Editorial: Country Approach to Safety

Filed in Opinions, Recent News by March 14, 2017

LISTENING to Edwina Southern tell me how her 13 year old granddaughter struggled to carry the body of her deceased young friend to get help after a quad bike accident is heartbreaking to hear, especially as a parent.

Knowing the toll such an event takes on adults we can only begin to image the weight her grandchild will carry for the rest of her life.

Edwina’s reaction was much the same as most who have faced this kind of tragedy, how can we prevent it from happening again?

Disappointingly Edwina said she was met with people pointing out the road blocks rather than helping her find solutions.

In the country we do take a laid back approach to risk, but perhaps sometimes to our own detriment and the detriment of our children.

When we chose to move back and raise our children in the country there were many city friends who romanticised the ‘safety’ of raising our children in the country and riding their bikes to school, some are the same friends who work at major hospitals and are now confounded that I let my girls ride horses and motorbikes, but country kids also grow up with a strong sense of responsibility.

School children making their way to St Mary's primary school on Waverley Road, Scone.

School children making their way to St Mary’s primary school on Waverley Road, Scone.

As a young teenager I went off on horses for the day with friends, wearing helmets until we were out of sight of Mrs Mac and flanked by the best snake dogs on the property.

We loved the sense of freedom and I wouldn’t trade those experiences growing up for the world.

But while we all have a level of risk we accept, I found it interesting that some people, like the ones who put up road blocks for Edwina, have an all or nothing approach to safety.

The Scone Horse Trials committee have done incredible work since the death of Olivia Inglis and turned their attention to finding safety innovations for their sport, which they are promoting and sharing throughout the country.

Quad bikes will always be dangerous, horses will always be dangerous, motorbikes will always be dangerous, but we should always look at ways to improve safety and reduce risk.

I don’t think it should necessarily be law for adults to wear helmets on quad bikes, but perhaps there is an argument for children who rely on adults to weigh risk for them, adults Edwina fears are too complacent.

Cr Sue Abbott has come in for plenty of criticism for not wearing a bike helmet and honestly I could not care less if she wears a helmet, she is an adult who can make her own risk assessment and literally on her head be it.

I do however ensure my children wear helmets, not because it is the law, but because I feel it is in the best safety interests of my children; they can make their own choices when they are an adult, my job is to make sure they live to be one.

Sue is also passionate about building bike paths throughout Scone to improve bike safety and encourage more people to use their bike, something I would like to see as a parent whose children ride their bikes to school.

Council has temporarily smoothed over the edges of the problem in Waverley Street, but there is still no bike path.

Council has temporarily smoothed over the edges of the problem in Waverley Street, but there is still no bike path.

I find it rich that there have been Council staff who have criticised Sue Abbott for not wearing a helmet, yet they haven’t bothered to finish the bike path to St Mary’s and the bike path plans have now sat collecting dust for years.

Related story: Waverley Woes and Worries.

I wish they spent less time taking cheap shots at a Councillor and took proper action to help protect our children riding their bikes.

And I had to raise an eyebrow when Council send a media release to get publicity for their support of the Olivia Inglis Foundation, but don’t prioritise local school children riding bikes.

SignatureElizabethFlahertyR

 

 

Elizabeth Flaherty
Editor of scone.com.au

 

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