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Some parents flunk Safety Town
(by Barbara Christian - August 19, 2009)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Some parents flunk Safety Town
May I suggest that next summer the Chagrin Falls Police Department require all parents to take the classes too.
Don't know what it is with some moms and dads, but they seem oblivious to real and present danger in their children's midst. It is generally referred to as "traffic." You know, cars, trucks, delivery vehicles and the like.
These are the same parents who put up those annoying "Child at play" signs, which seem to abdicate their responsibility and put it on you. I would like to add a second sign to that: "Irresponsible parent at home."
Here are a few examples of how moms and dads are failing to support their local police department in general and Safety Town in particular.
South Franklin Street at Washington Street: A mom with a baby in a stroller and a little one tagging along behind step off the curb against the "Don't walk" sign. Worst of all, the baby in the stroller was the first one out in traffic, as if running interference. It's not a rare example. It happens all the time.
Cul-de-sacs everywhere: Why do parents feel it's OK to let their kids play in the middle of a cul-de-sac. Hello. It's still a street. It's like saying, "Go play in the traffic." There are neighbors, aren't there? Mail delivery trucks, no? The parcel-service mobile, right? How about visitors? Doesn't anyone who lives on a cul-de-sac have visitors who drive cars? Let's get real, people.
It has been this opinion for many years that developments not be permitted to have cul-de-sacs. This only creates insulation against the rest of the community and a misguided sense of security. All streets should be required to attach to other through streets, so the tax dollars everyone pays to maintain these essentially private roads can be used by everyone.
A South Russell subdivision last Friday: I was driving less than 15 mph when a boy who looked to be 10 years old came straight at me, driving an adult-sized, motorized, three-wheel something that looked like a tractor. He turned in front of me and up what I assume was his driveway. And did I mention that this young Evel Kneivel was talking on a cell phone?
Dad was in the front yard raking mulch, his back to the action, and I think there were ear buds in his ears. So what this dad did was allow his son to break the law when he said it was OK for the kid to drive on the street. The boy was underage, has no license, and whatever it was he was driving was not registered.
And this is the same house that often displays one of the aforementioned "Child at play" signs. In this humble opinion, that is like the parent announcing, "Look, I can't make my kid do what I say, and I can't be expected to watch him every minute, so could you please do that for me?"
Right now, in far too many families, it's a case of Safety Town giving and parents taking away every time they fail to support the lessons and by setting bad examples.
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