we've received the following (suitably redacted) complaint after a motorist (of a certain age) hit a child who was getting her wellies out of her Mum's car as it was a snowy day (but not crossing the road). I'm struggling to think of anything we can say to him apart from slow down, use your eyes & brain (despite already being the self-proclaimed worlds best driver), drive according to the conditions.........oh and perhaps report to plod the next time you run a child over
Any other words of advice for him or us?
Good Morning,
Due to the weather conditions this morning, I made the decision to take my wife to XXXXXXXX. This decision resulted in one of the most traumatic experiences of my entire life!
Whilst driving past XXXXXXXX School, a child of probably six or seven years of age ran out in front of me from between two parked cars. She was no more than four or five feet in front of me when she did this and therefore impact was inevitable.
Fortunately for this child and her family it was me driving, I say this for three very good reasons:-
1: Having spent my entire life in the motor industry and driven almost every type of vehicle there is, I am acutely aware of a vehicles capabilities and make sure it is always being driven within them.
2: I am extremely aware of the obvious dangers whilst driving near schools, especially at drop of and collection time, which is why I was travelling at less than fifteen MPH.
3: I have always been blessed with extremely quick reactions, so much so that another parent came over to tell me that he was shocked that I had managed to brake so hard in such a short space of time.
I’m confident this would not have been the result if the vehicle involved had been an LGV or someone driving more recklessly.
The reason for this email is for me to communicate in the strongest possible terms the need for an official safe crossing place to be installed on the road outside of the school as soon as possible.
The cyclist?
They don’t even pay road tax.
I blame the parents.
I wondered if it might be GW but there's no mention of a BMW 330d
1: Has he driven the Batmobile
2: What is drop of time or is he just reaching for comedy by having the second f drop off?
3: Is he Bruce Lee?
Tell him you've forwarded the email to the police and that it is now a police matter.
another parent came over to tell me that he was shocked that I had managed to brake so hard
I find a child wedged under the front wheel reduces stopping distance quite a significant amount.
Email back saying that part of your business insures the drivers on a popular TV car show.
They are currently looking for a new driver to join their team and, based on his credentials, he would fit the bill perfectly.
Sounds like a pompous arse, but he is probably just trying to come to terms with his guilt so I'd cut him a bit of slack.
If only he’d had a dashcam then we’d all be able to see how he = AWESUM
sounds like a pompous **** but probably has a point.
children do stupid stuff near roads. if the child didn't run out into the road, how did he hit her?
I work for an insurer and have spent the day dealing with an injury claim for one of the world's vainest people, she wants plastic surgery for an injury where three independent plastic surgeons have said the risk of surgery far outweighs the small hardly noticeable scar she has from the accident, and that no way should she have surgery.
Her response, "you don't understand, i am beautiful, and i feel less stunning now with this scar (it is 3mm on her chest), i need to feel beautiful and everytime i look in the mirror, i will no longer think i'm perfect!"
I struggled to keep a straight face........
Calculate the number of children who have crossed that road daily for the number of years that the school has been open, vs the number of them that have been hit by cars. Point out that as he's the only person to have hit a child, it indicates that the solution may not be a crossing.
motorist (of a certain age)
Hang on... I thought Prince Philip had handed over his license already...
Was the child injured? Or just his Rover 400 damaged?
Just write back suggesting that he follows the example of our beloved Prince Philip and calls it a day.
On another note, what is the stopping distance for a slightly ambiguous driving thread these days? 🙂
I struggled to keep a straight face……..
You can get plastic surgery for that.
Corbyn.
Drac
Subscriber
Corbyn.
Has Binner's stolen Drac's iPad?
Ok the driver in question has built himself up to be a driving god, but other than that, what have they actually said that is that bad?
Was the child injured? I'm assuming that because someone actually came into contact with a moving car that the incident was reported to the police?
I'm assuming the OP works at the school that the child is attending?
scar (it is 3mm on her chest)
Pics or it didn't happen. Ahem.
so he didnt actually hit the child?
FIF the driving god..
Unfortunately for this child and her family it was me driving, I say this for three very good reasons:-
1: Despite having spent my entire life in the motor industry and driven almost every type of vehicle there is, I still lack awareness of a vehicles capabilities and unsure if it is being driven within them.
2: I am extremely aware of the obvious dangers whilst driving near schools, especially at drop off and collection time and appreciate that even 15mph is too fast.
3: I have always thought I had quick reactions, but another parent came over to tell me that he was shocked that I had hadn't managed to give enough space to brake safely in such a short space of time.
I’m confident I wouldn't have hit her if my vehicle had been driven less recklessly outside a school.
The reason for this email is for me to communicate in the strongest possible terms the need for me to exercise greater care on the road outside of the school as soon as possible.
C Ockwomble
Sorry to contradict most on here but a child is very capable of stepping out in a split second in front of a car as this guy has pretty much explained. You can drive to the conditions, you can take into account the weather etc but if a kid steps out from between 2 cars into the path of an alert motorist, driving at any speed in those conditions and is trying to be a safe driver and he hits the kid, the kid is too blame.
He even suggests a way of your school ensuring it limits the chances of this happening again, although tbh I can’t see how a crossing would help. More benefit getting all the lazy parents and kids to walk a bit further to school.
Calculate the number of children who have crossed that road daily for the number of years that the school has been open, vs the number of them that have been hit by cars. Point out that as he’s the only person to have hit a child, it indicates that the solution may not be a crossing.
This.
You could narrow it further by pointing out the child has crossed the road X times since starting at school, and only on this day was it an issue...
Email just comes across as a pre-emptive non admission of guilt.
the kid is too blame.
The kid is probably to blame for stepping out in front of the car.
The kid is absolutely not to blame for the drivers self aggrandising attitude.
Apart from the self-indulgent nature of the letter, he may have a point. He isn't blaming the child, he is simply saying that he thinks a crossing might be a good idea.
Or you could point out that if he was going faster he would have passed that point before the child stepped out.......... In the same that if he had never been born.........
Or just ask him for the police indecent number from when he reported hitting the lass.
impact was inevitable
Sounds like they did hit the kid then. In which case, I'd have to assume that some kind of injury (even a graze bruise) was sustained in which case it is the law to exchange details with other reasonably interested parties, and if that isn't done then the police.
I'd be reminding them of that. Other than that - I might give it a few days and then a call to the local police as well just to 'check if you need to do anything else having received the letter'
Sounds like a dick, but I give him points for driving at less than 15mph and taking extra care whilst driving past a school, a lot of the other parents at my Daughters school couldn’t boast that, even in snow. Well, once their own kids are safely past the gates anyway.
Kids appearing between parked cars is one of those nightmares anyone wants to avoid and if you take him at his word the he tried to mitigate the risk about as much as anyone does that I’ve witnessed.
Assuming that someone is always to blame is one of those really recent things. Accidents do happen, and again, if you take him at his gloriously pompous word, it’s ‘one of those things’ that could have been much worse.
Or just ask him for the police indecent number
Picking up a few bits from the responses:
* Yes, 'we' are the school
* Wasn't planning on getting an angry mob with torches to pay him a visit, but more to check I wasn't missing anything obvious before getting back to him
* New school site; relocated from other side of the village and only opened in January
* Access, parking, road signs & markings all been very recently scrutinised and agreed with highways authority, planning dept and plod. carriageway reduction & 'give way' features to allow for a segregated cycle lane has obviously proven popular with the local driving gods
* Yes he hit the child, no he didn't called plod
* Child thankfully not injured
* No witnesses to corroborate his tale, but child came from car parked on 'school side' of the road and was getting wellies out of the boot, so not (or shouldn't have been) crossing the road as he says
* EDIT - we also have a secure, covered cycle or scooter space for every child and encourage all to use them or walk as part of a shiny new travel plan
Man: -
- Writes dickish email
- Understands appropriate safely considerations and describes driving with consideration and caution
STW Massive: -
- Sharpen pitchforks
- Get the lynching rope handy
Somehow this seems just a little holier than thou. Blokes driven safely just written a letter that makes him look a bit of a dick. Cut him some slack FFS.
All very odd. A "extremely aware" driving god with "extremely quick reactions" doing "less than fifteen MPH" is somehow unable to spot a potential hazard until they are "no more than four or five feet in front" and "impact was inevitable".
Something doesn't quite fit there.
I mean, he is probably right in that the child was at fault for stepping into the road (and the parent/carer for letting them), but if he was half the omnipotent driving god he professes then there wouldn't have been an issue.
Man driving past school surprised to find child in road shocker.
It's really simple, is this. Kids do not teleport. He should be driving at a speed where he can stop in the distance he can see, including the off-chance of kids running out from between two cars. He may well be a driving god, an Eagle-Eye Action Man and "only" doing 15mph, but this was stll demonstrably too fast if he hit a kid outside a school.
He might have a point about requiring a crossing - which is a problem for the council not the school, no? - but it's unlikely to have solved the problem of either welly-wearing or running into the road.
Wasn’t planning on getting an angry mob with torches to pay him a visit,
Not trying to kick it off (we aren't near page 4 yet) but the title of the thread and this statement are not exactly consistent
* Yes he hit the child, no he didn’t called plod
Doesn't the school have a statutory responsibility to do so? After all he left the scene of an incident - that is an offence in itself, no?
but child came from car parked on ‘school side’ of the road and was getting wellies out of the boot, so not (or shouldn’t have been) crossing the road as he says
If driver wasn't driving on the pavement, how did the two meet? Something off about this part of the story.
Why is parking in the road outside schools still allowed? Just creates opportunities for kids to not be seen.
but this was stll demonstrably too fast if he hit a kid outside a school.
Kids can appear from between parked cars quickly enough that any speed can be too fast. So ban cars driving outside schools, or ban cars parking outside schools. Of course if you ban the former the latter becomes impossible.
Ban wellies. This all happened because of the wellies.
I assume you live locally to surfmatt?
child came from car parked on ‘school side’ of the road and was getting wellies out of the boot
I struggle with this too - surely he'd have crushed the kid against the back of the car if this version is correct, though why he was driving straight at the rear of the car is also a mystery. I suspect mummy is protecting Tarquin by massaging the truth.
Truth, as ever, will be somewhere between the two versions but a parent ought to be supervising the (presumably excitable due to snow if you're in the bottom 2/3 of the nation) kid a bit more closely
Careful if ever you drive in France, Moose. In that exact situation you would be responsible even if a pedestrain crosses illegally. Even if the light is green at a pedestrian crossing the driver is expected to anticipate pedestrians crossing and be in a position to be able to stop. If the victim is under 16 or over 70 you will be liable for full damages unless you can prove the victim was committing suicide.
Little humans are predictably unpredictable.
I have a problem with this ego rather than his driving, to be honest. Several years of claims handling in my younger years taught me that drivers are not always at fault.
Fair cop, my personal view is he is a self-entitled cockwomble, not necessarily for his driving (although his claim of doing 15mph is of course his word) but more so for deciding to tell us what a driving god he was, how the girl he hit was lucky it was him and of course that despite everyone with a professional understanding of all the issues deciding otherwise he demands a zebra crossing / lollipop lady because he knows better.
Re cars parking near the school, I'm sure we all know the maximum length of 'SCHOOL KEEP CLEAR' zig-zags is 43metres per access, so despite having had an extra set added beyond what was mandated this still leaves beyond 20m either side of the access as not restricted for parents to park.........no matter how much we have done to make walking / cycling / scooting as easy as possible.
Not saying child didn't wander out from directly behind the car she had been in, we all know they haven't got the same roadcraft as adults but equally wouldn't bet against her having been startled by the sound of a skidding car as perhaps he jammed on the anchors realising the cars in front of him were stationary. Who knows?
Re notifying the rozzers, I got the email this afternoon and will be doing so tomorrow
Doesn’t the school have a statutory responsibility to do so? After all he left the scene of an incident – that is an offence in itself, no?
1. Not if he provided his details to anyone at the scene who may have needed them (the parent of said child being the most likely).
2. Not if (as the OP says*) nobody was injured (and no other vehicle or property was damaged).
How do we know he didn't provide his details to the police anyway?
*I'm amazed that there was no bruising at all.
Why is parking in the road outside schools still allowed? Just creates opportunities for kids to not be seen.
Whilst it would pain me to admit there might be a grain of validity behind the driver's letter - if yellow zig zags are not the solution perhaps double yellows are (even if restricted to 0830-0930 and 1500-1600 or whatever the times need to be).
Careful if ever you drive in France, Moose. In that exact situation you would be responsible even if a pedestrain crosses illegally. Even if the light is green at a pedestrian crossing the driver is expected to anticipate pedestrians crossing and be in a position to be able to stop. If the victim is under 16 or over 70 you will be liable for full damages unless you can prove the victim was committing suicide.
Little humans are predictably unpredictable.
Meh, that's what I pay insurance for, can only do so much not to endanger others. Some are just oblivious to it through stupidity or in the little humans case, inexperience.
