School Run

Trawlerman · Post by **Trawlerman** » 27 Sep 2009 18:14

How about jacking in the unpaid sideline of kids' chauffeur on the head.
Good for the heart, good for the lungs, good for the environment, good for stress levels, your pocket / purse, blood pressure, waistline...

Give it a go... Go on...You know it makes sense.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » 28 Sep 2009 16:41

How much of a problem is this in practice? I always see quite a lot of kids walk to school when I walk to the station in the morning.

Eagle · Post by **Eagle** » 28 Sep 2009 17:46

Could Mayor Boris also withdraw the free bus travel for children . This is used for one or two stops and they take over the bus.
Free Travel possibly for 2 miles and over ( in my day it was 3 miles and over ). All children should be able to walk 2 miles .
This was the biggest mistake of our former Fuehrer of Brent.

mummycat · Post by **mummycat** » 28 Sep 2009 19:43

Quite often waiting for the bus in Sydenham means being late for school!

There's a new scheme: Walk on Wednesdays (WOW)http://www.walktoschool.org.uk/content/wow_scheme.php where pupils receive different badges every month for walking every wednesday. This is a good scheme, although I hear that some parents are still dropping their children off at friends houses closer to school and getting the other parent to walk them!

Paddy Pantsdown · Post by **Paddy Pantsdown** » 28 Sep 2009 19:57

Bike to School! Get fit, get bike sheds (useful for other purposes too).

Dangerous? Well not if you make protected room for them on the road. Other countries do it very successfully. It also teaches kids basic road skills missing from many of their immediate four wheeled peers.

PP

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 28 Sep 2009 22:12

Paddy Pantsdown wrote:Bike to School! Get fit, get bike sheds (useful for other purposes too).

Dangerous? Well not if you make protected room for them on the road. Other countries do it very successfully. It also teaches kids basic road skills missing from many of their immediate four wheeled peers.

PP

perhaps if many cyclists didn't break the law frequently then I'd consider it it a safer, and better, option.

Paddy Pantsdown · Post by **Paddy Pantsdown** » 29 Sep 2009 06:30

bensonby wrote:perhaps if many cyclists didn't break the law frequently then I'd consider it it a safer, and better, option.

Just a reminder Bensonby that school children are at real mortal risk on the road or on the pavement from cars, not other cyclists good or bad.

One wishes the police force did more to protect our kids from those that kill, and that is sometimes the parent ferrying them to school. If you want to see an appalling multiple and really dangerous contempt for the law please go and stand outside Sydenham High this morning or afternoon.

PP

Trawlerman · Post by **Trawlerman** » 29 Sep 2009 12:17

Feet? Legs? [bike or more directly foot on ground] What an idea...lets hope it catches on..many do seem to be catching onto the idea. Hope the novelty doesn't wear off.

Hmm...bus delays?... Traffic on the roads [including school run cars?!!] maybe something to do with this problem!!

But honestly...I think my point still stands.
Reducing car use [especially in town] is good for everybody...
{its , as they say, a 'no-brainer' !!}

Paddy Pantsdown · Post by **Paddy Pantsdown** » 29 Sep 2009 12:30

Sad to add from today's news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8280070.stm

No licence, no insurance, no conscience. The police have almost disappeared from traffic duty. Instead we have speed cameras which catch speeders with traceable addresses, not people who should not be on the road in the first place.

Making pavements and roads safe for walkers and riders is not a priority. No wonder people think themselves safer in a car making the situation even worse. How do we break this circle of despair?

PP

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 29 Sep 2009 19:45

Paddy Pantsdown wrote: No licence, no insurance, no conscience. The police have almost disappeared from traffic duty. Instead we have speed cameras which catch speeders with traceable addresses, not people who should not be on the road in the first place.

mybold.

what on earth are you blathering on about?

What about Operation Reclaim? - take a trip to Charlton Car pound to see how many vehicles are seized daily by the met off uninsured and unlicensed drivers.

Just because you are not aware of what the police are doing it doesn't mean that they aren't proactively taking these cars off the road.

take an example from Haringey: http://cms.met.police.uk/met/boroughs/h ... on_reclaim

zoltan · Post by **zoltan** » 19 Oct 2009 21:38

Our friends on the Se23 forum as well as criticising Sydenham Girls (the school not children, although one poster insists that they are all over weight) also suggest that we should be going out of borough. Before I start a more direct thread thought it would be worth seing what interest this post received.

zoltan · Post by **zoltan** » 19 Oct 2009 21:43

oh and going off thread, as regards to illegal drivers. My word the power of automatic number plate readers (CCTV that recognises plates) - no doubt to be followed by satelite surveillance. Almost nowhere to hide, if of course you are happy with big brother!

Trawlerman · Post by **Trawlerman** » 20 Oct 2009 10:26

Two thoughts...Driving at speed is dangerous and illegal. If you don't want to be fined...Don't do it. Lets not go down the childish Clarkson road...

Yes, there is a real problem with the potential abuse of 'Big Brother surveillance' ...That's why democratic accountability needs to be always in place and those with power should always be held responsible for the decisions they make on our behalf.

Eagle · Post by **Eagle** » 20 Oct 2009 12:34

Walk walk walk.
All children should go to schools in walking distance ( 2 miles or under )

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 20 Oct 2009 13:21

zoltan wrote:oh and going off thread, as regards to illegal drivers. My word the power of automatic number plate readers (CCTV that recognises plates) - no doubt to be followed by satelite surveillance. Almost nowhere to hide, if of course you are happy with big brother!

I can't really see how ANPR is "big brother" all it does is read information that is already out there and contact databases that already exist. If you are driving around in a (legally registered) car then you are already very tracable (quite rightly so). Noone is forcing anyone else to drive a car. It's just a far more efficient system than having a police officer radio up his or her control room everytime they want to check a car.

Paddy Pantsdown · Post by **Paddy Pantsdown** » 20 Oct 2009 13:37

ANPR doesn't always work. I guess you have never been a victim of:

1) A misread being sent a letter telling you that you ARE GUILTY of an offence even if it wasn't your car and you were not in the country at the time. Yes I did get out of it - but not without a great deal of effort. That was due entirely to the amazingly ignorant and needlessly rude and unhelpful people who operate the system (Capita?). Whatever we think of the police - outsourcing detection and judicial execution to private companies is unhelpful.

2) False numberplates. All the above in spades.

No problem in the thrity odd years before ANPR. Multiple problems since. And our masters want to make it worse?

PP

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 20 Oct 2009 13:50

I think you are getting confused between civil enforcement and so on (private companies) and the ANPR operated by the police. As you say, if "your numberplate" is seen doing something illegal then you will be contacted and are legally obliged to disclose who was using the car at teh given time. If it wasn't you.....or it wasn't your car then you tell them as much; it is up to any prosecution to proove that you are guilty. Not the othe rway around. As you say "you got out of it".

As for "no problem for the past 30 years" - how abou the problem of people getting away with crimes in spades?

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 20 Oct 2009 13:53

as for "I guess have never been a victim of numberplate fraud" - that is correct.

But I would wager that you have never witnessed a police ANPR operation first hand. I have. And I've seen every police officer engaged on the operation taken off the street within an hour because of the number of dangerous vehicles, vehicles involved in crime, or drivers committing offences that have been arrested/seized/fined and so on.... that simply wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for the ANPR camera.

Paddy Pantsdown · Post by **Paddy Pantsdown** » 21 Oct 2009 08:04

bensonby wrote:As for "no problem for the past 30 years" - how abou the problem of people getting away with crimes in spades?

And still are! My car was stolen. It was shown on the DVLA system as being "of police interest" (I checked) yet when it was clocked did the police take any action? Guess here. How do I know it was spotted several times? I have the enforcement tickets to prove it. Chasing the innocent not the guilty. Also when you get a ticket that should have gone elsewhere, do they try and chase the culprit? No interest.

Not just me. How about my wife's 80 year old Godmother in Wales who was pursued for congestion charges in London despite never having left Wales. Eventually she had to change her numberplate after having to swear stuff in front of notaries. Very intimidating at her age. Again the innocent suffering for this reliance on ANPR instead of traffic police with a presumption of guilt which is alien to what I thought was British justice.

PP

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 21 Oct 2009 11:10

again, it sounds like you are talking about civil enforcement rather than police ANPR.

I can guarantee that if a "vehicile of interest" or a vehicle with an appropriate PNC marker is clocked by police ANPR then it will be turned upside down on the spot.

When you say your vehicle was "clocked" I'm not quite sure what you mean. I'm assuming that it was spotted by, say, the congestion charge cameras not paying a fine (a civil enforcement matter - a static camera at that). What precisely could the police do with that information if it was passed on? - A stolen car was seen somewhere once. At best they could get a picture of a driver's face (not likely) and unless he's a known car thief that's not going to be much help is it?

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