tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6007305602804756486.post4800835368420153750..comments2024-02-14T20:13:10.431+00:00Comments on OtherAberdeen: Desire Lines: Incipient, Thriving, Extant, ExtinguishedUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6007305602804756486.post-27168195561561654122011-05-08T07:36:54.972+01:002011-05-08T07:36:54.972+01:00@Doug, Thanks for the comment - much appreciated. ...@Doug, Thanks for the comment - much appreciated. What you say about the railing at Broomhill School is illuminating. <br /><br />There was no intent to deceive in the choice of photos we've used. What we'd hoped to point out is that the railing extinguishes a desire line - it is not now possible for a pedestrian to cross corner to corner, as is natural.<br /><br />Rather the barriers now force the pedestrian off the desire line and to make several right-angle turns. The solutions you mention: bigger fences; telling kids not to play, all reinforce the point that everything is done to accommodate the convenience of motor traffic, while impinging upon the convenience of pedestrians and the right of children to behave as children. Perhaps a better solution outside the school would be a 'home zone' or woonerf type installation, not the alienating solution of barriers and restrictive 'rules' which pre-punish potential victims, rather than address the issue of irresponsible and uncivilised motorist behaviour around schools.<br /><br />The street-furniture set up at his school teaches children only that being outside is dangerous and that walking to school is second-best, all the while infantilising the motorists who will continue to assume that the safety of others is nothing to do with them. We do not think that this is a "very good reason" at all. <br /><br />We think this is appalling. "Railings are failings".<br /><br /><a href="http://aberdeencars.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-danger.html" rel="nofollow">They'll be insisting that kids wear high-vis tabards next</a>... Oh.Other Aberdeenhttp://otheraberdeen.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6007305602804756486.post-82321591752649505102011-05-07T15:54:35.909+01:002011-05-07T15:54:35.909+01:00Some of those photos are a bit disingenuous - that...Some of those photos are a bit disingenuous - that railing on the corner of Broomhill Road and Gray Street is only on the corner, which someone unfamiliar with the corner wouldn't realise from looking at your photos, which slyly make it look like a continual barrier. Not to mention the fact that the railings are there for a very good reason - Broomhill primary school is on that corner. As a former pupil, I can remember children having to be reminded numerous times in assembly not to run across the road when cars were coming, something that would have been much less frequent had the close-by residents not kicked up a fuss when the school tried to erect the tall fences they wanted to, in order to stop footballs going over the fence.<br /><br />In the end, of course, they just told us to stop playing football. And we wonder why children don't play sports any more...Doug Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15017218581660887134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6007305602804756486.post-60120252606728965162011-05-04T21:36:05.466+01:002011-05-04T21:36:05.466+01:00You underappreciate the railings. I live in Rotter...You underappreciate the railings. I live in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and you cannot imagine how very "urban" and "authentic" those railings look. Especially the Crown Terrace and Woolmanhill ones. I wish we had them here!uair01https://www.blogger.com/profile/14538242264866015155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6007305602804756486.post-48077319897708490572011-05-04T11:10:24.356+01:002011-05-04T11:10:24.356+01:00I tend to think of the railings erected as failing...I tend to think of the railings erected as failings: even one tells of a design failure.Debra Storrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00709860197387717627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6007305602804756486.post-77145429658195787652011-05-03T18:59:13.522+01:002011-05-03T18:59:13.522+01:00Another excellent piece - pedestrians in Aberdeen ...Another excellent piece - pedestrians in Aberdeen are 2nd best - virtually always. Caging those on foot in this way encourages motorists to speed up as they no longer have to look out for those not driving. It's why a blanket 20 mph speed limit in the city centre is farcical - it will never be adhered to unless motorists, by their shear weight of numbers, slow themselves to standstill. In so many ways Aberdeen has the potential to lead in the "small city for 21st century living stakes" but the backward approach of planners and politicians will never allow the nerve, panache, or joie de vivre required to do so; exemplified by their myopic 'visions' for Union Terrace Gardens.Mick Millernoreply@blogger.com