This just dropped in on my e-mail Remember that "scare them witless but don't actually deliver an effective lesson in managing your own road safety" campaign about a year ago? Well its back and still being produced by an Edinburgh source for Newcastle. Perhaps even worse than the Niceway Code
Ghost Streets - still back to haunt us http://ghoststreet.co.uk/index.php/site/contact
It's on a par with the dire material promoted by Scania for primary kids and how to deal with HGV's - which contrasts with the Volvo campaign material - encouraging the kids to 'wave to the driver' and get a response.
Obviously some folk might disagree but I don't think this sort of material really delivers sensible thinking on personal road safety - far better perhaps to encourage the ability of young road users to become 'mind readers' and predict what other road users are going to do and how this might affect them as a result.
'Mind Reading' can also deliver that cool ability to glide through a busy street fully aware of what is likely to happen next and ready to 'make progress' with the minimal need to make urgent changes to your speed or direction of travel, or get stuck behind a large or slow person or vehicle.
As a neat example it is interesting to do some people watching on a busy station concourse or street, from an upper level. There are 3 basic pedestrian interactions.
1) fully alert pedestrians mixing and moving smoothly at a brisk pace, avoiding each other - often by fine timing and use of the space available. (FAP's?)
2) a pedestrian engrossed in their device, reading matter etc and moving slowly with the fully alert pedestrians giving them a wide berth.
3) Several Diminished Observation Pedestrians (DOPes) all eyes down and shuffling along - and colliding with other DOPes, fortunately in a pedestrian area in low speed collisions, where the main damage is perhaps a dropped phone....
Encourage the style of being fully alert and sweeping through the melee without bumping into anyone.
posts
