calling all wordsmiths!

[Tommy]

I am trying to write a letter to the parents of our school (I am a governor) about road safety and have been told by the good lady at the Council that I can't refer to the junction that the school is on as "dangerous" as there haven't been any serious injuries or fatalities there

Can anyone think of a word that I could put in? So far, all I've come up with is "potentially dangerous" which I'm not sure will wash with the council lady.

TIA

Hazardous?

'difficult'? 'complicated'? I'd put potentially dangerous tbh.

Although you'll probably have the same problem with that.

would hazardous mean the same do you think? My brain is baby mushed. A hazard isn't the same as a danger is it?

how ridiculous.

I can't count the number of times I've tried to explain to dd that the absence of any bad precedents does not preclude the presence of "danger". ("but I've never fallen off the balcony railings before mummy"). I would describe it as a dangerous junction and send the lady at the council a dictionary.

a hazard is the same as a danger imo.

potentially high-risk?

I've found the word 'risk' is virtually garlic to councils

I think I agree it's the same thing. Suppose it depends on the reason why the council are being pedantic!

Just put dangerous. How can she stop you?

the council cannot object to "potentially dangerous" as any junction is potentially dangerous to kids. she cannot dispute that.

but any junction is dangerous to kids. "potentially dangerous" is tautological.

Well I think it is your letter and you can call it what you like. Just spell it out and say that because of the nature of the junction (describe it in the letter) there is a risk of accidents and it could be dangerous, or similar.

And I agree she's wrong, something doesn't become dangerous only after there's an accident. Obviously if it's dangerous, it's dangerous to start with. Doh.

potentially deadly, treacherous, unsafe, risky, jeopardous,an accident waiting to happen, fearsome, perilous, playing Russian roulette with our childrens' lives, insidious....

And of course, how many children will have to die before something gets done!

thanks everyone. I might well just stick with dangerous actually an argue the case.

At the moment, we are "entitled" to a yellow zone with zigzags and a 20mph speed limit becaue we haven't had any serious accidents outside school so, yes, a child will probbly have to die or get seriously injured before anything will happen.

don't get me started....