Running over children in 4x4's

Again another emotionally charged clouded vision "debate" commences.

The problem is mixing vehicles and pedestrians and in this case naive pedestrians (children).

Schools need traffic management plans

The usual OH&S principles should apply. All vehicles and drivers should be subject to them. Banning vehicles labelled as 4wd's and licensing the drivers of these vehicles deals with a small part of a real problem

But you can't make drivers to see through the vehicles blind spots and pedestrian safety activists through their bigotry.

Scruby, the Coroner and our legislators should tackle the cause and not the symptoms.

As our (NSW) Minister said it is not practical to ban 4wd's and there endeth the debate as far as he is concerned. So status quo Scruby frothing at the mouth when he should be silenced and nothing is done to deal with the problem and children are still at risk.

I'll buy a reversing beeper this weekend. Not that I drive in school grounds but at least I can annoy the sh*t out of people and claim some high moral ground by doing something.

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Originally posted by one_iota
Again another emotionally charged clouded vision "debate" commences.

The problem is mixing vehicles and pedestrians and in this case naive pedestrians (children).

Schools need traffic management plans

The usual OH&S principles should apply. All vehicles and drivers should be subject to them. Banning vehicles labelled as 4wd's and licensing the drivers of these vehicles deals with a small part of a real problem

But you can't make drivers to see through the vehicles blind spots and pedestrian safety activists through their bigotry.

Scruby, the Coroner and our legislators should tackle the cause and not the symptoms.

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Kids just arent educated these days OI, most schools have the crossings out the front, but many kids would rather run across the road 10m down than walk up the crossing. Parents also need to instill more sense into their children. Most parents tell their kids to look both ways and all that, but alot of the time kids run out without looking. When kids get backed over its because they arent paying attention, just the same as when kids walk into your legs at the shops. Matt

Kids are kids they don't start being aware of these things regardless of education until about the age of 10 and by the time they are twenty five they have reached their level. Hence insurance premiums and excesses. They have little concept of risk. It's the nature of the beast. So we need to take this into account when we design our schools.

When a kid is in the school grounds the kid is thinking school and looking for their mates not hey this is a carpark and watch out for the idiot parents driving cars who can't see me.

I was still marshalling my kids to cross roads when they were 11. They are not aware.

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Originally posted by one_iota
Kids are kids they don't start being aware of these things regardless of education until about the age of 10 and by the time they are twenty five they have reached their level. Hence insurance premiums and excesses. They have little concept of risk. It's the nature of the beast. So we need to take this into account when we design our schools.

When a kid is in the school grounds the kid is thinking school and looking for their mates not hey this is a carpark and watch out for the idiot parents driving cars who can't see me.

I was still marshalling my kids to cross roads when they were 11. They are not aware.

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It is a problem, the layout around some schools is aweful, not to mention some idiots dont follow the 40km/h speed zones when in them. Matt

It is also within our elected politicians power to install flashing lights during 40kph school zone periods. But they resist, prevaricate and bluster about 4wd's.

In a cynical mood I would suggest that it boils down to the cost and the loss of revenue obtained from fining infringer's.

The point of the exercise is to save lives and yet all those people whose job it is to improve outcomes are silent on this matter including Scruby.

Quote:

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Originally posted by one_iota
It is also within our elected politicians power to install flashing lights during 40kph school zone periods. But they resist, prevaricate and bluster about 4wd's.

In a cynical mood I would suggest that it boils down to the cost and the loss of revenue obtained from fining infringer's.

The point of the exercise is to save lives and yet all those people whose job it is to improve outcomes are silent on this matter including Scruby.

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The school in Wang has flashing lights during school zone times. But we followed a cop through there one day, during the time frame where you should be doing 40, and he sat on 80km/h the whole way through, no flashing lights or anything. Matt

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

This whole "when something goes wrong - blame the 4x4 " mentality is just out of control!!


When I was a Kid I was run over by a VW Beetle!! ( yeh yeh.... I know explains a lot :oops: )

Did anyone screem "ban the beetle" :?: ... of course not :!:

What has changed????...


....... except they stopped making bumper bars out of steel ...like the one that hit me!


I just wish these uninformed .... stupid people would stop blaming 4x4's and actually look at FACTS :twisted:

The sad unfortunate fact is that unless as a minority we come up with a way to eliviate some of the negative publicity about 4wd's this will never go away and eventually I can see some pollie caving in to those like Harold Scruby.

As a Courier I am seen to be a professional driver, Spending over 90hrs per week behind the wheel. I can honestly say that My KIA Pregio has more blind spots then a guide dog convention, yet I have heard nothing of Vans like mine mentioned when it comes to poor visabilty.

I would have to say I see Sydney's and the Central Coast's drivers at their worst not to mention the stupidity that takes place everyday on the F3 (pacific hwy nth out of sydney). I believe the reason for most of the negative media on 4wd is that poor drivers sellect 4wd's out of a safety factor believing that they and their family will be safer in a 4wd. This is not to say that everyone who owns a 4wd is a poor driver, but I would like to see some figures on repeat offenders who continue to bring 4wd owners into the media spotlight.

Taxi's and couriers tend to be involved in more accidents then other motorist and as a result our insurance premiums reflect it. Heavy Vehicles such as semi's are more likely to kill multiple occupants of a vehicle or several vehicle due to there size and weight yet everyday I am overtaken by them on the freeway when they are meant to be limited to 100km/h.

In a society that seems hell bent on having zero tollerance to the nations road toll and blind to the fact that every year there are more drivers and more vehicles on our roads there will always be the do gooder's who will want nothing but 100% road safety.

I heard some where recently that the NSW government was toying with the Idea of raising rego's for 4wd because of the increased polution output based on larger motors etc., My question is as the owner of a '93 rangie with a 3.9 lt V8 how will I be asked to pay more then the owner of a 2005 Ford Falcon with a standard 6cyl 4.0lt?. The answer quiet simply in the powers that be aren't made accountable by every owner of a 4wd it'll happen.

Harold Scruby as we all know oh so well hates 4wd's and takes every oportunity to voice his opinion, it is way over due that we as 4wd owners stand up to him and those like him before we lose the things we enjoy most.

If we don't it happen the same way the gun buy back did, some nut loses it and the honest law abiding ones lose because of it.

Funny this topic should come up, today I saw 2 children between 3-4 running around a busy car park in Brendale, no parent about, just a looked to be a 10yo running after them trying to stop them. No ones fault but the parents if they got hit

G'day All,

I've watched this thread and compared the different media reports had a think and slept on anything I wanted to spew forth and thismorning it's still prevelent in the news.

I think we have seperate issues here bundled into one by the anti fun campaign of society.

First of all, we have road safety issues...not 4x4 safety, but road safety.

Secondly we have driver skill issues.

Hands up if you have ever jumped into your vehicle and reversed it without first walking around the back of it to check the area was clear?

I'm certainly guilty yet it's a basic driver skill as advocated in road safety manuals for passing your test for your lisence. If people can't comply with basic skills, how can they be expected to cope in a situation requiring high skill levels?

Let's ban 90% of Aussie Drivers from schools and around schools....not their vehicles, but the flamin' drivers!

4x4 driving requires higher skill levels....4x4's by their nature require advanced driver training...not because they are harder to handle, but because of the added features and functionality of said vehicles...just as a B-Double Semi can be made to go forward by anyone, they can't be driven without a special lisence and higher skill level than basic car use.

I propose a ban on the current lisencing system that allows idiots to pass a driving test giving them, in effect '00' status (Bond, James Bond in case you missed the reference).

I propose a ban on Politicians and Journo's breathing as well just for good measure!

BUNKUM the lot!!! :evil: