Accident car and child riding on pavement, opinions & le

greg66_tri_v2.0

merkin wrote:

Of course she knows her car made contact with the kid.

How'd you see inside her head well enough to come to that piece of certainty?


2mph is half the speed of a slow walk. As someone who drives a lot, you'd see this is unrealistic. Hyperbole, perhaps?

Ho hum

Sounds like a can of worms to be honest!

OP - is the wee boy okay?

always_tyred

Greg66 wrote:

merkin wrote:

Of course she knows her car made contact with the kid.

How'd you see inside her head well enough to come to that piece of certainty?


2mph is half the speed of a slow walk. As someone who drives a lot, you'd see this is unrealistic. Hyperbole, perhaps?

Greg you are wrong on this one, I think.

Either way, its bad. If a driver really is so hopeless that they drive into things without noticing (no offence, Greg!!) then it may be helpful to make them aware of the possible consequences.

suzyb

Some people are completely oblivious when reversing out of their driveway. As I found to my cost when someone reversed in to my car.

DonDaddyD

I side with no one on this purely because in this situation my most likely reaction upon seeing my child felled by a car, of any speed, would be raged fueled.

So I'm left wondering how did this woman not become aware of a frightened, swearing or sobbing, angry parent stopped beside or behind their car?

Greg, from the first post she was aware of the child as she stopped the car and waited until the parent had attended to and gotten the child out of the way.

But then she drove off. It's right to ask why.

Would I report this, I'd need to be these in the situation. Generally speaking, however, you should report all traffic collisions/accidents.

lost_in_thought

Hmmmm, I can see where Greg's coming from, how did the woman hit the child with her moving car without propelling the child into the road? OP does say that lady driver waited until the road was clear before leaving, which to me means a) she wasn't aware of what had happened or b) she's got a hell of a nerve with an angry parent standing by her car with a child that she just hit.

OP, maybe you could clarify?

Either way, hope the kid's OK.

greg66_tri_v2.0

DonDaddyD wrote:

Greg, from the first post she was aware of the child as she stopped the car and waited until the parent had attended to and gotten the child out of the way.

But then she drove off. It's right to ask why.

Really? Not at all sure the account by the OP is that vivid, or detailed.

After making sure my boy was okay I was amazed to find the driver ignoring us, after she clearly saw what had happened. She made no attempt to communicate with us and pulled away once the road was clear.

I get from that (a) boy falls; (b) parent checks boy; (c) driver is continuing as if nothing happened; (d) parent concludes driver has seen what's happened (and that's the nub of it: how does he conclude that?); (e) driver ignores parent and child; (f) driver drives off.

(e) and (f) are as consistent with the driver not realising that she's made contact as they are with her being an evil callous b!tch. And since carelessness is more prevalent than evil, without more information, I'd say the latter explanation is more likely.

DonDaddyD wrote:

I side with no one on this purely because in this situation my most likely reaction upon seeing my child felled by a car, of any speed, would be raged fuelled.

So I'm left wondering how did this woman not become aware of a frightened, swearing or sobbing, angry parent stopped beside or behind their car?

Nail on the head, but perhaps from a different perspective to the one you intended. If it were you, and you were certain (a) the driver had knocked your child over; (b) she knew she had and (c) she was about to drive off, wouldn't you make some attempt to stop her, or at least get her attention?

Something's missing from the OP's account. Which way its swings the story in the end, I have no idea. But something is very definitely missing.


ETA: I've only just appreciated this irony: we no live in a society where no one takes any responsibility for anything, and no one bears any blame for anything that goes wrong (and I don't count "Sorry for any inconvenience caused" as an acceptance of blame).

Except motorists. Who are basically to blame for everything. I have a theory as to why Labour hates motorists. I may post it one day. It is jolly insightful, IM(not that)HO.

tailwindhome

Can't be bothered reading the whole thread.

Has the internet decided who's to blame yet?

greg66_tri_v2.0

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Can't be bothered reading the whole thread.

Has the internet decided who's to blame yet?

[Chandler Bing voice]

Have you *seen* Twelve Angry Men?

[/Chandler Bing voice]

fenboy369

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Has the internet decided who's to blame yet?

I am guilty. Its my fault. Well the wife says it normally is, so why not this time?

In all seriousness, if that was one of my kids, I'd most likely be in a cell by now. But more detail on the collision is needed. Did the car hit the little one? Did the little one fall off whilst taking avoiding action?
Whatever, it seems a little calous to just drive away. Although, as I have kind of said above, I would be in a proper mood, so I wouldnt blame somebody for locking their doors and waiting for me to calm down...

fnegroni

I was taking my son to school today. He is 3 1/2 y.o., and still needs his stabilisers, but he is able to ride at some speed now, which makes the pavements near the school a not as comfortable option anymore.
The main reason this morning was not the cars coming in and out of drive ways or side streets, but mums and other kids.
There were just too many of them to ride safely on the pavement, so we opted for the road.
I was beside my son, and at some point he got a bit unstable and nearly fell. We had to stop and I checked he was ok: some one came to assist us although we didn't need to be, so I said "We are ok, thank you", to which she replied "There is a car behind you", and I replied "Well, they can wait.".
We started off again, we cycled the few yards to the school gate on the road, indicated and got to the school's path.
Again, lots of mums so I asked my son to get off the pavement and ride on the road.
Well, I had to put myself between him and the many mums (*and* kids) who would simply just step off the pavement into the road, without looking, and would quite simply step into me or my son's way without even stopping.
Usually we get to school a bit earlier so we don't need to deal with all of that, but it really showed how cycling is still just a niche in our society, and potentially, in some circumstances, it is us cyclists who are the most vulnerable road users.

DonDaddyD

Greg66 wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Greg, from the first post she was aware of the child as she stopped the car and waited until the parent had attended to and gotten the child out of the way.

But then she drove off. It's right to ask why.

Really? Not at all sure the account by the OP is that vivid, or detailed.

After making sure my boy was okay I was amazed to find the driver ignoring us, after she clearly saw what had happened. She made no attempt to communicate with us and pulled away once the road was clear.

I get from that (a) boy falls; (b) parent checks boy; (c) driver is continuing as if nothing happened; (d) parent concludes driver has seen what's happened (and that's the nub of it: how does he conclude that?); (e) driver ignores parent and child; (f) driver drives off.

(e) and (f) are as consistent with the driver not realising that she's made contact as they are with her being an evil callous b!tch. And since carelessness is more prevalent than evil, without more information, I'd say the latter explanation is more likely.

You're doing that lawyer thing that makes me loose sight of my original point...

I've put in bold and red why I think she was aware of the child and parent. The OP states that "she pulled away when the road was clear". This indicates that she was aware of the child and parent as they were blocking her way. What we don't know is if she knew she hit the child, which is why I wrote:

But then she drove off. It's right to ask why.

Greg wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

I side with no one on this purely because in this situation my most likely reaction upon seeing my child felled by a car, of any speed, would be raged fuelled.

So I'm left wondering how did this woman not become aware of a frightened, swearing or sobbing, angry parent stopped beside or behind their car?

Nail on the head, but perhaps from a different perspective to the one you intended.

Nope I intended it that way (can I have a job) to raise the question about the OP's initial reaction, which isn't described in their their first post. Detail is missing.

Example: Had it have been me then my most likely initial, instinctive and base reaction would be try and tip the car over, which may have resulted in the driver driving off. To safety. (Would I have reported it then?)

ETA: I've only just appreciated this irony: we no live in a society where no one takes any responsibility for anything, and no one bears any blame for anything that goes wrong (and I don't count "Sorry for any inconvenience caused" as an acceptance of blame).

Except motorists. Who are basically to blame for everything. I have a theory as to why Labour hates motorists. I may post it one day. It is jolly insightful, IM(not that)HO.

Society is a measure of controls. One of those controls is the establishment of victims identifiable through generalisation. In the transportation facet of society it's motorists.

spen666

DonDaddyD wrote:

....

I've put in bold and red why I think she was aware of the child and parent. The OP states that "she pulled away when the road was clear". This indicates that she was aware of the child and parent as they were blocking her way. What we don't know is if she knew she hit the child, which is why I wrote:
...

You have made a huge assumption there DDD ( without any evidence either way)

you are assumiong the driver's way is blocked by the child/ father.

The OP does not say this. He could have been saying her way was blocked by traffic on the main road and she drove off when that allowed her to.

spen666

DonDaddyD wrote:

....

Greg wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

I side with no one on this purely because in this situation my most likely reaction upon seeing my child felled by a car, of any speed, would be raged fuelled.

So I'm left wondering how did this woman not become aware of a frightened, swearing or sobbing, angry parent stopped beside or behind their car?

Nail on the head, but perhaps from a different perspective to the one you intended.

Nope I intended it that way (can I have a job) to raise the question about the OP's initial reaction, which isn't described in their their first post. Detail is missing.

Example: Had it have been me then my most likely initial, instinctive and base reaction would be try and tip the car over, which may have resulted in the driver driving off. To safety. (Would I have reported it then?)

....

Perhaps the rage fuelled father was the reason she did not stop. She may have feared for her own safety if she stopped and for that reason drove off and reported it at the local police station

Be careful about jumping to conclusions about what people's motives are

Beechy1

Firstly, my little one is fine, thanks for your concern and very helpful posts. Apologies for flinging open a can of worms.

I wanted to keep the first post brief so didn’t go into too much detail. I didn’t expect it to be scrutinised so carefully!

To clarify for those of you interested, it was a very slow impact; the car was moving forwards and came to a halt as the front bumper made contact with my son’s bike. He was swerving slightly, his handlebars hit the front of the car, he tipped over and landed on the path in front of the car, his legs partly under the bumper. Two moving objects came together at the same time and stopped. I’m not interested in apportioning blame, it was an unfortunate accident and I don’t feel the driver was being particularly careless. For me, the issue was that she didn’t check afterwards to see if he was okay.

After I moved my son and bike away from in front of the car, she pulled further forward across the pavement to give way to traffic. While she was waiting, after I realised she wasn’t interested in us, I looked closely into the window to get eye contact until she reluctantly gave it and said, ‘Don’t bother seeing if we’re okay, will you’. Seconds later by the time she drove away, I was shouting at the moving car.

I think ‘Always Tyred’ made a good point when they said ‘Nothing will come of it, but it might give the driver pause for thought the next time, if she gets a phone call or a visit from the rozzers.’

The driver will likely say she (a) stopped and waited long enough to see if we were alright, or (b) was too intimidated to get out of the car or open her window, or (c) that she thought my son fell off in front of her... or any combination of the above. Whichever way, I didn’t get any witness details so I guess its my word against hers and isn’t going anywhere.

Thanks very much, but forgive me if I don’t return to this thread, its starting to do my head in!

tailwindhome

fnegroni wrote:

There were just too many of them to ride safely on the pavement, so we opted for the road.

Why not go for option 3 and walk for a bit

fnegroni

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

fnegroni wrote:

There were just too many of them to ride safely on the pavement, so we opted for the road.

Why not go for option 3 and walk for a bit

Because it was not an option: the road was available, and my son doesn't find pushing a bike with stabilisers any easier than cycling, infact a lot more difficult and unsafe.
Plus, have you actually tried pushing a bike past a group of mums intent on chatting with fellow mums while their kids jump in to the road?
And did you completely miss out on the bit where we were cycling on the school's road and these pedestrians were literally walking all over the place?
In essence, there was no 'option 3'.

tailwindhome

fnegroni wrote:

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

fnegroni wrote:

There were just too many of them to ride safely on the pavement, so we opted for the road.

Why not go for option 3 and walk for a bit

Because it was not an option: the road was available, and my son doesn't find pushing a bike with stabilisers any easier than cycling, infact a lot more difficult and unsafe.
Plus, have you actually tried pushing a bike past a group of mums intent on chatting with fellow mums while their kids jump in to the road?
And did you completely miss out on the bit where we were cycling on the school's road and these pedestrians were literally walking all over the place?
In essence, there was no 'option 3'.

Not sure I really understand how walking with the bike isn't possible, but hey I wasn't there so what do I know.

fenboy369

Hey Beechy, if its was me, after reading your updated post, I would report it to the Police. If only because she drove off. Had she stopped and got out and been concerned, then I'd say, ok, laddy is fine, bike is ok, car is ok, no problems. But to just drive off. Sheesh, makes me angry just typing this. :evil: I'm off for a walk.....

fnegroni

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Not sure I really understand how walking with the bike isn't possible, but hey I wasn't there so what do I know.

Try being a 3 year old, with a bike with stabilisers.
You will find it very difficult to push your bike without getting your feet stabbed by the stabilisers, plus the number of mums and kids, who I kid you not, were completely absent minded.
I do this trip regularly (have been for nearly a year), I am not new to the problem. Was just mentioning it.

Stuey01

I think the OP should report it. I'd be outraged in his situation.

tailwindhome

You will find it very difficult to push your bike without getting your feet stabbed by the stabilisers,

Hadn't factored that in.

My son is just at the same stage, too fast for the stabilisers and too scared to take them off.

Can I suggest, and I'm only trying to be constructive, that you take off both the stabilisers and pedals and let him use it as a balance bike. Easier to stop and put a foot down if he needs to. When the confidence and balance comes put the pedals back on.

Still in negoiations with my boy over this, I don't know if he's just afraid or holding out for a new bike.

lost_in_thought

fnegroni wrote:

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Not sure I really understand how walking with the bike isn't possible, but hey I wasn't there so what do I know.

Try being a 3 year old, with a bike with stabilisers.
You will find it very difficult to push your bike without getting your feet stabbed by the stabilisers, plus the number of mums and kids, who I kid you not, were completely absent minded.
I do this trip regularly (have been for nearly a year), I am not new to the problem. Was just mentioning it.

Hold on, hold on... your kid is 3 and he's going to school and riding a bike? At 3? 3?

:shock:

davmaggs

I have to say to the OP that you should report it to the Police. Your clarification was really helpful as I was going with the benefit of the doubt school of thought, but for the driver to not even get out and check is extremely mean spirited.

It was a minor shunt, and as you say all was well in the end. However I would hope that the Police would be interested in someone failing to stop when a small child is involved.

I assume that the car is now parked back in that driveway so the plate and address can easily be submitted?

greg66_tri_v2.0

Beechy1 wrote:

To clarify for those of you interested, it was a very slow impact; the car was moving forwards and came to a halt as the front bumper made contact with my son’s bike. He was swerving slightly, his handlebars hit the front of the car, he tipped over and landed on the path in front of the car, his legs partly under the bumper. Two moving objects came together at the same time and stopped. I’m not interested in apportioning blame, it was an unfortunate accident and I don’t feel the driver was being particularly careless. For me, the issue was that she didn’t check afterwards to see if he was okay.

After I moved my son and bike away from in front of the car, she pulled further forward across the pavement to give way to traffic. While she was waiting, after I realised she wasn’t interested in us, I looked closely into the window to get eye contact until she reluctantly gave it and said, ‘Don’t bother seeing if we’re okay, will you’. Seconds later by the time she drove away, I was shouting at the moving car.

That's a lot clearer. Report the b!tch.

tailwindhome

Greg66 wrote:

That's a lot clearer. Report the b!tch.

No more Henry Fonda?

greg66_tri_v2.0

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

That's a lot clearer. Report the b!tch.

No more Henry Fonda?

Now Peter Fonda in Ghost Rider. The sublime to the ridiculous in one generational leap.

secretsam

Report her. The sickening c0w. Heartless b!tch. A visit from the Rozzers should place a tiny nugget of consideration into her dark and evil soul. Especially if they decide to batter her to a sloppy pulp with their batons :twisted: .

fnegroni

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Still in negoiations with my boy over this, I don't know if he's just afraid or holding out for a new bike.

Same here: and we all know negotiating with a 3yo is like negotiating with a terrorist ;-)

I do think your suggestion makes sense, I just wonder if it will ever happen...

fenboy369

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Still in negoiations with my boy over this, I don't know if he's just afraid or holding out for a new bike.

Just when does n+1 start?