Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

Fecking scooters during the school run

125 replies

KneeHighScooterBruises · 12/06/2015 18:21

Due to family circs, I've been picking up my nieces and nephews for the past 2 weeks and will be picking them up for the foreseeable future.

The main gate is at the top of a hill, on a quite narrow but quite busy pavement. The road is also quite busy, especially at pick-up time.

Every single day groups kids have been whizzing about on these scooters- IMO it's a case of when an accident happens rather than if.

One child went straight into the back of my legs today and the mother looked as if it was my fault!

AIBU to ask my sister or BIL to raise it with the school? Or to mention it myself?

OP posts:

Prettyinblue · 12/06/2015 23:07

Ummm let me think, what is more dangerous scooters or cars?

Yet it's the scooters that get a hard time on mn.

holdyourown · 12/06/2015 23:09

Err right so the whole UK population should stop using cars so that kids can whizz about on scooters perhaps we ought to ban pedestrians too, just in case they get in the way

Orangedandelion · 12/06/2015 23:11

Yanbu it drives me nuts.

halfwayupthehill · 12/06/2015 23:16

I am with noparking...we have no car.. There are no buses to the two schools so it is a longish tiring walk for the 4 yo

lydiarobinson · 12/06/2015 23:20

YANBU. There is an idiot near me who allows her kids to fly around corners on their scooters. It never seems to occur to her that there might be an elderly person, or anyone really, in the line of her little precious's scooter who could be sent flying.

Sallystyle · 12/06/2015 23:24

I fucking hate the things, I really do.

So many idiot parents who let their kids ride their scooters super fast without watching them. So many scraped heels. One knocked my daughter into the side of the road. Parent just looked and said nothing.

I have raised it with the school but unsurprisingly there is nothing they can do out of the school gates. I see far more children recklessly riding their scooters than I do children who are well supervised with them.

lydiarobinson · 12/06/2015 23:26

And that 'spoilsport' comment is ridiculous.

Sallystyle · 12/06/2015 23:35

Ummm let me think, what is more dangerous scooters or cars?

Yet it's the scooters that get a hard time on mn.

Ummm let me think.

Cars belong on roads

People belong on pavements

I am at very little danger from cars when I am walking as long as I cross the road safely. Children on bikes and scooters on the pavement are more of a danger to me than cars ever will be when I am walking down the road.

Scooters belong on parks. Or gardens or anywhere where there is a lot of empty space. Not on narrow pavements where over a hundred children and their parents are trying to walk.

Notso · 12/06/2015 23:56

We have 750 at our urban school. Let's ban scooters and bikes and insist on cars.
If only there was another way for humans to move around without the use of those pesky wheels...

worridmum · 13/06/2015 00:06

The only thing I would like to see is a change in the law were parents are laible for damage / injuries they cause (in the UK if a 8 or 9 year old or younger smashes your windows , badly injures you from scootering for example you have ZERO recourse as you cannot sue a child and at the present you cannot sue the parents of said child ether like you can if say a adult knocks you over etc)

My work collegue was knocked over by a child on a scooter and she broke her arm and could not work for about 3 weeks (needed surgery) she had zero recourse for damages etc even though the parents in this case were fairly loaded because the law does not hold parents responsable for their childrens actions and the parents of said child knew this and told her to jog on like they do in other countries

TendonQueen · 13/06/2015 00:33

It's a sign of the changing times that you see kids on them in supermarkets. My parents would never have let me do that, and neither do I let my DS. It's a shop, not a playground. Yet I see other kids on them banging into towers of stuff and narrowly missing people. It's very anti social.

zoemaguire · 13/06/2015 08:22

Notso, do you need to walk a couple of miles to school and back with a four year old, four times a day? Scooters are popular not because parents are lazy and entitled but because they are a genius way of getting small children to go long distances at a speed compatible with everyday living. I'm betting at least some of the ranters here use a car to get their darlings to and from school. As for the 'if I'm on the pavement I'm at no risk from cars' comment, my mind boggles. We have to cross at least 15 roads to get to school and we have had near misses from idiot fucking car drivers going at ridiculous speeds down quiet side streets.

TheCatsMother99 · 13/06/2015 08:31

YANBU

I flippin hate those scooters. They're everywhere!

I went to the pub with friends for lunch yesterday & there was a young child on a scooter in the pub who then barged in to me whilst I was carrying a tray full of drinks. I feel like I'm forever dodging a scooter on the pavement (or in shops!).

merrymouse · 13/06/2015 08:34

We have to cross at least 15 roads to get to school and we have had near misses from idiot fucking car drivers going at ridiculous speeds down quiet side streets.

That is one of the reason people are objecting to children travelling on scooters at speed far from their children - cars.

I don't think most posters object to a child scooting slowly next to an adult.

Mopmay · 13/06/2015 08:36

Scooters in pubs is not appropriate but that's for the manager to address with parents.
Scooters for school run keep a lot of cars off the roads as they are twice as fast as walking with young ones.
Parents who don't teach DC to scoot safely is a different subject

merrymouse · 13/06/2015 08:39

far from their children parents.

Notso · 13/06/2015 09:10

My 'little darlings' walk everywhere zoemaguire. Yes it can be annoying when they are slow and tired and I need to get back for the older two finishing school. I always take a pushchair with buggyboard for the three and four year old just in case though usually it's just shopping or coats that go in it.

Like I said earlier I don't find scooting suitable or 'genius' because to do it safely and be mindful of everyone else using the pavement, it's not fast or particularly fun due to the hopping on and off and stopping and starting required.
My children can scoot very, very fast when allowed to do so, faster than I can run to keep up with them much to their amusement.
My younger two are much faster on scooters than they are on bikes and once they can ride that fast on their bicycles they are supposed to ride on the road. Not many people feel comfortable with 2,3 and 4 year olds riding on roads because they aren't mature enough to be safe and they are not mature enough to be safe on the pavements either.
My kids school does road safety sessions for infant aged children during which they are told it is not safe to scoot ahead or run ahead they need to walk with an adult preferably holding hands. It seems to me it's the parents who need these sessions more than the children.

BringMeTea · 13/06/2015 09:17

Here, here Notso. OP YANBU.

Yarp · 13/06/2015 09:18

Scooters are a bugbear for me too. The problem is, tiny children with no judgment or road sense are able to ride them without supervision.

I used to take the scooter away from my own children when they showed they weren't being thoughtful to other people.

Old people, in particular, just can't get out of the way quick enough

They are a boon to parents but I think too many parents show no thought for other people

Mrsjayy · 13/06/2015 09:18

I live near a primary and they all seem to scoot i saw a mum take the scooter out of the car for her child so they scooted a foot to the school gate i have heard 3 scooting accidents in the last fortnight 1 kid crashed into a wheelie bin they are dangerous imo whats wrong with having 2 feet on the ground. Dont get me started on scooters in shopping centres

Yarp · 13/06/2015 09:20

zoe

Nope, never use a car. Don't drive. It's possible to dislike scooters and poor car driving

GerbilsAteMyCat · 13/06/2015 09:20

Far more dangerous are cars that mount the pavements!

soverylucky · 13/06/2015 09:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Fromparistoberlin73 · 13/06/2015 09:23

Yanbu

But not much you can do - as worra said it's that car reversing issue that I see as highest

MERLYPUSSEDOFF · 13/06/2015 13:13

One of the grand parents doing the school run was knocked into the road by a year 6 on a scooter. She was with a reception child at the time who had to translate for her as she did not have fluent english. ( she called mum on her mobile and other Asian parents were about).The little child was beside himself seeing Granny laying in the road.

I heard later she had chipped her hip bone. She also broke her glasses and split her lip which caused a lot of bleeding. I think that's what frightened the child so much.

I can't stand the way some of the kids seem to think that they own the pavement. There are so many 'Stupid cyclist on a Pavement' threads. How is this any different.

My best friend is profoundly deaf. She'd never know if a scooter, or anyone for that matter, was behind her.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5