scootering on the pavement

[madeitagain]

On Mother's Day I joined some friends for lunch. They have two children each. One has a child slightly younger than my own (who is 4 and 1/2) and an older one (7) and the other has a 7 year old and a young child who is in a pushchair.
After lunch we all went to a park that was a few blocks away. All the children except the young one (in a pushchair) had a scooter. My child is competitive and quite impulsive. I always keep a very close watch on him when he scooters on the pavement. I was horrified to be part of of group who just basically let their children go for it along the pavement. They had to stop at the kerb and wait for us and to be fair they did.But I was overwhelmed with anxiety and so incredibly stressed. I made my four year old come and scooter beside me. He wasn't at all happy with the other children scootering along with no apparent supervision from the other two mothers. I was livid that both my child and I had been put in such a (to me dangerous situation). I did say something to the other mothers. But basically I was so furious with them.

I really don't think so and gave a list of other uses in my post, who do you think I was wrong to include?

People using mobility scooters?
People running?
People jogging?

Thinking about people walking dogs or pushing/pulling trolleys take up room like scooters, surely it is about everyone being considerate and sharing the space?

It's considerate and your responsibility to supervise your children scooting or running on the pavement. The other activities are usually done by adults who are responsible for themselves.

I bloody hate scooters. Imo most parents don't teach children that there is such a thing as scooter etiquette.

Every day I meet going in the opposite direction a mother with big double pushchair, plus two outrider scooterists. The kids on scooters hurtle along and shout "EXCUSE ME!!!" at everyone else on the pavement, forcing them to jump out of the way. Last week one of the little blighters actually scooted straight into my dog. Fortunately dog is extremely placid but nonetheless he was a bit shocked and a different dog may have retaliated.

I gave the mother a Paddington hard stare but she just stuck her nose in the air and powered on with her mahoosive pushchair.

I really wish I had the nerve to make a citizen's seizure of dangerous goods...

Scooters at speed are an issue because small children may get into an unfortunate situation. A runner or jogger can stop in a way that a bike or scooter cannot, surely it's quite simple? I do not think scooters take up space but uncontrolled children on scooters are a menace.

Morgause
while I have every sympathy for the lady who was knocked over, and I don't think kids should be allowed to scoot along recklessly, I can't agree that running jogging and mobility scooters are any safer.

Around here the mobility scooters are an absolute menace, and your lady would have been knocked over by one if it had been passing at the point that she opened her gate. In fact a fast runner would have knocked her over. if the visibility is so bad that that she couldn't see anyone until the point she was knocked over, then I would suggest that even a fast walker would have knocked her down.

Anyone using the pavement in an irresponsible way is..well.. irresponsible.

There are large groups of teenagers piling our of school here too and they are often not looking, pushing ans shoving, messing around etc. Should they all be accompanied by a responsible adult?
In order to teach out dcs to be considerate adults we have to start teaching them at some point, The rules for my dc are the same if they are running, walking or scooting.

She would have seen an adult running or someone on a mobility scooter, but the child was tiny and couldn't be seen. And was scooting very fast. His mother was some way behind.

To teach DCs to be considerate is to teach them that the pavements are not a playground and, if they must use scooters, to scoot only at walking pace. And not to run. That's what they can do in parks.

The fact that teenagers and others behave badly doesn't negate your responsibility to supervise your child.

yes Morgause, as I said:

Anyone using the pavement in an irresponsible way is..well.. irresponsible.

It's an issue I'm very sensitive about. It was horrible to see and has had such a long lasting effect on the elderly couple.

On the parents of the child as well because they are having to find money for a solicitor and then (probably) pay out a huge amount in damages.

I'm interested to hear about the family being sued after the poor old lady broke her hip. How can the family be sued? I'm thinking it's just an accident, no one did anything on purpose. I'm not looking to cause an argument, just ignorant to legal stuff. In our town I can't think of many kids that don't have scooters or bikes. I think the key thing is considerate use of them, there is no way a 5 or 6 year old would ride their bike on the road, it would be a death wish! Would be interesting to see where we all live ie towns, villages or cities and see if certain attitudes to scooters and bikes are prevelant in any particular encironment

The solicitor's case is that the mother was negligent in allowing the child to scoot so fast and unsupervised. The family are hoping to recover the costs of the old man having to go into a care home and his wife is also in one now, recovering. They may never be able to return to their home, al because of an avoidable accident.

There are several witnesses who saw what happened and the solicitor thinks they have a good case.

If the child had been properly supervised the old lady wouldn't have been injured.

People running and jogging are still pedestrians

i think there is a huge difference between a 4 and a 7 year old. other mothers rightly were confident that their children were safe, and they were. No doubt the other 4 year old had learned their rules from their brother.

you did the right thing, but i dont think the others were wrong.