Sight that scared me on the way home

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summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
I picked my son up from school in a hurry as we needed to go to a friends house and look after their ill son whilst they had an important meeting back at school. My son was being slow etc... and up ahead I noticed a child getting on her bike on the wrong side of the road without an adult. I was slightly worried but as it was what we were about to do I assumed she would sort herself out.

She didn't ... she proceeded to cycle along the right hand side of the road. Tried to encourage my son to get a move on but he wasn't in that sort of mood. So remained about 200+ m ahead of us the whole way along the road (round a blind-ish corner etc). As we had to turn off I saw her signal left and move into what would be the right place if we were in Europe.

By that stage we had passed my friend on route to school to the meeting so I knew that I needed to get to her house. The ill child was left in the care of his 12 year old brother on the assumption that I was almost there.

n3589h.jpg

(sorry for the piccy quality that was a crop at max zoom - otherwise you wouldn't have seen her in the full pic).

I feel guilty that I didn't abandon my son and go and help her... any other day I would have but I knew I needed to be elsewhere.

Now I'm sure I vaguely recognise her from the bike shed (year 6 I'm sure) - but I only saw her from the back. Do I hang around the gates on Monday and watch to see if she does the same thing or have a word with her anyway?
 

Bman

Guru
Location
Herts.
Might be worth having a quick word with the school?
 
OP
OP
summerdays

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
I certainly don't know her name.

I've seen kids ride all over the road mucking around ... what got me about her is that she obviously thought she was doing the right thing the way she signalled and at the junction.
 

Bman

Guru
Location
Herts.
I was thinking more along the lines of speaking to a teacher. Maybe something could then be mentioned in assembly?
 

porteous

Veteran
Location
Malvern
Bongman is right, an approach by you to the child could lead to all sorts of misunderstandings in the "elf and safety" world we live in now. A quiet word on the phone with the head teacher might result in positive action (I doubt he/she would let it lie given the possibility of the child being hurt and consequent "teacher did nothing" fall out.).

Do the police not still visit schools and give bike safety checks and highway code lectures? If so the head might like to organise it with the local plods?
 

wafflycat

New Member
Yup - have a word with the headteacher. He/she should be able to have a general word in assembly about the necessity of cycling on the correct side of the road.
 

longers

Legendary Member
That would scare me too. I agree with the advice about having a word with the school. A quick message in assembly should be enough I would hope and then cycling proficiency could be organised at a later date.
 

numbnuts

Legendary Member
I saw the same thing just before Christmas, a child about 7 years old, I told him that we ride on the left, but he gave me the impression that he didn’t understand, I wondered if he was an immigrant ??
 
I have seen it with places where the idiot council have put in bike lane markings only on one side of a road and the cyclist using it on the wrong side (as opposed to a two way seperate bike route).
 
I second Mr Magoo's comments. Surely Bristol with all of its cycling status is getting Bikeability into schools?

Seems a sad comment that she is wearing a helmet, but doesn't know how to ride properly.
 
OP
OP
summerdays

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
I guess I haven't quite put enough information in the post... yes this school does Bikeability training and I'm suggesting that she has already done it ... I'm sure she is year 6. One afternoon a week is when they have Bikeability training - running the whole year to get through the whole of the year group. It wasn't that day so I can't tell if she is in the current group.

I suspect she has done Bikeability by the way that she positioned herself when she got to the junction, just that she managed to get herself confused as when she came out of school she was on the wrong side of the road for going that direction.

(As I said, my son and I have been known to start like that and immediately cross to the other side... he's going to have a lot of things to correct when he does his Bikeability... but he will have the road experience, confidence and ability to do fine once they get rid of the couple of bad habits I have let him to develop). I couldn't leave him and go on just there as its prime door zone with lots of parents pulling away so I had to be near him.

If it helps on whether I should talk to her, I have helped out in school with both bike events and other school activities and I am female and often seen loitering around the bike shed - where I occasionally lend a pump to kids or let them lock their bike to my son's if they forget their lock - so she would recognise me. I'm pretty certain I almost recognise her... not by name... but if she wore the same coat.

I've remembered I've got to call in and show the office my CRB check which has just been renewed so I will maybe chat to them and see what they say.
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
Are there any markings in the middle of that road? If there aren't, although she is in the wrong the onus is also on the other vehicles to take this into account so it is not as serious as people are making out.
 
OP
OP
summerdays

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
No markings - road is literally 2 cars wide ... parents park on one side and its a fairly unbusy road except at school start and finish times. You have to be in the middle of that lane as you pass the cars but she carried on on that side even after passing all the parents' cars.
 

GrasB

Veteran
Location
Nr Cambridge
It surprises me how many adults I see doing this. I think they're applying the same theory as walking on the road on the opposite side of the road you'd drive.
 
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