School Zone Malarky

Year 10? I would hope that they have learnt some road sense long before
then.
I remember the cops doing a brake test for us all when I was about 8. He
showed us a marker and got a few of us to stand (on the footpath of course)
where we thought a car would stop after braking at the marker at 50km/h.
Being 8 years old pretty much everyone stood within a couple of metres of
the marker.
So he then jumps in the car, drives back down the street, lights and sirens
blazing, doing a full lock up to make a point, and ended up halfway down the
street. It made a very strong point, one which I still remember vividly now
25 years later. As I said previously, no-one ever got run over at my
school, and I attribute that to good education rather than stupid speed
enforcement.

 

They need education and that is something that is badly lacking in this
country. The typical kneejerk reaction fix is bullshit and does nothing to
prevent accidents. Natural selection is what is taking place now.

When you start teaching them at a very young age it becomes second nature to
observe what is happening around them, the element of mistake is therefore
greatly reduced. That is the point.

Looking both ways for instance isn't something I'm consciously deciding to
do, it's instinctive because it was drilled into me at a young age first at
home and then when starting school.

No wonder kids lack respect and common sense these days, they aren't taught
either anymore.

 

Neither can be 'taught'.

Poeple of all ages learn to respect others by observing those around
them. If your kids have no respect, look to their role models.

I'm assuming you mean 'respect' rather than 'fear' or 'conformity', both
of which can be drilled into people, but neither of which should be
confused with 'respect'.

If you define 'common sense' as 'thinking like I do' then you are doomed
to disapointment.

You seem to be arguing that because 'someone else' is supposed to teach
kids about road safety, you shouldn't have to be delayed for a few
seconds in your all-important journey.

Perhaps what we need is *both* better road safety education and
regulations that reduce their exposure to risk.

Road safety education is not (an probably never will be) perfect. Speed
zones around schools are *sometimes* inappropriate, but your suggestion
that one should be boosted so that the other can be removed for your
convenience reveals a lot about your own version of 'respect' and
'common sense'.

Moike

 

(bugger!) 22 miles away.

 

I got almost the same demo just a few months ago at a HART
course (8/9? I don't remember).

Instructor Phil did the same thing. "Here's the cone where I'm gonna
throw the anchors out, go stand where you think I'll stop from
[40|60|80]Km/h"... (He made several runs).

We were a *bit* grown up, so we stood (what we thought was) a long
way down the paddock. Phil went up the road, took his CBR600 up to
40/60/80, threw out the anchors, and metaphorically killed us stone
dead over and over again. What is the sound of jaws dropping? There
were a lot of lessons learned that day.

As you say, it's an *excellent* eye opener. It's a lesson that
will stick with me, and it's already served to increase my
following distance by a lot, car and bikes.

GB

 

Good to hear, it should be taught in every Gov school but AFAIK its rare.
A mate who teachs yr12 at Niddrie Sec College has been suggesting for
many years that driver ed similar to what he was taught in California
should be taught in Vic but there has been little interest in the idea.



Daryl

 

Seeing something like that is very educational but I wonder if the
police would be allowed to do that today.
It would be banned because if there was accident the Govt would get sued.



Daryl

 

Still missing the point.
Why do I bother?

 

DRIVER ED YOU NUMBSKULL LEARNING TO DRIVE A FUCKING CAR

 

Main problem is cost.

 

The population of California is about 180% of the population of
Australia. The road fatality rate of california is over 210% the road
fatality rate of Australia. Why would we aspire to their system of road
education?

Nev..

 

There is a NSW school zone that has flashing lights on it just round the

The school zone on the Princes Highway at Kogarah does NOT have flashing
lights but DOES have speed camera lights that go off constantly. Nearly
every time I go past this speed camera during school times I see someone get
done for speeding here. And I dare say that the NSW government will NOT put
flashing lights here because it makes an absolute fortune in revenue from
these speed cameras (one north bound and one south bound). The rediculous
things about this INFAMOUS school zone is that it is on a major highway that
is used by a large majority of people getting to work from the south and the
speed drops from 70km/h to 60 km/h then 40 km/h with the north bound speed
camera just around the bend hidden from sight until you are under it. And if
you came from Rocky Point road then you didn't get any 40km/h sign at all
(but the RTA fixed that up after it was realised one day). Whats more, there
is fencing down the middle of this highway so children can't just run across
and the road and lastly, there is a pedestrian overpass across the road. Now
you tell me if this is a purpose setup revenue generating device or not?

I have never been caught here because I live locally and know of it. But I
know many people who have been caught by it. It is so easy to forget that
the time is just into the school zone time. I get around this problem by
ALWAYS driving at 40km/h through here but that is rediculous. Flashing
lights would alert people to the time and they would slow down. But the NSW
government does not want people to slow down as then they don't get all
their speeding fines money.

Dennis

 

Jeez..when was YOUR day? In MY day, teenagers were driving around at
breakneck speeds in HT Holdens, and the only time I ever got hit, was
when doing a paper run, and I KNEW it was silly to be pushing the barrow
alongside the parked cars in the rain, but there you go. DId I go
whining to my parents? No. It was my fault, and I knew/know better.
Would LOVE to see the stats re kids hit by cars on weekends/ after
school hours near home/ play areas vs at school.
Personally, I think the whole school zone is a knee jerk reaction to a
problem manily dreamt up by anal controlling parents.
Seems I hear about more kids dying on school excursions/camps than
crossing school roads........

Regards, Andrew.

 

Because it works.
Imagine their fatality rate without it



Daryl

 

G-S wrote:

There were a lot about in those days. In form 2, 25% of my class were
called Michael. We made liberal use on nicknames. Yes, it was a Mick
school.

Moike

 

Hear, hear.

And exactly how is a driver concentrating on his/her speedometer rather than
the road, less dangerous than one concentrating on the road and not
bothering with absolute speed regulation (given the assumption that such
astute driver would be driving to the conditions of the road)?

- Bob.

 

Awww come now; all those mums wandering around tarted up to the hilt in an
effort to prove themselves more fashion-conscious (or more seductive) than
the other mums? Mmmm... ;-)

- Bob.

 

School zone speed limits have nothing to do with road conditions.

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

You missed my point entirely, perhaps that is the point.