In all seriousness, so sensible awnsers please...

ianh · 22 Apr 2019 at 17:49

Bear said:
A bit like, if that driver wasnt driving those kids would still be alive? Rather poinless really

Only until the next driver kills them. Kids and motor vehicles should be kept separate, and until they are kids will die, it's simple.

builder22 · 22 Apr 2019 at 17:50

no age limit to ride a horse or drive a horse and cart on the road either....'it's a right, not a privilege'

the laws don't really tie in with modern roads/cars/mentality

cheesyboy · 22 Apr 2019 at 17:53

Em3bbs said:
I guess it depends where you live. I grew up in the suburbs and would be out on my bike all day at 9, but there were far less cars on the road. I wouldn't be happy cycling regularly round the roads where I live now with all the traffic parked on the sides, let alone let my 9 year old loose on his own. So unfortunately it's just large parks with roads for now.

The pavement only extends about 50m in either direction from our house. If he's not cycling, he'd be in the road longer by walking. Or stuck in the house due to his parents' fear.

We chose to live here with kids, it's on us if it's not suitable for them to have a proper childhood. The fear should be our burden, not theirs.

Jean-F · 22 Apr 2019 at 17:59

It appears from the posts that two children were in an accident involving a car, while they were out cycling.
That’s terrible, no matter how it happened, or who was to blame, but unfortunately I don’t know the circumstances.
I moved my cursor to the link, but saw that it was from The Daily Mail, so I moved on.
I don’t believe even the date on that abominable rag, so I just regret what happened to the kids.

Dis86 · 22 Apr 2019 at 18:04

Jean-F said:
It appears from the posts that two children were in an accident involving a car, while they were out cycling.
That’s terrible, no matter how it happened, or who was to blame, but unfortunately I don’t know the circumstances.
I moved my cursor to the link, but saw that it was from The Daily Mail, so I moved on.
I don’t believe even the date on that abominable rag, so I just regret what happened to the kids.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-ne...ospitalised-in-galway-collision-38036384.html

There you go. Less scummy paper!

Bear · 22 Apr 2019 at 18:06

ianh said:
Only until the next driver kills them. Kids and motor vehicles should be kept separate, and until they are kids will die, it's simple.

It doesnt follow that they would be killed by another driver. There are plenty of sensible drivers that dont drive like morons in inapproriate places and more if they saw a child riding a bike, would slow down and give them plenty of space.

I agree with the amount of cars on the roads these days that it is dangerous for children to cycle on the road and that there needs to be investment in cycling infrastructure so kids can enjoy riding bikes in safety. As it stands kids are allowed to ride on the pavements.

FoxEye · 22 Apr 2019 at 18:09

Kids get hit stepping out into the road without looking properly.

We going to ban kids from crossing the road next?

Accidents will always happen.

UberTiger · 22 Apr 2019 at 18:13

gardai believe that the BMW vehicle being driven along the Ballinasloe to Ahascragh road lost control and struck a tree.

The vehicle then collided into the children, before being flipped on its side from the impact of the collision. The BMW car was visible on its side with a ‘caution children’ sign close to the scene of the tragedy."

I don't think being a licenced cyclist would have helped anyone in this instance.

Em3bbs · 22 Apr 2019 at 18:20

cheesyboy said:
The pavement only extends about 50m in either direction from our house. If he's not cycling, he'd be in the road longer by walking. Or stuck in the house due to his parents' fear.

We chose to live here with kids, it's on us if it's not suitable for them to have a proper childhood. The fear should be our burden, not theirs.

What a patronising reply to a post where I was agreeing with you. I can assure you my kids have a 'proper childhood', it's swings and roundabouts and about balancing. They are in a great school, have great friends and, thanks to where we are located, will have great opportunities when they are older. They also cycle 50m away to the local park, you made it sound like a lot more than that. Hopefully your son will develop better social skills than you appear to have.

cheesyboy · 22 Apr 2019 at 19:26

Em3bbs said:
What a patronising reply to a post where I was agreeing with you. I can assure you my kids have a 'proper childhood', it's swings and roundabouts and about balancing. They are in a great school, have great friends and, thanks to where we are located, will have great opportunities when they are older. They also cycle 50m away to the local park, you made it sound like a lot more than that. Hopefully your son will develop better social skills than you appear to have.

2nd paragraph wasn't really aimed at you, just a general comment on my philosophy .

1st para was just explaining more on our circumstances , for context like you'd given (conversational): that he'd be limited to only 50m if we restricted him to pavements. His friend he visited is probably about 300m up the road.

dowie · 22 Apr 2019 at 19:43

Orionaut said:
Is it considered acceptable for somebody below (And not only below, but well below) the legal age for responsibility to operate a vehicle on the public highway?

(Not only that, but are able to do so without having to go through any form of formal training, examination and licensing)

Because they're not posing much danger to others, ditto to being able to walk along or cross roads as a pedestrian.

Various motorised forms of transport do however require licensing from mopeds to cars to HGVs etc..

neil_g · 22 Apr 2019 at 20:25

ianh said:
If they weren't on the road, no amount of stupid drivers could have killed them, that's obvious.

ianh said:
Only until the next driver kills them.

If there are that many dangerous drivers on the road that are incapable of not mowing down a cyclist (or horse and rider as someone mentioned above) then that raises quite a serious issue with the standard of driving, no?

But I guess while you can get in a car and seriously injur or kill someone on a bike/horse and get away with pretty lenient sentancing nobody will take care when encountering a cyclist on the road.

Dirk Diggler · 22 Apr 2019 at 20:59

@Orionaut

Any right minded person would agree that Kids should not be on the road, but the cycling nazis will argue with you no matter what you say.

To be honest, I'd ban all cyclists from the road.

ianh · 22 Apr 2019 at 21:13

String said:
@Orionaut

Any right minded person would agree that Kids should not be on the road, but the cycling nazis will argue with you no matter what you say.

To be honest, I'd ban all cyclists from the road.

Oh oh, you've done it now, you've called down the wrath of the self-righteous cyclist upon us all :eek:

SexyGreyFox · 22 Apr 2019 at 21:15

ianh said:
Oh oh, you've done it now, you've called down the wrath of the self-righteous cyclist upon us all

What about the self righteous motorist?
Oh they're already here.

Dis86 · 22 Apr 2019 at 21:27

SexyGreyFox said:
What about the self righteous motorist?
Oh they're already here.

Zing!

cheesyboy · 22 Apr 2019 at 21:32

String said:
@Orionaut

Any right minded person would agree that Kids should not be on the road, but the cycling nazis will argue with you no matter what you say.

To be honest, I'd ban all cyclists from the road.

I ******* hate cycling. Hurts to urinate if I've been on a bike more than about 10 minutes. **** that.

'any right minded person would agree kids shouldn't cycle on the road' is a bit of a stretch though! Used to cycle all over the place when I was 10; that's what kids are supposed to do!

cheesyboy · 22 Apr 2019 at 21:38

It's probably also worth pointing out that there are, according to a quick Google, about 4 times as many cyclists on the road now as there were when I was 10 (in 1992), but cyclist fatalities are lower.

So it's not actually more dangerous than when we were kids. That's a myth

Dirk Diggler · 22 Apr 2019 at 22:09

A seven year old child should not be on the road, it's utter madness. If cycling on the road was not permitted in this day and age, anyone who suggested it be introduced would be laughed at. Roads are for cars.

cheesyboy · 22 Apr 2019 at 22:14

String said:
A seven year old child should not be on the road, it's utter madness. If cycling on the road was not permitted in this day and age, anyone who suggested it be introduced would be laughed at. Roads are for cars.

My 5.5 year old cycled 10 miles on the road with my wife yesterday. Cars driven by not-psychopaths tend to be pretty respectful of kids cycling.