. . . unless they’re luxury SUV’s
I find your description of the event to be incredible, or at best, if true, anomalous and not a reflection of the way things are in America. To be clear, I hate lawyers, and people who belong to country clubs, so the individual described in the story has no bearing on my objections.
If the mother is so concerned how about she picks him up from school instead of letting him ride back ALONE. How about she waits until he is a little older to let him ride a bike alone to and from school.
Most people aren’t going to pay attention to the letter. She’s not overprotective she’s not protective enough.
I doubt she’s worried about her particular kid: I suspect that her particular kid is going to be very very aware of the dangers of cars backing out from now on. He’s probably the safest kid on the street.
I think the letter is about other people’s kids, and about how easily this particular accident can occur. And that’s compassionate and admirable.
She may be trying to protect, not only her child or even all the children, but also the drivers. I know I would have a fit if I hit a kid with my car, no matter whether it was my fault or not. Couldn’t she be being public spirited and not wanting any of the adults on the street to have to go through that - especially if she saw how upset the person who did hit her kid was? It seems harsh to jump straight to thinking she’s an entitled bitch who thinks her child can do no wrong.
I’ve watched as a driver pulled out in front of my kid and she was unable to stop in time and hit the car. I was following behind my kid and stopped, she tried her best, both brakes on and skidded into the car. The woman (who I could see clearly) didn’t even look around as she reversed out of her driveway at speed, she stopped on the footpath to look for traffic on the road. I’ve also encountered this often while walking to work, but walking means I have been able to stop / step back quick enough to avoid injury.
The woman who caused the accident with my kid had been repeatedly asked to slow down ( according to her front neighbours who came out and screamed at everyone).
It’s likely that a similar thing happened to the kid in the OP. I don’t see any disconnect between the kid going over the bonnet & the driver being at fault.
I’ve also hit a kid on a bike, reversing out of my own driveway. I stopped short of the footpath and checked for pedestrians, saw a cyclist go past behind be and stop on the other side. Because I was watching her, I didn’t see her toddler follow her on his tricycle and stop behind my car. I checked both ways again, couldn’t see anything and crunch.
There was no injury as I just begun rolling back and stopped immediately when I heard the noise, but we all had a huge scare.
I hope the kid’s learned not to stop behind cars with their engines running, but now I *always *park facing out so I have better visibility.
I don’t think the OP parents were overreacting at all.
Someone in the thread used the word ‘entitled’ which is a much better word for what my reaction was. I think I felt this way because I don’t let my kids bike on this footpath because I think it’s too dangerous. A lot of the houses have narrow driveways with fences or hedges on the property line and the drivers really cannot see down the footpath until they are past the fence. Problem for bikes as they come fast, and can’t stop instantly the way a pedestrian can. If other parents are willing for their kids to bike there, then that’s fine, but it seemed kinda dumb, or ‘entitled’, to complain about the danger.
The other thing I found weird is sending the letter to the entire street. I would just never do that. Interesting that many people seemed to think that was reasonable, and something they might do. So that’s probably just me.
Some of the young drivers in my residential neighborhood sometimes drive like they are drag racing. I’m the crotchety old guy who walks over to where they are parked and asks them how they would feel about running down their neighbor’s 5 year old or best friend’s baby sister. Little effect.
It just sounds sensible to me. You live in a district where kids under 12 are allowed to cycle on the footpath, but if not many kids actually do it, you might not be as accustomed to it as you should be. So it’s a pretty tame reminder.
Driveways are a hazard for cyclists in general. Driveways often have impeded views (hedges, walls) which mean that oncoming traffic can’t easily see what’s coming out, so the driver should take extra care when emerging from the driveway, but, I don’t know why exactly - maybe it’s coming from private land onto public, that mental adjustment - drivers emerging from driveways don’t react quite as they would if they were pulling out from a side-street.
I was once cycling uphill (on the road) with my four-year-old in a seat on the back of my bike and a car pulled out from a driveway. Said driveway was walled on one side (impeding my view) and the car pulled out at the normal driving speed for that stretch of road at that time of day - about 15mph.
I had to brake; my bumper hit the car - and trust me, with a four-year-old on the back, going uphill, facing a driveway I knew was a hazard, I was not going fast - and we weren’t hit but toppled backwards slowly, at one point completely vertical. The driver carried on - I don’t think they noticed. Fortunately the cars coming up the road stopped without running us over. (We were fine. My daughter wanted to re-enact it later :rolleyes::D).
It is a little busy-bodyish, but I wouldn’t call it overprotective.
Let’s be honest though, legal or not, riding your bike on a footpath isn’t a good idea. Drivers aren’t expecting it, and it is just asking for problems.