School boy killed outside school gate
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Everybody needs to do their part…Parents have to educate their children about road safety. Schools likewise, they also need to provide a safe environment around the perimeter of the school. Finally, drivers/riders in the school zone has to keep their speed in check and be more vigilant of any misadventure from students. If all these are met, the risk of accidents occuring outside school can be greatly reduced.
Can understand the anguish suffered by the deceased’s parents. My heart goes out to them… -
verykiasu2010:
Even if parents follow, what could they have done?
wau lau, just read what is copied and pasted in the post lah. couldn't you read that the green man was flashing ? or may be you did not even read lah ..... tsk tskvicki:
Wau lau! The link u gave is for subscribers! So how do I read the full story if I don't subscribe??
Don't get me wrong. I thk the driver shd be held accountable. He shd have looked out for pple crossing the road.
But my point is, why blame the school? So wat happens if the boy is crossing the road outside their hse? Who do u blame??
N the mother is a hsewife (per yesterday new paper) so if they are really worried abt safety, they will work somethg out to fit in the 'fetching' of kids to n from.
So who is slamming who?
did not read and start slamming parents....tsk tsk tsk
the link is just for citation purpose, source of info
If the boy walk a few steps ahead of the parent, it could also have happened.
Anyway, it is not unusual for kids of his age to walk to and fro school alone, especially if the school is near the house.
Oh vicki....so housewife must always fetch their kids? :?
Btw, the green light flashing- i assume it is the green man flashing? -
Sad to read about this news especially when the child is the same age as mine. It’s really unfortunate that a young live is lost. My condolences to the family.
My kids (P5 and P4) just started to go back on their own this year. We cannot always be there to fetch them, at some point, kids need to learn to be independent.
For my kids’ school, they deploy those auntie and uncle to help to look after the traffic at the traffic light after school. Just the other day when I was at school after P1 PV session, there was this girl who "attempted" cross the road and the light was turning red very very soon. Eg. less than 3 counts. Luckily the uncle was there and stopped her. Otherwise an accident might happen. But as drivers in school zone, we really need to drive with care. But as parents, we also need to remind the kids of the dangers. This served as a reminder to me to print this news and show it to my kids. -
I read the news yesterday with sadness and share the grief of this family. I showed the article to my boy (also same age) who kept asking me to let him go home by himself after CCA which I disagree as there is no CCA bus home. It is for this reason that I didn’t let him take up any CCA.
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carebear:
Hi carebear,
Even if parents follow, what could they have done?
If the boy walk a few steps ahead of the parent, it could also have happened.
Anyway, it is not unusual for kids of his age to walk to and fro school alone, especially if the school is near the house.
Oh vicki....so housewife must always fetch their kids? :?
Btw, the green light flashing- i assume it is the green man flashing?
Im not exactly sure what the issue is with the green man light flashing, or green man or red man.
No 1:
I feel that that the driver is at fault for not keeping a lookout irregardless of the above. So the flashing green man is irrelevant to this discussion. I can also understand if the parents 'blame' the driver - cos it would be a natural reaction when such an incident occurs.
My point of this discussion stems from this portion of the news:-
\"The parents of a young boy killed in a car accident outside his school last Friday want answers.
They want the school to explain why there was no teacher watching the children crossing the road after school had finished.\"
Which led to my point of: \"Current day parent mentality: Blame the whole world except themselves when things are not right! What are we teaching the nex generation?\"
You are correct - even if the parent is around - the boy can still get killed if he was walking a few steps ahead - so that leads to:
\"Why are they asking the school to eplain why 'no teacher' is around\"?
Will the whole accident be prevented even with the teacher around? Or is it that - they can apportion blame to THAT teacher if there was someone around and the unfortunate accident happened? And if that teacher is around n thus the accident can be prevented (ie, a preventable accident), then if the boy's parent was around - it could also be prevented rite?
My point hence is that i feel that the parents should always qn themselves first before blaming the whole world when something happens.
Its always a \"Not my fault - its his fault\" mentality.
I guess if the news report had not had that line in - then my tots might have been different.
But at the moment, what im reading is: \"School - u explain why this happened - why no teacher around?\"
This is just my tot - and everyone would have a different views on this as well. In any case, this is a discussion forum rite?
Notwithstanding the above, i do sympathise with the family as i feel it is very heartbreaking to lose a kid this way. I do sincerely wish the family well. -
This is really tragic.
I started walking to sch in P4, which was a morning session, many yrs back. The ~2 km journey took 25-30 min and involved crossing 4 roads, 2 of which has quite heavy traffic for a road within a housing estate. Cars were fewer during those days, speed was slower and perhaps drivers not as reckless then. Still I doubt I’ll let my kids do that now, although i’ll like them to be independent.
I guess many parents will feel the same way, in that while we think being able to cross the roads is something that our kids should be able to do on their own by a certain age, the protective nature of us (after reading so many of those tragic cases, many of which could not be avoided despite taking great care) means we defer doing this earlier.
The driver is obviously at fault big time, and must face the consequences (which surprisingly is not going to be v harsh, given it’s an accident).
The parents will feel what-ifs… but it is too late, and they must cope with the loss.
sigh… -
vicki:
Hi vicki, this, i agree with you.
Hi carebear,
Im not exactly sure what the issue is with the green man light flashing, or green man or red man.
No 1:
I feel that that the driver is at fault for not keeping a lookout irregardless of the above. So the flashing green man is irrelevant to this discussion. I can also understand if the parents 'blame' the driver - cos it would be a natural reaction when such an incident occurs.
My point of this discussion stems from this portion of the news:-
\"The parents of a young boy killed in a car accident outside his school last Friday want answers.
They want the school to explain why there was no teacher watching the children crossing the road after school had finished.\"
Which led to my point of: \"Current day parent mentality: Blame the whole world except themselves when things are not right! What are we teaching the nex generation?\"
You are correct - even if the parent is around - the boy can still get killed if he was walking a few steps ahead - so that leads to:
\"Why are they asking the school to eplain why 'no teacher' is around\"?
Will the whole accident be prevented even with the teacher around? Or is it that - they can apportion blame to THAT teacher if there was someone around and the unfortunate accident happened? And if that teacher is around n thus the accident can be prevented (ie, a preventable accident), then if the boy's parent was around - it could also be prevented rite?
My point hence is that i feel that the parents should always qn themselves first before blaming the whole world when something happens.
Its always a \"Not my fault - its his fault\" mentality.
I guess if the news report had not had that line in - then my tots might have been different.
But at the moment, what im reading is: \"School - u explain why this happened - why no teacher around?\"
This is just my tot - and everyone would have a different views on this as well. In any case, this is a discussion forum rite?
Notwithstanding the above, i do sympathise with the family as i feel it is very heartbreaking to lose a kid this way. I do sincerely wish the family well.
Now, the main thing is for the school or the relevant authority to implement safety measures to minimize the possibilty of a recurrence of such a tragic incident. -
vicki:
i am a housewife and had initially looking forward to my P4 boy being a bit independent and walk home by himself after school. but he has to cross 2 unmanned sch gates of the secondary sch beside his sch, 2 traffic lights and one small road (with no traffic lights/zebra crossing), beside a carpark. with this news, think i'll have to shelf this idea for now.
N the mother is a hsewife (per yesterday new paper) so if they are really worried abt safety, they will work somethg out to fit in the 'fetching' of kids to n from.
condolences to the family of the victim. -
vicki - I appreciate where you are coming from. Eg. the specific blame on the school. Maybe the parents are finger pointing so as to make themselves feel better :? given that they just lost a son. I don't want to judge on that. Separately, sometimes I feel that it's fate as well if things of such were to happen. The child and driver just happen to be there at the wrong place and the wrong time. Of course, i am not saying that we leave everything to fate.
Just as I shared in earlier post, my kids' school deploy auntie and uncle to look after traffic at the traffic lights during dismissal hours. Definitely not teachers as I think their time should be spent elsewhere and I think it's unfair for parents to place too much responsibility on teachers too. But having PV, auntie/ uncle to keep a lookout during dismissal hour to me is something do-able and practical. This is potentially something that the school can do on their part. Of course, we cannot expect them to be there from 6.30am - 7pm as I think this is also not realistic. Maybe such support need to be around during peak hour.
Atrecord,
Dh always tell the kids that he started taking a bus from bedok to hougang all by himself when he was P1. Many a times, dh also has to worry about ringing the bus alarm (the alarm used to be at the ceiling and not child/ short people friendly). But luckily for him, he is alighting at a popular stop.
Our kids P4 and P5 started coming back by themselves this year. We are like 12 bus stops/ 30 mins away from school and there are some roads/ car parks to cross. We started to let go alittle last year. It was not easy.... we would worry about them crossing the carparks from school to bus stop. We would also worry about them being \"kidnapped\" (eg. read/ heard about scams where people get calls for this) or for girls \"molested\". Frankly, there are alot of concerns and yes, it's been 2 weeks since school reopen and we've not fully let go.
I agree that drivers must be careful. But we also encounter some parents letting kids who look like pre-schoolers cross road on their own. As kids of that age are small, sometimes car might not be able to see them well if they are blocked. Also, drivers must be patient. Sometimes the car infront of you stopped for a valid reason. Eg. waiting for a child/ old person to cross the road, don't attempt to overtake. -
There’s no point blaming anybody when such accidents happen. The parents must be grieved enough with a loss of their precious child and don’t need any judgment at this time. From the report, the poor boy was not playing on the road but merely crossing when the green man was flashing. This shows that he was obedient and has observed the traffic rules. As parents, we need to teach our kids from young about road safety and this I mean by example. My 3 boys take public transport to school on their own when they were about Pri 3. If I say that I didn’t worry, I’m lying. Having said that, I’ve been very confident that my boys are very careful on the road and would definitely use the pedestrian crossings. They have been taught to make sure that all the cars have stopped before crossing and not start doing so when the instance the green man flashes. They were even taught to stand as far away from the kerb as possible. I have no other choice then and don’t have to justify myself on this forum for not picking them up from school. Not all parents can afford to do that nor can they afford to employ a maid to do that. When they are older, by this I mean when they are in their teens, they try their luck by not using the crossings on some occasions but after getting a earful from me, they diligently use crossings. This has now developed into a habit. Some parents do take road safety for granted. I’m always stationed outside one of the gates after dismissal from the tuition centre. This gate is opposite the bus stop and we have told parents not to use this gate if they intend to cross the road. Instead, they have to use another gate which is at the traffic lights but further from the bus stop. Our advice always fall on deaf ears. The parents always give me a "you don’t have to tell me what to do and I’m confident that I’ll bring my children safely across" look. Yet, there’s about an accident every year and the parents were with their children. Once, I witnessed a mother crossing the road with 2 of her young charges who were about 4 or 5 years old running after her. I was so shocked that I didn’t know how to react. I wanted to shout for them to stop but was afraid that if I did I might make matter worse. At half way, the children got cold feet and started to turn back. A few cars were fast approaching and fortunately the drivers were alert and slowed down while sounding their horns. Worse, the mother chided her children for not following her and turned back. As a witness, I’ll definitely faint if the children were hit. Even with parents or other adults around, we can’t guarantee accidents won’t happen. All it takes is a slip in concentration by the driver. I had witnessed a driver colliding with a car in front of him which had stopped at the traffic lights. I was crossing and the green man was flashing. If there was no car stationary at the traffic lights, I might be the one who was hit and I had almost reached the other side where the car was coming from. It could happen to anyone, children or adult. Schools can only do that much. It’s surprising that there is no road humps or any PV or teachers at the junction to ensure that the children are safe to a certain degree. However, we also can’t blame them if they are there and accidents happen. Do you expect the PV to stop a moving vehicle if it careens into a child? Educating our children about road safety is the most important factor here. No amount of safety precaution can prevent an accident but can reduce the risks. Knowing children, they can be playful and this accident can be a useful tool for all parents and schools to emphasize road safety. I’ve seen secondary school children playing on the road and called up the school concerned. When a teacher is stationed outside the school, the children simply moved somewhere further from the teacher’s view to continue their mischief. When all else fails, there’s nobody to blame.
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