How Can You Prevent Children Running In The Road? Travel with reins or a safety lead

Yet another fatal accident. And no end of near misses.

UK flag

Near Miss
For example, in the UK, in Harrow, London, England, I was passenger in a car which tried to overtake another, not realising the car had stopped to let a pedestrian cross. This happens frequently.

Singapore Flag

Singapore Fatality
A mother cross the road with three children, one on either hand and the third one runs ahead. (Fatal accident in Singapore. If I remember rightly, the accident killed the Korean mother and the three children. The British car driver was in prison awaiting trial for about a year before being released.)

Kindergarden Crocodile
When I was in kindergarten, we children had to walk in a crocodile, in pairs, hand in hand. Sometimes children have to march hand in hand in silence.

Lollipop Ladies
At a road, we all waited until the traffic stopped. A 'lollipop lady' with a lollipop shape, banner visible to cars, held up the traffic. (Alas now aended.)

Reins For Control
My mother kept me on a simple lead, called reins. Now you can get dog leads which can be adjusted to allow a dog or child or even an adult to stretch the lead and go no further than a distance you set.

Running In Public Places
I see children and even teenagers running around and shouting, making sudden movements, walking backwards or sideways, watching their friends, oblivious of their aurroundings.
I was prompted to write on Facebook:

Reins
This type of accident hapens again and again. Children under five, like dogs, should be kept on a lead and taught to walk about calmly and quietly.

They should not run around in public places but walk next to mother, father, parent or teacher. You see toddlers and children careering arond everywhere, racing along the street and out into the road, rushing around supermarkets and knocking over displays, bumping into adults including the elderly and hanicapped, piercing the air with their excited screams so that people zone out and cannot tell horseplay from an emergency.

Children should hold mother's or father's hand, or be attached by a lead. these deaths are preventable. What do you think the answer is?

Stations And Safety
Earlier this week in Singapore at a city centre railway station I heard a child shrieking for its mother. The child was racing in circles around the station platform. The mother was ignoring it, reading her mobile phone. I was two floors above. Everybody on the station could hear the child, except the mother. On a UK platform without barriers the child could have run over the edge onto the tracks.

Courtesy Campaign Improving Behaviour
What is the answer? Legislation?

Maybe a campaign worldwide like the ones in Singapore which encourage you to stand up and offer a seat to the elderly, turn down loud music, put your bag on the floor to make space for more.

Illustration from Wikipedia article on Signapore's courtesy campagn

Visiting Singapore
Singapore is an interesting country to visit. Most station platforms have barriers which makes them safer and fewer delays.

Useful Websites
NEWS OF ACCIDENTS
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7061405/Boy-three-dies-hit-car-residential-street-north-London.html?fbclid=IwAR22emkaE8-AgwK5CWkcU9Uf6klFYSMSqysVrdjI6-mfMHt0bRO7-cvqJYk
SAFETY & COURTESY
https://www.pwc.com/m1/en/publications/guide-on-reducing-road-fatalities.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Courtesy_Campaign_(Singapore)
TRAVEL
singaporeair.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Problems Caused by Screaming in the Streets and Pools, Shouting and Playfighting in Public Places

The Problem
On public transport all over the world I am distracted by the sounds and movement of families, especially children.

Whilst I am trying to read, I hear babies and toddlers shrieking.

Sudden movements catch my eyes and distract me. It is teenagers or siblings jumping around, dodging behind their parents - playfighting.

You always have to be alert on public transport, to be prepared for pickpockets, drunks, beggars, falling elderly people, or dangers.

 Sudden movements must distract security staff to anybody monitoring building cameras. People in the swimming pool are constantly shrieking. You would never know if there was a real problem.

   Drunks shout on the way home. After murder cases you hear local people say: "People shout all the time. I thought it was a domestic."

Solution
I think supermarkets and trains should have warning signs.

Signs in public places should say:
                        When standing in one place - Keep still.
                        Keep quiet.
                        No playfighting.
                        No shouting.

                        Then when there's an emergency, we can quickly spot the problem.
What do you think?

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

No Unnecessary Noise Please, Children

A recent newspaper report says a head teacher was trying to quell noise at break time. Quite right for the head teacher to attempt to reduce break time noise levels and make children conscious of volume.

At playtime the noise from the nearest school can be heard right down the street. Shouting prevents neighbours having an afternoon nap. Noise disturbs the elderly or sick - or anybody just wanting to sit in their garden. Children walk down the street shouting. They yell to each other on trains.

     

Crying Wolf
It's in the children's own interest to talk quietly so that if they shout in an emergency others can hear and take action. Several times after fatal incidents people reported hearing screaming but not calling the police because they thought shouting and screaming was just a friends' or family tiff and 'normal' behaviour.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, speaker, author.