Dave P

Loads of stuff flying around about speeding at the moment, a lot of it directed at reducing child deaths on the road, so I thought I'd put in my fourpenneth worth.

Firstly
When I was a kid we had the Tufty Club (I was a member) and the Green Cross Code Man. Now I have kids of my own, and the only road safety advice they get is from the parents. Nothing at school, no public service ads during kids t.v., unyet I'm guessing at least triple the cars on the road.

I would be interested to see how the statistics divided those deaths between kids run over on the road vs kids run over on the pavement.

Secondly
Fines for Jaywalking. Get pedestrians off the roads. How often do you see a parent drag a kid across a road with a zebra crossing 10 meters away. Hardly good education.

Dave

DrEvil

Dave, some good points, when I was kid they still had the tuffy club + the adverts on TV.. Not anymore it seems..

Yes I agree Pedestrains do take the **** sometimes...

Rgds, Alex

Markus

hey, I remember Tufty and Green Cross Code man, though he did lose a bit of cred amongst my friends and i when he crossed over to the dark side

On a serious note, kids do need educating about this as not that many parents give a damn. I do, and we are forever drumming into the kids that they must respect the road as it will kill you. Strong i know, but to me it's the only way. i'd rather have them fearing the road than arseing about in it and getting killed.

RB170

Have to disagree on the public service bit Dave....

At the moment the character of choice for the cross the road safely advert is a HEDGEHOG.....HELLO!!! How many hedgehogs get killed on the road every year??? LOADS...so why not choose something that never gets run over like an elephant or something.

On the fines for jay walking bit...Definitely fine the gits. I ride a bike to work during the summer and the number of pedestrians that walk out in front of me is staggering.

Mike

JayDee

My daughter was a member of the Tufty club One day in Scotland (where mercifully the roads were pretty deserted she suddenly launched herself out across the road.

We grabbed her and remonstrated

Her response -

"Its OK, I'm a member of the Tufty Club"

mind you she was only three

JD

Andrew Timmins

I believe the Tufty Club was banned for being racist and too middle class.

1961 TUFTY CLUB. The story goes that Elsie Mills, an employee
of RoSPA, was having lunch when she saw a squirrel hop up
to the kerb, look around for traffic, and then hop across the road.
This was the inspiration for "Tufty" and within a short time a
whole range of materials had been produced. The Club proved
very successful with literally thousands being started
throughout the UK but is has come under attack in recent years
for its use of animals and its largely middle class background.
Most notably it was banned in some London boroughs for
being racist (red versus grey squirrels!)


[This message has been edited by Andrew Timmins (edited 06 February 2001).]

boomer

DaveP,

i agree totally. For years i have moaned (sadly not directly to HMG) that we need more Public Information Films of the "Tufty" kind. I drive to work at 07:00 in the morning, and it terrifies me the number of kids (usually delivering papers) who are riding their bikes, WITHOUT LIGHTS, ON THE PAVEMENT, ACROSS ROAD WITHOUT LOOKING etc. Guess who would get the blame if same little kid got run over by a big bad man in a dangerous sports car.

Bring back Tufty, Peter Pervert and the rear fog lights, don't fall asleep and run into the back of a lorry, don't dazzle - dip your headlights etc.

mb

AllanB

Definitely should have fines for padestrians. Was in the car with my mum today and some stupid cow just walked out infront of her. Not on or near a crossing and to make things worse she was looking at us for about 5 seconds before she stepped out, Hello anyone there ??. Luckilly the brakes did the job.

Can't beleive people can be so stupid.


AllanB

boomer

... and just to _prove_ how sad i am, i am in possession of two videos - "Charley Says..." and "Charley Live!", both from Network/Sound And Media Limited.

Between the two are OVER TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY Public Information Films (sadly most of which i actually remember).

Some of the ones specific to road safety include:

Take Death Off The Road
Road Hog - Don't Be Rude On The Road
Pelican Motorist
Pelican Pedestrians
Motorway Fog
Under 5's - Playing Near The Road
Under 5's - Don't Dash Into The Road
Jo And Petunia - Worn Tyres
Junction Lanes
Caravan Instability
Green Cross Code - Tony Gets It Right
Flying Motorbikes
Dazzling Man
Zig Zag Pedestians
Traffic Shapes
Don't Dazzle
Green Cross Code - Close To The Edge
Clunk Click - Loose Objects
Splink
Pedestrian Crossing
Think Bike
Running For A Bus
Pelican Crossing - Song
Clunk Click - Shopping
Peach And Hammer - Old Man
Keep Your Distance
White At Night
Sam - Ice Cream Van
Wear A Helmet
Dashing Into The Road
Turning Right
Drink And Drive
Snap Into The SeatBelt Habit
Think Bike
Children Watch Us Cross
Separation Distances - Chariots
Seatbelts Launch
Seatbelts Progress
Road Test Pedestians
Pedal Safety Song
Green Cross Code (1)
Green Cross Code (2)
Green Cross Code (3)
Seatbelts - Success

... and isn't it interesting that NONE of them talk about SPEED!?!?!

Obviously they have already sorted out all other possible causes of accidents, leaving just the one nowadays

For any old codgers out there, i would thoroughly recommend the Charley video(s)!

mb

hooksin

Dave -
Agree totally that some kids just don't look when they cross, I have made sure that my kids (11 & 10) ALWAYS check both ways etc,& every time they go to the shops I always remind them "be careful, watch the roads bla..bla...bla, I'm sure they are sick of me sometimes. As a parent you will never stop worrying though.
My penneth worth as well.....


Alan - Have you noticed that when someone walks out in front of you, they ALLWAYS give you that extended look as if to say "What are you & your car doing on this road when I am crossing", makes me think they don't own a car.

BOB.T

Hey,
I was a little frightened of the green cross code man! I didn't get on with Incredible Hulk either, maybe it's something to do with green?

I get really annoyed when you've stopped at a crossing and people walk between the stopped cars cos they can't be @rsed walking to the actual crossing. Wouldn't railings be a good idea?

What is it with supermarket car parks aswell? Is there some indestructable force that comes over people as they enter? People drive their cars in, giving way to no b*gger and yet when they get out to walk into the shop they expect everything to stop around them!

Bob

SimonH

There needs to be education at all levels and at all "sections" of society: pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.
The fact of the matter is that if you flatten some urchin in the street that's going to be with you for ever no matter who's fault it was. The onus on us, as drivers, is to drive "defensively", safe in the knowledge that some quarterwit is going to throw themselves under your wheels at any moment. There can be no excuse, for example, for caning your car through a 30mph zone. If you behave as an alert and responsible driver then if someone does hurl themselves under your car at least you know that you did everything you could to prevent the accident.
I agree however that there does seem to be a dreadful lack of road safety information available via the mass media these days. I imagine that there can't be much money in road safety so it isn't worth putting ads on kids tv in prime time. What road safety info there is is often biased unfairly in one directon; there was an ad last year where a driver knocked down some doris and her ghost stood there next to him saying "you killed me, you killed me" etc. What we didn't see was the other ghost tapping her on the shoulder and saying "It's a road you f**kwit - that's where cars go, not pedestrians.....".
Let's see a few more adverts with good ol' Alvin Stardust (well, perhaps not him) pointing out the basic differences between roads and pavements.

PS. As a slightly childish afterthough...since getting the scoob I take great joy in driving at exactly the speed limit in 30 and 50 etc zones. The great thing about this is getting to the national speed limit sign and booting it; this really p155e5 off all the muppets who've been right up your exhaust all the way through town. Like I said, childish, but grrrrrrrrrrrrreat