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A system that warns drivers of children about to cross the road is being evaluated in Aberdeenshire.
Called the Amparo See Me, the system uses a tag that is attached to a child’s school bag to trigger warning lights on bus stops or at crossings.
This then warns drivers that children are in the vicinity, and studies have shown that the speed of passing vehicles reduces by an average of 8mph.
The system is already used in Sweden.
Recent UK Department for Transport figures show that in 2005, 28,126 children aged 0-15 were injured in road accidents. Of these, 331 were seriously injured and 141 were killed.
14 Comments on “New Driver’s Warning System: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?...”
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My college has something simmilar to this to cross a busy main road. It used motion sensors on the sidewalk at the crossing though. It had bright lighting and really bright flashing lights in the roadway (which got torn up by the plows during the first snowfall). When it was first installed people ignored it and just flew through the cross walk anyway. Eventually some people started to obey the lights and signs… they got rear-ended… HARD. After aobut a year the school just told students to only cross when there was no traffic coming (yeah, that didnt really work either). Overall the school and the town spent close to $250,000 for a system that never did what it was supposed to do.
I can see a systme like this being more of an expense than it i was worth.
I’m more interested in seeing systems such as this one, which attempt to genuinely improve safety, rather than yet another arbitrary “speed” enforcement which — as has been shown numerous times — is nothing more than a cash grab.
Faced with a similar problem here in North America, I imagine the “solution” would be to drop the speed limit from 30km/h (20mph) to 20km/h (15mph).
There, that oughta do it.
Overall the school and the town spent close to $250,000 for a system that never did what it was supposed to do.
jaydez, makes you wonder how much a raised pedestrian bridge would’ve cost….
@Sardauker – Around $1.2 million. My town just completed a raised ped. bridge and I am lobbying to get the mayor that approved it defeated in the next election. What a waste of money. And a huge eyesore.
Sounds like a need for parenting IMHO.
I see this as one of those “safety” technologies that does nothing but decrease caution and attentiveness. People will begin to assume that if the lights aren’t flashing, there are no children present. So what happens when some kid tries to cross the road and isn’t wearing one of those little tags on their backpacks? Drivers will cruise through the crossing, not even paying attention.
Of course it will be the parents’ faults for not purchasing one of these fine products.
This is hilarious
We can’t even get people to stop passing busses when the red lights are flashing. Several local kids have been hit by cars. The buses pull over every third stop to let the piled up cars pass by and the busing department is seriously considering only picking up on the right side, for even residential neighborhoods. Their costs keep going up and up, and no matter how much enforcement is exercised, or how many people get tickets, they can’t stop the “I’m not waiting for a bus to load kids” attitude. This is yet another huge waste of money.
Perhaps a better solution to the problem of kids not looking both ways before crossing the street would be…wait for it…teaching the kids to look both ways before crossing the street?
Fantasy Question: What about a removeable speed bump school staff can lay down on school days?
Just like locking down a fence. Sounds easy enough.
Perhaps it would be easier to ban cars. Think of the children!
I see this as one of those “safety” technologies that does nothing but decrease caution and attentiveness.
Completely agree. Schools and parents need to educate children how to safely cross streets. It’s a safety skill that needs to be taught. Not all street crossings have crosswalks and lights.
cardeveloper:
The buses pull over every third stop to let the piled up cars pass by and the busing department is seriously considering only picking up on the right side, for even residential neighborhoods.
+1. What’s insane is picking up and dropping off kids right in front of their homes. You can’t let kids off in groups at a common intersection, cuz everyone who’s watched Oprah knows that there’ll be five or six molesters stalking every bus stop.
And it’s not only a traffic congestion issue. The last kid on the bus has to sit through all those single stops. What could be a 20 minute ride home turns into an hour.
@cardeveloper,
+2
When will these tree-hugging, liberal voting, SUV-driving, anti-offshore-drilling, save the snail darting polar bears parents actually think about the environment and their kid’s health and let them walk more than the length of the driveway?
We can’t even get people to stop passing busses when the red lights are flashing. Several local kids have been hit by cars.
Affix a huge fine ($500+) and enforce it ruthlessly, just like red-light cameras and speeding. Sad to say, the best way to train people is through their pocketbooks.