Accident in East Dulwich Road ( February 23 2012)

[woodycheese]

A young schoolboy has been knocked down whilst crossing the road near Locale in East Dulwich Road. Paramedics are at the scene right now. I was informed by a Community Officer that he had run out into the traffic without looking where he was going but that's all I know at the moment. I hope he will be ok.

[sweetgirl]

my work involves driving, everyday i see foolish people, adults & kids.... running out into the roads. i see adults WITH children running into the roads to catch a bus... its ridiculous some of the things i witness every day.

i think kids need to be trained from a young age how to deal with roads.... esp busy ones!!

it pisses me off because they always try to blame the driver!! the pedestrian is to blame as well at times....

[jocher]

Its now time some traffic calming was in place. When the flats were built and the playground modernised I asked for a zebra crossing or something similar and was told that someone would have to be killed first! Along this strip there is a playground, bus stops and shops and the distance to cross the road from there is about 100 yds in one direction and nearer 200yds the other way. Its a temptation to dodge between the traffic and I've seen lots of people doing it with kids, bikes, buggies. Between Goose Green and Kings on the Rye if the traffic isn't at a standstill then it is a speedway. Crossings are needed. The playground was packed on this lovely sunny day and thankfully most of the kids were oblivious to the accident. I shall be writing to the council.

[woodycheese]

I would like to see a zebra crossing put there as I am always crossing the road with my dog but I'm sure they will argue that there is a traffic light just along the street and people should use that.

Let us know how you get on jocher.

[James Barber]

How terribly sad.

I recently read research that showed that children can't judge vehicle speeds above 20mph. That means they may well have thought they had a genuine opportunity to cross when they didn't. Critising kids for having the pyschological limits of being children is at best pointless.

East Dulwich Road near those shops desperately needs improving to make crossing the road safe.

This stretch of road is the boundary between two political wards - Peckham Rye and The Lane wards.

The cabinet councillor for transport Barrie Hargrove is also one of The Lane ward councillors.

If you feel strongly about this please do email his [email protected]

I'll email him in a moment to ask if he already has plans for this stretch of road, I seem to recall plans were added to the stratgy some time ago.

[ratty]

What happened to a borough wide 20mph limit?

[benmorg]

sweetgirl Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> my work involves driving, everyday i see foolish

> people, adults & kids.... running out into the

> roads. i see adults WITH children running into

> the roads to catch a bus... its ridiculous some of

> the things i witness every day.

> i think kids need to be trained from a young age

> how to deal with roads.... esp busy ones!!

>

> it pisses me off because they always try to blame

> the driver!! the pedestrian is to blame as well

> at times....

What a thoroughly tactless and inappropriate post.

[David A]

I think you're being a bit tough on 'sweetgirl' there James.

Surely training children to cross roads safely is in order to help overcome their inherent limitations?

I was walking past as the ambulance arrived and the incident was within 50 yards of the crossing and between two parked vehicles, one of which was a Transit with blanked out windows.

Whether a child can judge speeds above 20 mph, or not, is somewhat moot if they haven't been taught to use safe crossing areas in the first place.

Just to add, the guy at the news-agent seemed to think it was an adult but either way it was a pretty ropey place to cross.

There may be a case for crossing between Crystal Palace Road and Peckham Rye, especially since Tesco has opened, but I guess it's a question of priorities.

I find the two fatalities at the junction of East Dulwich Road and Peckham Rye, where there are already crossings, of more concern.

[Fliss]

I don't think sweetgirl's post was tactless or inappropriate. As a driver she spends more time than most on the roads, and she is simply highlighting the fact that busy city roads are very dangerous, pedestrians aren't always aware of what it's like for drivers of vehicles as road users, and as a parent I couldn't agree more that we have to train our children from a very young age to be traffic-aware and be safe as pedestrians.

[LaineyB]

I agree sweetgirl's post was stating what anyone who spends hours in their car a day will know.

People have no respect or

Fear of the road anymore

The poor girl who died at the junction at the bottom of East Dulwich Road has taught people nothing...people still lay flowers on the post for her so it must still be in people's minds.

As a driver we have to constantly watch out for anything...a bicycle, a motorbike, a pothole, being tailgated and adults/children assuming we are them and are going to stop or have the ability to stop

In time

Even if driving at the speed limit time it's always on the brakes side

[benmorg]

Fliss Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I don't think sweetgirl's post was tactless or

> inappropriate. As a driver she spends more time

> than most on the roads, and she is simply

> highlighting the fact that busy city roads are

> very dangerous, pedestrians aren't always aware of

> what it's like for drivers of vehicles as road

> users, and as a parent I couldn't agree more that

> we have to train our children from a very young

> age to be traffic-aware and be safe as

> pedestrians.

I think it's tactless to log on to an internet forum to blame the victim of a road accident about which the poster knows nothing. It's all the more tactless when the victim is a child and the parents may be readers of the forum. I nearly ran over a 3-year-old boy in East Dulwich myself recently and it wasn't anybody's fault or negligence - accidents can happen on the road at any time.

[Fliss]

No benmorg, she wasn't blaming the victim in this case, she was just saying that people tend to assume it's careless drivers who cause this type of accident, whereas if fact some pedestrians are pretty careless, too. She wasn't blaming anyone, and she was speaking generally, not suggesting anything about this particular case. To me she sounds like a very careful and responsible driver who goes in fear of having such an accident despite her best efforts to be aware of everything happening on the road in front of her.

[Fliss]

And what LaineyB said.

[????]

How about we hope the poor boy's ok rather than tactless squabbling eh?

I'm sure sweetgirl didn't mean it to be tactless but not sure this was really the place to start a debate on Pedestrians/drivers etc etc

[benmorg]

Fliss Wrote:

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> No benmorg, she wasn't blaming the victim in this

> case, she was just saying that people tend to

> assume it's careless drivers who cause this type

> of accident, whereas if fact some pedestrians are

> pretty careless, too. She wasn't blaming anyone,

> and she was speaking generally, not suggesting

> anything about this particular case. To me she

> sounds like a very careful and responsible driver

> who goes in fear of having such an accident

> despite her best efforts to be aware of everything

> happening on the road in front of her.

As the OP states, we don't even know if the child who was run over is OK - I hope he is. Given the lack of information, it would be tactful to avoid ranting about careless pedestrians being the cause of accidents.

[Chocolate]

Hi, my daughter and her friend witnessed the accident, the poor boy had run out in the road without looking, he was a boy from Harris Boys. What my daughter heard was he broke his leg and had damage to the head, lets just hope and pray he's a fighter.

[Alexthecamel]

Might this be good time to suggest that anyone who has any connection to local schools lobbies them to change their uniforms- just to allow/ encourage the children to wear brighter clothes. I know that yesterday's accident happened in daylight, but until a few week's back driving at dusk was ridiculous- all the schools out between 3-4 and all the kids dressed in black or navy- at the schools' dictate.

Best wishes of course to the poor lad and his family.

[Saila]

does anyone have an update on how he is?

[castielbrooks]

oh really

[BrandNewGuy]

I feel very sorry for the poor lad who was knocked down, but we really need to think hard before paying for another crossing. How far is Locale from the crossing at the lights at Crystal Palace Road? 60 or 70 yards? It seems a bit much to put in another crossing that close.

Having said that, the brow of the road at that point is very deceptive and even careful drivers need to be extra vigilant. Unfortunately, so do pedestrians. But the UK road casualties map for 2000-2010 shows just four pedestrian incidents involving slight injury (no serious injuries or fatalities) on that stretch between Tesco and the lights at Crystal Palace Road, so the statistics would appear not to justify extra measures.

[the-e-dealer]

Every Day I see idiot Motorists dropping their kids off at School parking on Zig Zags Double Yellows EVEN ON THE PAVEMENT

Blocking Sight lines and making it bloody dangerous for everyone. However we have no idea what happened yet in this accident and jumping to blame anyone or defend anyone is pretty premature if not immature. ISTR that there was a plan to put another crossing in on that street. Just a question for discussion Why should cars always have the priority? I hope the lad is ok and the Driver too. Any idea which School he was heading to?

[Lishyloo]

Why do well live in a blame culture people seem to forget that accidents do happen

[wonderwoman]

It is really sad to hear this, I wish him a speedy recovery. Whilst accidents can happen,I think we need to indeed do more to teach about road safety. I was hit by a car when I was 11 running for a bus after school and recall how it took me a good while to gain confidence again to cross a road by myself,I was so lucky I didn't get hurt. My kids are primary school age and we try to teach them to cross the road safely when we go out,stop look listen, not running around outside near traffic and use crossings to cross safely rather than shortcuts. I recall a friend saying that in Germany he was astounded to see that even when the roads are empty people still wait for lights to change before crossing the road. I know at school they do cover road safety as a topic but not enough I think. Not sure what they do in Secondary school and I think statistically teenagers are the most likely to get hit by a car I heard so surely that should encourage more to be done to target that age group as well on road safety. Hope they do put a crossing in that area though, relying on data on reported incidents as an incentive to do something doesn't sound right.

[BrandNewGuy]

wonderwoman Wrote:

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> Hope they do put a crossing in that area

> though, relying on data on reported incidents as

> an incentive to do something doesn't sound right.

It does to me :-) Injuries and deaths due to road traffic accidents simply don't go unreported. The money needs to be prioritised, so it should be used where most needed. Four incidents in ten years is not, in this sense, a priority.

[DJKillaQueen]

I'm with BNG here. I sincerely hope the lad is ok but at the end of the day he made the mistake of crossing without looking. No amount of traffic calming or dedicated crossings will stop poor judgement.