To get mad at Mums that cross on the red man!!

[duke]

Our school is on a the corner of a busy main road and we have waited ages for a pelican crossing. I'm waiting for the green man teaching the ds's to cross safely and other Mums run across on the red man with there kids and I'm saying to mine, loudly on purpose, wait for the green man. It's driving me mad. One boy yesterday had one foot on the road one on the pavement him mum shouted at him to get back then said right quick run. Is it me or is that really bad road safety teaching!!!! Phew rant over.

[abitcoldupnorth]

See it all depends. Yes with a busy road when the adults are having to run with children to get across, YANBU, but we have a crossing in our local town where it's often red with nothing coming (long straight approach so we can see plenty) so we always walk on the red.

[Sparklingbrook]

If there is no life or death emergency why cross on the red? It doesn't pass a good message to DC yours or any others watching.

You wouldn't go on red in your car even if it was clear in all directions.

[thebody]

Yes totally agree op, it's inexcusably bad to do this with children

people need to remember that the toddlers and young children they are rushing across the road on a red man are all too soon crossing the same road as older children and teens and doing just as mummy did...

Some get away with it and some don't!

[Sparklingbrook]

Exactly thebody. But then nobody seems to have any patience when getting anywhere.

[Trazzletoes]

YANBU. How are their children going to learn road safety?

[MammaTJ]

I agree with you OP, it does not teach good road safety.

[addictedtolatte]

your not necesarily safe crossing on a green man. my dad and grandson got knocked down crossing on green man. there both fine now thank god. i teach my kids to use good old common sense and not rely on technology to guide them

[Fakebook]

Ever since I've had children I always cross when the green man shows. We even walk the long way to school to cross at the lights further up the road.

[lurkerspeaks]

YANBU

However away from the school I would curb any thoughts you had about mentioning it to your fellow parents or, even worse, people without children.

Where I live has masses of roadworks. One of the main local roads is totally closed but the pedestrian crossing is still there.

I nipped across on Sunday morning when it was Red. I was on my own. I'm a fully fledged adult. A helpful Mother took it upon herself to bereate me for crossing the closed road on a red as it set a bad example to her children.

I decided she was a loon.

[Sparklingbrook]

addicted I hope that doesn't extend to driving.

Sorry to hear about accidents when the green man was flashing though, but they must be v rare.

[shabooby]

We always cross on the green man, one time we were waiting with another mom and child and they crossed on red, my dd (2.5) said very loudly "that's naughty that is" the mom turned round and said "yes it is, don't you ever do it" . Dd seemed very pleased with this

[gordyslovesheep]

Just going by the green man isn't teaching them to cross safely - you should be teaching them to judge when it's safe to cross

there wont always be a 'man' or a crossing - if nothing is coming and 'man' is red it's still SAFE to cross

[lurkerspeaks]

Oh, and I would have thought it was engaging if it was the child but adult - adult it was a bit patronising.

[Moominsarescary]

I have never seen the crossing near us change to the green man, don't know what's wrong with it but I've been using it for 3 months now and no change. I just wait until the traffic stops

[germyrabbit]

i use common sense too, if there are no cars i cross, i don't press the button if the road isn't busy either (shock horror)

[Tweetinat]

YANBU at all. I rarely go anywhere with crossings these days, but even pre-dcs when I was younger I would always wait at a crossing for the green man if any children were there waiting. As an adult I may have chosen to cross, but always felt that I should be setting an example. .

[ll31]

teach them to cross safely, ie judging traffic,not just relying on lights. also other parents crossing methods r their own business... yabu

[claraschu]

In Germany, you see adults waiting alone at a totally empty road (no cars anywhere in sight) for the light to turn green.

We are not in Germany. We teach our kids to cross when it is safe, not when the light tells you it is safe.

[TiredBooyhoo]

far better to teach DC to depend on their own observations to tell whether it's safe to cross than to depend on a green signal when the green signal has no idea if there are cars there or not. teach dcs to use their eyes and ears and only cross when they are sure there are no vehicles.

[Sparklingbrook]

When there are lights there rely on them, when there aren't make a decision and cross safely? Seems quite sensible.

[thebody]

Well I would have thought that teaching road sense and looking went hand in hand with crossing with the green man.

Only a moron would JUST rely on the green man but only a moron crosses on the red man, stupid example to children.

Addicted, so sorry to hear that, my dd was also badly injured in a crash, she had her seat belt on but it broke, still tell her to wear it though.

Its all about probability of safety and survival.

[DonnaRoll]

A few months ago I was going towards a busy crossing near where I live, the green man was on for someone already at the crossing, I was maybe a couple of metres away.

For some reason I had a feeling that instead of trying to speed up and cross (the green man was still on) to wait until it had gone red and then for the green man to appear.

A couple of seconds later a car came speeding down the road and went through the red traffic light. If I hadn't of waited myself and 2yo DD would of been hit head on by this car.

I'm always wary of these crossings now and wait until the traffic has stopped. The zebra crossings seem to be the worse for cars not stopping even though they can see people waiting to cross the road.

[thebody]

Donna, did you get the number, bastard!

[TiredBooyhoo]

"only a moron crosses on the red man, stupid example to children."

not if there are no cars on the road and they tell the dcs what they are doing. of course if they are someone else's dc at the crossing then you have no obligation to explain to them why you are making the logical decision to cross at the red man when the road is empty of traffic.

[TiredBooyhoo]

basically, it's not always safe when it's green and it's not always dangerous when it's red. use common sense and teach your dcs to aswell.