I like the idea that we're looking to assist with providing guidelines for various things, but in general terms I still think the emphasis is moving away from the people who have the most responsibility.
In this case it's the parents or guardians of the children to should be supervising their kids. So many rule and regulations have come in due to the lack of the few that usually punish the majority, it's the same in all walks of life.
There are many things that engineers try to design out, but there are times when we should be able to say that people / drivers also have responsibility for their actions.
When you sit behind a car, or put your leg over the bike or step out of your front door, people still should be responsible and they still have a choice of how they use their car / bike / feet.
Some people may decide to drive too fast; some cyclists may choose to cycle the wrong way in a bike lane and a pedestrian may choose to cross away from a controlled crossing. These are all not the safest option and these people know it.
If we tried to design for every eventuality, nobody would get out of bed!.
I know it's being a little negative, but I think it's time that responsibility should be shifted away from designers and more focus put on educating people about the correct way of doing things.
The majority of our everyday life is great, but sometimes it is spoilt by a careless event.
I've ranted on too long, but just wanted to put it our there. Good morning all.
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Richard Jones
Associate Director - Traffic
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Original Message:
Sent: 27-06-2013 22:25
From: Chris Champion
Subject: Driveway Safety Design Guidelines
Hi everyone,
I picked this up out of an ALGA news item today that might be of interest:
The National Road Safety Forum held in August last year included a focus on driveway safety - reducing deaths and serious injuries to children caused by collisions with vehicles at home. The Department has been working with a number of experts and building, design and planning peak groups to develop a proposed framework of design principles and measures which could form the basis of a best practice, voluntary design guide. The aim of this guide would be to help home owners, builders and designers make choices that reduce the risks to children. The Minister for Road Safety, Catherine King, released a discussion paper this week for public comment, seeking the views of all interested parties about the proposed principles and measures it sets out.Further information is available from the Department's website, and feedback can be provided until 6 August 2013. |
Some might wish to share their ideas on the guidelines, what they may be submitting to the Department as comment, etc.
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Chris Champion
CEO, IPWEA Australasia
Sydney NSW
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