65-year-old cyclist | Simon Mason | UK | 14 | November 19th 11 05:39 PM |
13 year old cyclist liable to compensate lorry driver | The Todal | UK | 67 | June 29th 10 08:32 PM |
Another cyclist slaughtered. | Doug[_3_] | UK | 23 | June 17th 10 06:09 PM |
OT. Taxi driver rage | Peter B | UK | 29 | August 28th 04 12:13 AM |
ten year ban for scotland's worst driver | David Martin | UK | 173 | May 25th 04 02:14 AM |