Plans to move UK to European time zone edge a step closer. Road Safety Affected?

[grober]

This is a hugely London / South East corner of England "centric" driven campaign. Anyone who thinks road accidents won't go up in Scotland with a change to Central European Time is frankly talking out of their a*** . In winter darkness equates to low temperatures. So our misguided /misinformed friends in the "balmy" South or should that be "barmy" South are advocating that we in Scotland should all commute to work at sub zero temperatures- icy roads - frozen windscreens - darkness +lots of reflected light+ lots of pedestrians/drivers going to work or school = accidents waiting to happen.
I remember the panic issuing of reflective jackets and armbands to armies school kids and the sheer grinding misery of defrosting your car in total darkness before the commute to work the last time. It was sheer bl**dy purgatory! If this goes ahead there are only 2 sensible choices either retain the present arrangement in Scotland of putting the clocks back an hour in October or alternatively simply changing the hours of the conventional working day and school in Scotland by an hour. In other words the majority of Scotland "opens for business" an hour later than the rest of the UK. Anything else is frankly lunacy.

 

[LTD]

That's fine. Who but the Scots cares?

Lovely ....... just lovely ........

 

[MarriedBlonde]

Nonsense, just plain nonsense.

Paranoid sick nonsense.

Really? I am paranoid that I think kids get abused in this country?

 

[MOCAŠ]

Really? I am paranoid that I think kids get abused in this country?

No, but it's hardly rational to assume that the chances of it happening on the bus to school are so great as to prevent them from travelling that way.

 

[MarriedBlonde]

Is there not another issue where all our clocks are programmed to change in according to day light saving? Surely this is also going to have a big financial impact?

 

[MarriedBlonde]

No, but it's hardly rational to assume that the chances of it happening on the bus to school are so great as to prevent them from travelling that way.

My point is I live in the middle of now where. While my children are young, it would be irresponsible of me to let them use a public bus when their mother can quite easily drive them. Also reducing the risk of them doing stupid while waiting for the bus. When they get older and more street wise it wont be an issue.

 

[neilrr]

That's fine. Who but the Scots cares?

Lovely ....... just lovely ........

Really, who else cares?

Why should the tail wag the dog?

If you want to run on a different time clock to suit you (as people in the S. of England do) then go right ahead. Knock yourselves out.

 

[neilrr]

Currently sunset in London on 21st June is 22.22, so, would be 23.22.... and sunrise would be 05.43

That'd be great! When can we start?

 

[st13phil]

grober makes the most valid and coherent point on this thread so far when he talks about the coincident low temperatures in dark mornings.

Where I live - North Oxfordshire - is classed as part of the south east, but during the winter and into the spring there's hardly a morning goes by when I don't have to de-ice the car before setting off to work at 7am. I've often thought how much safer it would be to set off an hour later in those circumstances once the frost and ice have cleared. However, during the summer months when sunrise is much earlier and night-time low temperatures are much higher, I've often though that it would improve my life if the clocks were another hour forward, i.e. BST +1. The longer, lighter, warmer evenings would save energy too.

What seems to be forgotten by the proponents for a move to CET in the UK whenever this topic comes up is that time zones are where they are mainly due to geography. If you're towards one extreme of the zone then you're going to experience different sunrise and sunset times to the average, but there's nothing you can do to alter that fact. If you're nearer to the pole then you're going to experience more or less daylight hours (depending upon the season) than someone nearer the equator. This is another thing you can do nothing about. GMT is set the way it is because it has proven to offer the best compromise for those in the UK and fiddling with it to move the UK onto CET is daft. However, I would be minded to support GMT in the winter and BST +1 in the summer months.

 

[Stratman]

Which would be fine if there wasn't sick people out there wanting to abuse children....

You are the editor of the Daily Express and I claim my five pounds.

 

[MOCAŠ]

My point is I live in the middle of now where. While my children are young, it would be irresponsible of me to let them use a public bus when their mother can quite easily drive them. Also reducing the risk of them doing stupid while waiting for the bus. When they get older and more street wise it wont be an issue.

It's clearly up to you to do what you feel is best for your children, and their current ages will be a factor in that. But I also think it's unhealthy to fall prey to the idea that there's an attacker lurking around every corner, just waiting to pounce.

 

[Noodle-Pulp]

I don't know where this all fits into things but I used to catch a public bus to travel the 3 miles to school to go to school - I was never abused, nor were any of the other kids that used the same mode of transport.

 

[Dryce]

Really? I am paranoid that I think kids get abused in this country?

Standard emotive knee-jerk response.

The real risk is not strangers but people the kids know and that you would probably trust.

By comparison the risk on the school walk is negligible. And everybody taking them by car adds some other small risks in to the equation.

 

[flango]

We really are screwed in the UK when it comes to kids and school and getting them there, Look at the US and Australian system large junior high and High schools staffed with high quality teachers built to serve multiple districts, none of this silly village primary school nonsense with 20 kids and teachers that struggle to count past 10. How do you get them there ? Easy, School Buses you know those big yellow things you see in the movies works perfectly keeps all the mums and dads in Chelsea tractors off the roads so people can actually get to work and in and out of their own drives. No ones advocating packing your kids off on a service bus if they did my daughter would have had to have left about 4am to get there on time even though school was only 7 miles away, but no we had a sensible school and local authority that provided dedicated school buses serving rural areas, It's really not that hard as long as people don't start thinking up a million and one soft excuses why not to do it.

 

[gIzzE]

Really, who else cares?

Why should the tail wag the dog?

If you want to run on a different time clock to suit you (as people in the S. of England do) then go right ahead. Knock yourselves out.

Why are the Scots getting worked up about that??

Why would it bother them if we changed our clocks??

 

[Rovinghawk]

Really? I am paranoid that I think kids get abused in this country?

In order to support your argument, please provide an example of when this has ever happened.
If not, I propose we ignore it.

RH

 

[gIzzE]

It's clearly up to you to do what you feel is best for your children, and their current ages will be a factor in that. But I also think it's unhealthy to fall prey to the idea that there's an attacker lurking around every corner, just waiting to ponce.

Urghhh!!



Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[MOCAŠ]

How do you get them there ? Easy, School Buses you know those big yellow things you see in the movies works perfectly keeps all the mums and dads in Chelsea tractors off the roads so people can actually get to work and in and out of their own drives.

Oddly enough, the schools dotted around Chelsea (and Kensington, Knightsbridge, Belgravia, etc) also provide school buses (minibuses rather than the big yellow things), but many parents still choose to drive their children, even though the schools are often only a few streets away from home.

 

[gIzzE]

I think a lot depends where you live, in a busy town or city with loads of people about then kids walking to school, waiting for a bus etc. is one thing, it is those that live miles away, where you see young kids walking down a lane for 10 minutes and then waiting, same time and same place everyday on their own is where I have more concern.


I don't think there are any more kiddy fiddlers around now than before, difference is though that the streets and parks are empty due to an unjust fear that seems to be around. When I was a kid there was 100+ of us out every night over the park till dark, now you go down there and they are empty, just a few 16 year olds getting stoned.
And that is the problem, do I want my 8 year old son hanging out on an empty park?

 

[Noodle-Pulp]

I think a lot depends where you live, in a busy town or city with loads of people about then kids walking to school, waiting for a bus etc. is one thing, it is those that live miles away, where you see young kids walking down a lane for 10 minutes and then waiting, same time and same place everyday on their own is where I have more concern.

In my case my parents both worked in the completely opposite direction to my school, on some days when the buses were not running due to snow I used to walk the 3 miles in.. not much fun for a kid of 13 yrs old...

On the occasion when I'd be waiting for a bus I was never alone, other kids used to do the same trek.. now you might think this was the middle of nowhere but it was on some quite busy outskirts of Leeds.

Too right that you point out any single person waiting at a bus stop on their own could be vulnerable - this is not just kids, but both men and women.