Criticised for not moving off the sidewalk for a child

grahamg

grahamg

Old codger
Location
South of Manchester, UK
I visited an old farming friend of mine whose health isn't great, he suffers from dementia/Alzheimer's disease, and that's not the only health issue he has, (luckily his wife is a former health worker, and he has his children and other family members and friends close by).

He was about to walk his dog to pick up a daily newspaper so I decided to accompany him. On our way back we came close to a local school, and many of the mothers knew my friend and briefly chatted with him.

However, we were guilty of blocking the sidewalk when a young boy on a push along scooter came up behind us, and before we could react he briefly went on the roadway in order to pass us, prompting his mother following along behind him to critise my friend for not moving out of the boys way quick enough!

We both pretty much accepted what she'd said, well my friend did anyway, and because of his failing health its not very likely he'll remember what she said for very long, but that woman has some questions to ask herself doesn't she, (oh, and btw the traffic on the road was at a standstill, so there was no danger to the boy, even though he shouldn't have been on the road).

One question is why she allowed the boy to go so far ahead of her she couldn't restrain him from going on to the road, and then there's the question of who the sidewalk is for anyway, old people carrying out their lawful business, or kids on scooters!

I could go on further about the mother believing everyone should get out of her child's way, even endangering themselves perhaps, as my friend isn't all that good on his feet, and just "what is in the child's best interests", being treated as though he takes preference over other/elderly people, or showing respect for them and waiting a few moments before passing them!
 

It sounds like a petty power struggle to me.

This feels more like a man being offended by a woman that dared to state the obvious.

It seems like two grown men could step aside to free up half of the sidewalk for others to use while they stand and talk.

In any case, it doesn’t sound like a big deal to me.
 
Aunt Bea said:
It sounds like a petty power struggle to me.
This feels more like a man being offended by a woman that dared to state the obvious.
It seems like two grown men could step aside to free up half of the sidewalk for others to use while they stand and talk.
In any case, it doesn’t sound like a big deal to me.
Click to expand...
Perhaps I didn't explain the exact circumstances sufficiently well, as it is the case the child came up behind us on the sidewalk, (as already mentioned), and I wasn't aware of him until he was past my friend, and once again the traffic on the road was completely at a standstill, but I will accept your view that a man with dementia/Alzheimer's disease would knowingly engage in a power struggle.

I btw was not being criticised as far as I'm aware, as I was a little way ahead, though perhaps I'd not made it clear enough on that point to satisfy your thirst for the truth, and protection of an aggrieved mother whose child had nominally been put in danger, you could argue, because two old men were not paying sufficient attention to whatever her child might choose to do at any given moment! :sneaky:
 

They are called sidewalks for a reason, where scooters, bicycles, and other wheeled vehicles present a hazard. A grown woman should understand that you'd think. The kid gets the award for being the more mature of the two.
 
I quite often hear a little voice behind say "excuse me" when I am making my way to the pub and I am quite happy to stand aside to let the little one proceed.
With this woman having the arrogance to assume that her child has automatic right to the pavement, I'm afraid I would have told her where to go and what to do.
 
Here is the legal position in the UK to consider:

"Can you ride a kick scooter on the road UK?"

"You can, because there is no law saying you can't. Kick-scooters can be ridden on the pavement, footpath or a segregated cycle lane. Although Kick-scooters should be ridden on the pavement or footpath, they do not have right of way of either of these surfaces."

This website seems to have a lot of sensible advice too:
https://blog.micro-scooters.co.uk/blogs/news/can-ride-scooter-pavement

Quote:
"...if you want to follow the letter of the law (more precisely, the Highways Act of 1835, section 72), it doesn’t really clear things up very much… and that’s probably because the section relating to the use of pavements has never been updated!"

So it’s crystal clear where you should tether your cow, or park your carriage…. But not where you can ride your kick scooter. We think that’s not particularly helpful!
(Break) Good kick-scooter karma
Nobody wants to make enemies of their fellow pedestrians – don’t scoot in a way that will frighten or inconvenience other pavement users. As long as the law is unclear about whether it’s a legal offence to ride on the road or pavement, the easiest way is to avoid causing any personal offence to fellow pavement users."
 
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Next installment, not quite the same as the OP, but perhaps worthy of discussion(?).

"Entering the local library yesterday", I was confronted at the main doors, at the top of a couple of steps, by a young boy of about six or seven followed by his mother.

Nothing extraordinary in that obviously, especially as libraries in the UK seem to have become part time creches, all thoughts of maintaining quiet dispensed with as you may know.

However, my point is that when I met the boy leaving the library at a rate of knots, as children are prone to do, I attempted to avoid him by veering off to one side, and then managed to misstep, if you see what I mean, and slightly hurt my left foot!

"Just one of those things" of course, nothing to worry about or try to !Egis!ate for either, and I'm not impuning this mother in any way, the boy was in a safe environment and accompanied by his mother not far behind. My point though, in a world where "the child is king", whose interests must a!ways come first, there will be occasions where inadvertently others are negatively affected.
 
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I don't think most young mothers are teaching their children to defer to their elders, these days. I was standing in my driveway talking to a neighbor and her four year old. I was in the middle of a sentence when her four year old started hitting me on the leg and shouting my name. I thought I would finish my sentence and then turn to the child, but I didn't get a chance to do that because the mother interrupted me sharply to tell me her child wanted to say something!

One day, before church all the kids were in the fellowship hall with the bigger boys playing with the basketball. The pastor's wife kept calling them telling them it was time to stop playing basketball, but they kept ignoring her until one of them hit a toddler with the basketball. At that point she raised her voice and said, "Will you kids sit down and stop acting like monkeys?!" All the mothers got together and wrote a letter of complaint and the pastor's wife had to issue a formal apology.
 

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