AIBU to never allow scooters in residential area again?

[Anotherdayanotherpark2020]

My nearly 3 year old was a whisker away from being hit on the way back from school run today. Threw up when I got home. He's fast at scooting and goes a little way( 3-4 houses) ahead. Always always stays on the path and walks across quiet road with me. Today this car reversed straight off the drive in 1 go and missed him by a whisker on the path. Drove off and didn't acknowledge. Obviously looked once, assumed he'd stop/ was slow or didn't see him at all I don't know but didn't slow or check again and properly zoomed out. They had good visibility to the side we were approaching. He'd have been seriously injured at least if hit. I can't even think about it. Thank fuck he had his helmet on.

I asked why he didn't stop when I yelled and he said " I did stop but the brake isn't that quick. I was on the path, why didn't the car stop?" I just said he couldn't ever ride his scooter outside of a park again and carried him home in a state. His older brother has said he's not riding his scooter by houses ever again as it was scary to see :-(. I feel as I can only control my children not drivers this is the safest thing to do. It feels such a shame though. I don't even want to let them run on the pavement anymore :-(. Was I just being a really shit parent by allowing scooting or running in a quiet street on paths? My husband thinks it's the driver's fault and says just one of those things but I'm too scared to do anything other than slow walking holding hands with both......

Pavements are for walking on.

Simply cannot believe you let your children scoot fast along the pavement.

It's very unnerving for a person with poor mobility to hear wheels approaching on the pavement behind them, and then have children whizzing past, even if they do keep their distance.

I do feel you should rethink this, especially as it's put your DC at risk (I don't drive so can't comment on whether the driver was wrong, but even if the driver was wrong, that doesn't reduce the risk to your DC because plenty of drivers do reverse out of their driveways).

Hm, I think some answers here are extreme- 3 years old on reins / only allowed to exercise on the play park, to which they are pushed in a pram? That's more suitable for an 18month old. By three the majority of kids need to move more than that just to get some physical and mental stimulation. Some posters may have forgotten how different a young toddler and a pre schooler are.

Also wtf kids should t play in the street because "pavements are for walking on".

Narrow pavement outside the shop is for adults to walk on. Residential cul de sac with good visibility and grass verges is for kids to play on. Literally this is what they were designed for. None of us were there so we don't know which one the ops situation was closer to.

The driver WOULD have seen if they looked- they had a clear view out of their window and he wasn't close enough to them when they started reversing to be under the window line. I have the same car so well aware of visibility.

I can't really comment on whether this particular combination of driveway and car would have allowed the driver to see your child. However, there are plenty of driveways/cars where the driver wouldn't see your child until the last moment, and obviously they can't look in all directions simultaneously. So, I just don't think it's safe for your child to be scooting at speed along a pavement with driveways.

The second. We live in this road too- there's a green with kids playing football all the time and kids scooting/ biking all over.

It isn't safe to allow two year olds to be this far away from you on a scooter. Yes, the driver should have checked more carefully but I think it is very difficult to know what they could or couldn't have seen from the drive way. Being on a scooter or bike means having some awareness of people and cars. I honestly think he should be by your side when you are walking home from school or anywhere. I would be holding the hand of a toddler.

Fair point. Hope the driver doesn't squash anyone else's kid either then as they all do it on the way back from school. We were a few minutes later today so not as many about.

I will just walk with him as scooting within grabbing distance doesn't work unless I run with him( often do but not always). Scooters for playgrounds and country parks etc from now on.

The fact that he saw the car but was scooting too fast to stop if also worrying. I am sorry but all this stuff about him having used the scooter since 18 months and being more like a four year old is really daft. Little kids need supervising. They should not be belting along pavements on scooter unable to stop. What if a pedestrian had appeared from that driveway? He would perhaps have collided with them.

That driver could be any one of us. He’s two and probably tiny, bent over on his scooter. All it takes is for the driver to be checking the other side when toddler scoots towards the car. It doesn’t necessarily make him (or her?) reckless or irresponsible.

Anyway I’m having this battle with my fiercely independent four year old. She has recently started taking her scooter on the school run and wants to scoot miles ahead (but has simply no time for road safety). Refuses to scoot by me. Result - no more scooter on the school run. It’s a shame but like fuck am I relying on other drivers to keep her safe.

You said he’s been using a scooter since he was 18 months old, and he is still a 2yr old, so less than 6 months,then.

You were nowhere near your 2yr old, and couldn't keep him safe, and he isn’t anywhere near developed enough, mentally or physically, to do it himself.

Cars really shouldn't reverse over paths and they should always give way to pedestrians - they should be expecting to see them on a path so ought to be taking the appropriate care.

No. At some point they must reverse. My preference is to reverse into the drive, so you are always ready to drive away and can see where you're going. But that's because i used to be in the military.

If they can't reverse over a path, ever, how are they supposed to get on or off their drive? one of those movements will be to reverse.

Having said that: nope to a 2 year old zooming everywhere on a path. I wonder if other pedestrians think he's so cool and adorable? And the size of him? how the heck is a driver supposed to see something zipping along, that size and speed? Not even a 6 year old should be doing that, they should be by your side when on a footpath. For their own safety and for the safety of other pedestrians.

We've all heard it a thousand times "he came from nowhere" - that doesn't help anyone when a child gets run over, no matter who, in theory, "was in the right"

@NewandNotImproved he's 3 in June

yep, so as I said, a two year old.

The driver was at all sorts of fault. Didn't look, moved too fast, and should not have been reversing out of a driveway over a pedestrian path in the first place.

However, a person on a scooter is not like a pedestrian - they move much faster than pedestrians around them. Children do not understand stopping distance and relative speed - they're just too young. They should not be scooting at speed on a pavement meant for pedestrians. Not your 6 year old and certainly not your 2 year old. It's dangerous for them and dangerous for others on the pavement.

Let them scoot in the park. On the way back, carry the scooter. Let the 6 year old scoot at walking pace, right next to you.

Also, it's much better exercise for them to walk!

@Cansu he can stop but not not instantly.

He was going too fast today and that's on me. He won't be using it again. Walking pace scooting is pointless so he'll walk or run holding my hand.

I don't believe the driver looked at all before reversing. And if there'd been a car or cyclist going past they'd have hit it without a doubt.

@NewandNotImproved I was clarifying as you'd said he'd been scooting 6 months. He's been scooting over a year. Irrelevant to the discussion tbh though- he was too fast to have done an instant stop for a reckless( imo) driver. Obviously it doesn't matter who was wrong if he's dead so he won't scoot on the school run anymore.

You were not adequately supervising your 2 year old end of

I got an adult scooter so I can scoot with my son and keep an eye on him!

@Krakenchorus this is what I will need to do from now on. It will be hard for then to see all the other kids in the street doing it still though. Better safe than dead though. Such a shame we literally get no traffic except people who live in the road.

So quiet and what I'd thought was ideal for kids to have a bit of freedom. Actually the adults locally love seeing them out and about on the scooters and have had positive comments about it.

@gunnersgold I like this idea but am guessing that would be seen as antisocial to other pavement users.......

I don't see why , it's no electric . I jump off of there are a lot of people around .. it means I can be near him at all times . Like you say you can't predict other peoples behaviour !

not

Small scooting/cycling children on pavements fill me with fear.

It's not just the danger from cars reversing from driveways; that's real.

But one topple in the wrong direction could put there little heads in the road.

If they're little, keep them close.

On the other hand, I can't see much of what is right in front of my car but a lot more in the reversing camera.

To the OP: I've always seen it as a big danger, mine never had scooters but bikes and I was pooping my pants the whole time.