Kids playing on the road

Smellyirishman

Nightwish wrote:

I am aware of curbball...

Woah, woah, woah...woah...
Let's get one thing straight here, and I'm looking at both of you; it's "curbs".

If someone comes in calling it "paths"; I'm gonna find you, and run you over, and there will be no bonus points for landing it over the car.

Collie D

formatman wrote:

Whats the name of of that device they use to keeps Kids away from shops at night ? Moquito ? ...!

Other people have posted that we all played ono the street as a KID , yes proabably ...differences though , had some road sense , had the courtesy to move onto the path when a card came into the estate /cul de sac
parents werent scum and didn't advise to get foot run over by card to cliam compo ...anyway thats my contribution

Aye, twas all different in my day. We had respect for our elders :rolleyes:

stovelid

Nightwish wrote:

kids have more right to be on a road than a car?

Yes.

A kid's safety is more important than your inconvenience. Drive slowly and stop whinging.

Senna

everyones saying 'we all done it when we were young' but there is a big difference in kids attitude to adults now.
me and my friends would always get out of the way the second we heard a car comming and wouldn't dream of antagonizing adults, cause we'd get a slap for our parents.
now the little fcukers can do what they like and parents dont seem to care.

Dave!

There have always been little sh*ts who want to cause problems. Most kids will get off the road if they see a car coming.

The Denouncer

KdjaCL wrote:

You sound like a whiney person.

Thanks. No I am not. I am a considerate person, and the thread is not about me but my opinion, that is I believe that the parents of these kids should NOT let them play with the traffic in estate which happens to have a big green area..now I don't see that as being whiney. I don't know maybe I just have much higher standards than people like you. It's my greatest failing, I set too high standards. I have complained about the train service in these forums, and this kids playing with traffic issue..that's about it..that's what these forums are for sometimes to let off steam..maybe I'm wrong but anytime someone complains about something why should they be classed as moanbags or whingers? Other people complain about stuff on these forums are they always attacked as moanbags and whingers or is it just me? I don't know I find it very strange that the 3 or 4 times I have posted complaints (out of all my posts) I get attacked and called a whiney person.
Which is not true..just saddened by poor standards in our society. And disappointed at people like you who exist just to shout down considerate people who want to live in a better Ireland.

Wacker

Smellyirishman wrote:

Woah, woah, woah...woah...
Let's get one thing straight here, and I'm looking at both of you; it's "curbs".

If someone comes in calling it "paths"; I'm gonna find you, and run you over, and there will be no bonus points for landing it over the car.

If we're demanding a higher standars on the naming of games kids play on the street, I must point out that it is actually 'kerbs'. Sorry!


Anyway, my 2 cents: We all played on the road back in the day, and the kids that I see doing it now are no worse than I and others were back in the day. I am so sick of people going on about how 'kids these days have no respect' and all that. Did you guys know that Aristolte wrote about how kids no longer respect their elders? That was 2000 years ago. The next time one of you feels like complaining about such behaviour, maybe consider thew possibility that what you are doing is merely a product of aging, and that you are remembering the past with rose tinted glasses.

So, my opinion on this can be summarised in two lines:

1. Drive carefully in estates full of kids playing. Who'da thunk it?
2. Stop moaning about kids these days having no respect and the way things are going to the dogs. You sound like a grouchy Walter Matthau character.

The Denouncer

Its dangerous, and a kid will be killed. A lot of guilt from parents and drivers alike, and tears shed. It will happen. No doubt about that. So be it.

anotherlostie

This thread reminds me why I moved from a housing estate to an apartment and I apologise for it being off topic to some extent. There are times when I curse that decision when I have to haul shopping from car to front door via a maze of corridors, but then I remember that now I don't have to deal with ill mannered little ****s as young as 4 who shout abuse, fling muck (or eggs, presumably if their mothers are throwing them out), rip up plants and rally round the estate with no regard for their own safety (sure the compo will keep the parents right for a few months of the high-life if anyone does accidentally hit them).

People denounce the OP (NPI) for what he says, but when you have no kids and live in such estates, this is the way you'll be treated because there is no network to get to know other families via kids. Ignoring them doesn't work - they just want a reaction. Fighting with them certainly doesn't work, as my neighbour found out when his front window was smashed. In either case the nuisance factor will just get greater and greater til something does happen.

Now I'm talking about the crap I had to deal with in my 20's, so when people defend these little spawn of Satan, they generally truly don't realise how much of an impact they can have on others, in my case to the point where I decided on the upheaval of moving away (as, incidentally, did the guy next door).

stovelid

anotherlostie wrote:

This thread reminds me why I moved from a housing estate to an apartment and I apologise for it being off topic to some extent. There are times when I curse that decision when I have to haul shopping from car to front door via a maze of corridors, but then I remember that now I don't have to deal with ill mannered little ****s as young as 4 who shout abuse, fling muck (or eggs, presumably if their mothers are throwing them out), rip up plants and rally round the estate with no regard for their own safety (sure the compo will keep the parents right for a few months of the high-life if anyone does accidentally hit them).

People denounce the OP (NPI) for what he says, but when you have no kids and live in such estates, this is the way you'll be treated because there is no network to get to know other families via kids. Ignoring them doesn't work - they just want a reaction. Fighting with them certainly doesn't work, as my neighbour found out when his front window was smashed. In either case the nuisance factor will just get greater and greater til something does happen.

Now I'm talking about the crap I had to deal with in my 20's, so when people defend these little spawn of Satan, they generally truly don't realise how much of an impact they can have on others, in my case to the point where I decided on the upheaval of moving away (as, incidentally, did the guy next door).

I've never had those kinds of problems with any kids on my estate.

There is a difference between living on a rough estate with obvious social problems and the idea of kids playing on estate streets in general.

Wacker

anotherlostie wrote:

People denounce the OP (NPI) for what he says, but when you have no kids and live in such estates, this is the way you'll be treated because there is no network to get to know other families via kids. Ignoring them doesn't work - they just want a reaction. Fighting with them certainly doesn't work, as my neighbour found out when his front window was smashed. In either case the nuisance factor will just get greater and greater til something does happen.

I'm not saying that was meant for me or anything, but I have no issue with people complaining about kids playing on the road. This is indeed a legitimate concern. What annoys me is people who say that this particular generation has no respect and are the worst ever, etc.

K-9

the_syco wrote:

When I was young, I played in the stret (it was a cul-de-sac), the fields, the green area. When we saw a car coming, we'd get off the road. Most kids around here will get out of the way when they see a car coming, but IMO, the kids that don't will get hit.

For the arguement of more golf courses than there are playgrounds: most golf courses are far far away from eststes.

. They get hit, do they?

mise_me_fein

So what if they play on the road. I used to do it myself. Fcuk all your whining.

Just drive slower and if it really annoys you move.

The Denouncer

OK look, I've had posts here telling me to cop on, I'm a whinger etc. I'm not trying to create a parent vs non-parent divide here. All I am saying is on my estate and others I have driven on there are kids as young as 2 in the middle of the road who do not know what to do when a car approaches. They are frozen like rabbits. I've driven down roads with 5 or 6 kids either side terrified I will hit one. My wife has screamed as I reversed into my driveway because a lad decided to dart behind into my driveway on a bike. I thought I hit the kid.
I've had lads stare at me because they had to move out of the way, kids as young as 5 give me the finger, lads walk as slow as possible in front of my car with no intention of getting out of the way in any hurry. "Why should we?" they seem to think. "We don't give a ****."
I think the parent have a lot to answer for I really do. I think a lot of parents don't seem to know what they are doing and actually don't seem to care about their kids. That how it seems to me and my wife. A lot of these people move into an estate, have kids.. because it's expected of them, not because they really want to. There is no breeding in a lot of these kids, no discipline..they do not give a rats ass about anything. And that's the parents fault. Some kids are very polite and well behaved, some are little demons..fair enough.. but Jesus Christ gets the toddlers off the road for the love of *** when you have a big green area or back gardens. Just get them off the road.

anotherlostie

stovelid wrote:

I've never had those kinds of problems with any kids on my estate.

There is a difference between living on a rough estate with obvious social problems and the idea of kids playing on estate streets in general.

Well maybe you could explain to me why the two people I worked with who also lived in the estate (and both had kids themselves) never had any of the problems that I had? I think you are over-generalising with your statement about social problems in that context. I feel it is as if the (bad) parents of these kids tell them to stay away from the other families, but single people, or older couples are fair game because they don't give a **** about them.

mise_me_fein

If I were you I'm scream at them to get out of the way. If they didn't just get out of the car and lift them up out of the way. If they were giving me **** back, then tell they to get the fcuk out of the way.

Terry

The Denouncer wrote:

Its dangerous, and a kid will be killed. A lot of guilt from parents and drivers alike, and tears shed. It will happen. No doubt about that. So be it.

Yeah. Those damned kids playing on roads in an estate. How dare they. Don't they know that drivers own the road?

Here's the thing though. Kids won't be killed if you drive carefully.
Now I know this may be a foreign concept to some people out there, but it actually works.
Driving slowly through a housing estate will still get you to where you are going and you won't have to feel guilty about running over kids.
Give it a go and then get back to us.

As for the green area, you may not have noticed, but it has rained quite a lot this year. The grass is obviously wet. Now I don't know about you, but my mammy always gave out to me if I came in covered in muck and dragged it through the house.

The kids aren't harming anyone by playing on the road near their house.
If you can't handle driving by a few kids, then maybe you shouldn't be in charge of a car in the first place.

stovelid

anotherlostie wrote:

Well maybe you could explain to me why the two people I worked with who also lived in the estate (and both had kids themselves) never had any of the problems that I had? I think you are over-generalising with your statement about social problems in that context. I feel it is as if the (bad) parents of these kids tell them to stay away from the other families, but single people, or older couples are fair game because they don't give a **** about them.

Look, the original point was about kids being allowed to play on the road in estates and car owners getting annoyed about it.

I'm with the people that say kids are just being kids. A debate on parenting responsibility is somebody else's concern. I just want to avoid killing a kid so I drive very, very slowly if I can't see the path on either side. Which means no accidents in 99% of cases. End of.

I wasn't allowed near main roads when I was kid. The roads on a residential estate should be somewhere that kids are safe. Problem is that now every estate is clogged up with cars and knobheads that drive through at speed.

If you have wild kids throwing stuff at cars, giving you the finger and breaking windows; that's another thing totally and a bit off topic tbh.

The Denouncer

Terry wrote:

Yeah. Those damned kids playing on roads in an estate. How dare they. Don't they know that drivers own the road?

Here's the thing though. Kids won't be killed if you drive carefully.
Now I know this may be a foreign concept to some people out there, but it actually works.
Driving slowly through a housing estate will still get you to where you are going and you won't have to feel guilty about running over kids.
Give it a go and then get back to us.

As for the green area, you may not have noticed, but it has rained quite a lot this year. The grass is obviously wet. Now I don't know about you, but my mammy always gave out to me if I came in covered in muck and dragged it through the house.

The kids aren't harming anyone by playing on the road near their house.
If you can't handle driving by a few kids, then maybe you shouldn't be in charge of a car in the first place.

Look, parents of the boards listen up. Instead of firing insults at your friend The Denouncer, do the following:

Sit down with your little angels and say this "See those big shiny things on the road? They are called 'cars'. The road was built for them. Now, when you see one of them - get out of the way as quickly as possible. If you don't, then you might never see mammy and daddy ever again. You might end up in a wheelchair. Don't stand and stare at the car, don't get angry at it or stick your fingers up at it. That is rude and bold. Just get out of the way as quick as possible. OK? Now go out and play in the green area or back garden..its raining out? OK stay indoors."

Terry

The Denouncer wrote:

Look, parents of the boards listen up. Instead of firing insults at your friend The Denouncer, do the following:

Sit down with your little angels and say this "See those big shiny things on the road? They are called 'cars'. The road was built for them. Now, when you see one of them - get out of the way as quickly as possible. If you don't, then you might never see mammy and daddy ever again. You might end up in a wheelchair. Don't stand and stare at the car, don't get angry at it or stick your fingers up at it. That is rude and bold. Just get out of the way as quick as possible. OK? Now go out and play in the green area or back garden..its raining out? OK stay indoors."

Driving is a privelege, not a right.

Who are you to tell parents how to raise their children?
If you drive carefully, then you should have no problems. However, you strike me as the type of person who thinks everyone and everythnig should get out of their way, because you are more important than everyone else.

Would I be correct in that assessment?

The Denouncer

Terry wrote:

Driving is a privelege, not a right.

Who are you to tell parents how to raise their children?
If you drive carefully, then you should have no problems. However, you strike me as the type of person who thinks everyone and everythnig should get out of their way, because you are more important than everyone else.

Would I be correct in that assessment?

No. But a car is bigger than a child. And no matter how carefully you drive (and I am careful), kids tend to be unpredictable. I don't want to crush a child beneath my wheels so parents, teach them to stay away from cars eh? Thank you.

Nevyn

Good parents will to that and will warn thier children and make sure they understand the dangers.

If an estate has a high population of children then drivers are just going to have to be careful, there are many who do not and really such estates should be 15 miles per hour as you still get idiots who will try to drive a 30 miles per hour.

There is a big difference between children playing on the street ( the street where they live rather then a road or a national road ) and antisocial little monsters.

Terry

The Denouncer wrote:

No. But a car is bigger than a child. And no matter how carefully you drive (and I am careful), kids tend to be unpredictable. I don't want to crush a child beneath my wheels so parents, teach them to stay away from cars eh? Thank you.

Never going to happen.
As long as there are housing estates, there will be kids playing on the roads.
Going at 10 or 15 mph will significantly reduce your chance of hitting a child, let alone killing them.

If there is a child on the road in front of you, then you should be going slow enough to stop before hitting them.

pickarooney

Nightwish wrote:

So because I'm a learner driver, I shouldnt be allowed to drive into the estate where I live and park my car in front of my house, because some parents are too incompetent to watch their own kids, and leave them sit on the road. I should walk to work because kids have more right to be on a road than a car?

In any sane country, the answer would be an abvious yes. Learner drivers driving around housing estates on their own - insane.

Nightwish

You reckon the idiot kids on my street have more right to sit in the road, than I do as a motorist? So do you want to pay for my taxi's to work everyday while my car sits outside of my house?

stovelid

Nightwish wrote:

You reckon the idiot kids on my street have more right to sit in the road, than I do as a motorist??

Yes.

Nightwish

Not true. As a motorist, I have to make allowances for kids being completely idiotic. They have no right to be there.

stovelid

Nightwish wrote:

Not true. As a motorist, I have to make allowances for kids being completely idiotic. They have no right to be there.

They are children.

You - ostensibly, at least - are an adult and have to be the one that makes the judgment.

And as for who has a 'right' to what: as a just started 'motorist', unless you are driving around accompanied at all times, you should apply some of that abundant moral judgment to yourself.

dame

Children should be allowed to play outside of their gardens (without their parents) only when they are old enough and sensible enough to understand the dangers and get off the road when a car is coming. People should not let 3 or 4 year olds out unsupervised, and letting them out with 7 or 8 year olds does not mean they're supervised.

If there are green areas then they should play on them whether the grass is wet or not. The parents should be more worried about the kids being away from the road than about the possibility of having to wash a few extra clothes. Also, kids will probably hurt themselves worse if they fall on tarmac than if they fall on grass.

Kids on bikes, tricycles, wheelies etc should use footpaths rather than roads and should know that they need to be careful approaching gates in case a car comes out.

If your child gets hit by a car and you're not there supervising or haven't taught them to take all possible care and get off the road, then you have to take as much blame as the motorist.

Before anyone comments back; yes, I am a parent - a responsible one.

RoyalMarine

the majority of kids get kidnapped from public parks and play area's.

parents work 40+ hours a week, run a house, cook food, sort out everything in their and their kids lives. not everyone has the time to take their kids to the park to play. so they play outside their houses with other kids outside their houses.

people driving through estates with children playing should be more observant and thats why there is a slower speed limit.

mad m

Kids have lost touch with games that they could play outside,like some of us older types...Rounders a favorite,kiss chasing another favorite of mine (Oh Yeah),knock a dolly, especially tying thread around knocker and run the gauntlet of trying to hide while not knocking the door knocker unraveling the thread before you hid....Making a cart with the grannies shopping trolley...

Parents should get their kids out more,not playing their Ds,Psp,Ps3's....Well tbh it seemed safer in my day and I grew up in heart of Crumlin.

dame

RoyalMarineComm wrote:

parents work 40+ hours a week, run a house, cook food, sort out everything in their and their kids lives. not everyone has the time to take their kids to the park to play. so they play outside their houses with other kids outside their houses.

Too busy to bring kids to a park doesn't mean they can't play in their own garden or the other kids garden or on a green area.

It doesn't excuse parents not insisting their children get off the road for their own safety when a car is approaching. That's just common sense, not giving the car driver an elevated status above kids or anything.

BostonB

That it was safer 10yrs ago isn't going to protect a kid. Relying on other people to see your kids and avoid them seems like a big gamble to me.

K-9

dame wrote:

If your child gets hit by a car and you're not there supervising or haven't taught them to take all possible care and get off the road, then you have to take as much blame as the motorist.

And there's the problem. Cue comp claim! Eh no, the parents will blame the motorist and not themselves!

Generally, don't think its a big problem as long as the kids show respect for cars and motorists show respect for kids!

RoyalMarine

dame wrote:

Too busy to bring kids to a park doesn't mean they can't play in their own garden or the other kids garden or on a green area.

It doesn't excuse parents not insisting their children get off the road for their own safety when a car is approaching. That's just common sense, not giving the car driver an elevated status above kids or anything.

not many people have garden's who live in city centre's.
most new estates ive seen have tiny garden's barely big enough to swing a cat.

stovelid

A lot of houses don't have front gardens or indeed; a lot of new estates have minimum green space.

Nobody is saying let kids out on main roads but even estates are far busier than when I was a kid.

I don't mind the inconvenience of driving slowly around kids if it means they can play on their own street safely, like I did.