On Monday morning, YWN published an absolutely shocking video of three young children on one electric scooter – all without helmets – driving in the middle of a Monsey Road. They laughed at the Hatzoloh member who confronted them.
In response to the video, Rabbi Yosef C. Golding, the Executive Director of Rockland Hatzoloh sent YWN the following:
As the days grow longer and warmer, Hatzoloh of Rockland definitely sees an unusually high number of pedestrian injuries, as well as children on bikes and scooters being hit by cars.
It’s high time for parents to teach safety…and to enforce it to the best of their ability!
Parents need to train the children that there is a right and wrong way of crossing the street and riding a bike or scooter. Given that Rockland’s traffic has expanded exponentially, why should a young child ever be allowed to ride on roads with cars?
Parents must ensure that there is no biking or going on a scooter or roller blades without a helmet, even for the biker with training wheels. Stress that children must wear appropriate shoes that grip pedals, not sandals or other hazardous shoes. Younger children should never ride in the street, but even children old enough to ride in the street need reminders to ride with traffic and obey all traffic laws. That includes red lights, stop signs, and yielding to pedestrians.
Parents should look over their children’s bikes and scooters more than once during the Spring and Summer seasons. Make sure tires have sufficient air, the seat is not loose, and the handlebars are aligned. Additionally, adjust the bike or scooter so it is the right height for the rider. Riding a bike that is too tall creates safety issues if the rider cannot sit properly on the seat or reach the ground.
Children should avoid bike riding or scooters in the early evening, as visibility is restricted, but for times when that is not feasible, children should wear a body reflector while riding, with flashing rear reflectors and a headlight visible for 500 feet.
For children walking on the street, parents should lead by example. Cross only at crosswalks and obey traffic signals and rules. Explain to children the dangers of stepping out from between two cars. Show them how to make eye contact with drivers before crossing and explain that they should never presume cars will stop. Teach children from a young age, when you are still crossing the street with them at your side, to look left, right, and left again before stepping into the street. Remind children to stay on sidewalks whenever possible. Tell them to walk on the far side of the road facing traffic if a sidewalk is unavailable.
As much as parents can work on street smarts for their kids, drivers must be aware that kids will be kids, and the drivers bear the ultimate responsibility in case of an accident c”v. Drivers need to be on the lookout for kids at all times, on bikes and on foot, especially when they spot other children near the street, and during inclement weather when people tend to be less careful. Drivers should always yield to pedestrians – even if they aren’t crossing at a crosswalk. Drivers should be especially mindful when pulling into and out of driveways – especially while backing up.
And pray to HaShem that everyone stays safe.
The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance from Mrs. Malka Millman in preparing this response.
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12 Responses
I have followed this story and I have seen comments about asking the kids their names. Kids today are trained to lie. I once stopped kids for similar behavior and asked their names and their Yeshiva. I was stunned, they laughed and mentioned the name of a M.O type of Yeshiva serving the Syrian community. It was an obvious lie from payos swinging Chassideshe kids. They were urging each other to lie because they said answering would be loshon Horo.
By the way the incident was a kid that was drunk. He chose to spend Purim night lying in the middle of a side street in Flatbush. I had to wait till he was removed from danger before I could leave.
Three kids laughing at hatzalah member worried about their safety?
Very poorly raised. Their parents should be full of shame.
Why not just do a Safety Town modeled by the ones muni LE have been using in thousands of locations in the US?
This is happening daily. It may not be a kid on scooter. It can be a bike and even walking. While on this topic I feel its important to point out another similar dangerous situation. There are many shuls that have an extended Shalosh sudois, so while the fathers are inside shmoozing with their chavarim or listening to the ruv’s Torah do you know what are your children doing? Since I live near a few of these types of shuls, I will tell you. In all likelihood your children are playing some form of tag and are running in between the cars, across the streets. So in case you didn’t realize, there are many yidden that are driving before 72 minutes and there are many non jewish drivers around so for both situations I will ask DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE?
Boro Park is even WORST. I’ve seen kids, chassidishe bachurim riding in the middle of traffic like huligens. They not only not obey ANY traffic laws riding in the streets without helmets going 20-30miles an hours, one of these kids hit an elderly rebbetzin, breaking her rib, not even turning back to say I am sorry.
Another time, I was driving and 2 chassidishe kids which beeped my horn to pointed the finger at me.
The parents are beyond at fault giving their kids a quicker way to make a huge chillul hashem and put not just them selves in grave danger.
How many more accidents do we need ?!?
I don’t know why anyone is surprised. Parents have zero control, even if they try… which today, is not a given. Chutzpah? Again, par for the course. And obviously, gender makes no difference: girls today are just as entitled and obnoxious as boys.
I’m sure that these kids were easily identified by Monsey residents. Now it’s up to the schools to do something about it because clearly, parents aren’t doing a good job of raising their children so schools have to do their job. And then you all complain kids don’t get an education?
Meanwhile, I don’t want to see another name for Tehillim because of avoidable accidents. How about schools (sorry, but no one else takes responsibility) brings in Hatzalah to give these idiot kids some hard lessons on summer safety?
Electric scooters are NEVER okay for children.
Kudo’s to the hatzala guy who took the video, he deserves a medal, even if that vid. isn’t representative of the far greater number of VILDEH-CHAYA MALES of all ages who ride scooters with impunity anywhere they want, and basically terrorize everyone. And not just electric ones, all of these riding-thingies can go at high speed, depending on the terrain.
I don’t consider these vildeh-chayas “jewish” because to be “jewish” is to be (1) a rachman (2) a baishan (3) a chessed-doer. Committing their wild antics is terrorism, plain and simple! Terrorists need to be called out for what they are. And the same goes for the horrifically wild drivers all over our so-called communities. (I say “so-called” because there’s no strong leadership, so how can there be true communities without strong leadership?)
Lately the child-abusers and spousal-abusers in our midst have been exposed. So why not expose the youthful terrorists in our midst as well? Why just focus on some forms of abuse, but not others? So its about time this video came out!!
It’s the same everywhere
Come to Golders Green and see how many kids are so close to getting killed all day every day no helmets no sense of road rules and totally ignoring any cars on the road
It has been reported by TLS that a child on an E scooter was hit while maneuvering between motor vehicles. No injuries to the two child on the scooter. Isn’t it about time parents do something about these scooters?
Perhaps this is a money making opportunity, when we consider that parents routinely hire folks to teach their kids how to ride bikes etc. Perhaps some savvy Yid will emulate the successful curriculums of Safety Town and make a buck by teaching kids via this curriculum.
I absolutely reject the premise that drivers are in all situations ultimately responsible if accidents happen. If a kid runs in front of a moving vehicle which is going at the speed limit and it is c”v impossible for a driver to stop in time, it is absolutely NOT the driver’s responsibility for that accident happening!
It is ultimately the fault of contractors and homeowners who buy and build their own condos on lots that do not have play area for children causing children to run into the streets and that do not insufficient parking causing hazards on the road for drivers, you people are ultimately responsible for the unsafe driving conditions in Monsey and SV. Of course, irresponsible speeding drivers, drivers that don’t respect others and the law are responsible too, but you cannot blame drivers following the rules if a kid runs into the street in front of their vehicle. It is ultimately the parents who are responsible for the safety of their children to instill in them derech eretz and to respect the rules and safety of the road and to watch their young children who need supervision. And btw, these kids who are not taught derech eretz and respect for the law of the roads grow up to be irresponsible and dangerous and a danger on the road for other drivers and pedestrians alike.
Monsey and SV used to be pleasant, beautiful and safe neighborhoods. Unfortunately those who tried to preserve the beautiful suburban character were called “anti-Semites”. You who have destroyed our neighborhoods have yourselves to blame for the overcrowded and dangerous roads. You have built irresponsibly and bought homes irresponsibly. Not only have you ruined our beautiful neighborhoods with irresponsible building, you have made them completely unsafe. There were ten accidents last weeks on the roads with children running into the streets, often behind parked cars which blocked the drivers’ visibility. And for the record, I’m not against building, I’m against stuffing six apartments on a property where only two condos should be, or building 30 condos where only 10 should be. People are not using their seichel, it’s all about the $ and the preference of living in ghetto-like communities which are causing extremely unsafe, as well as ugly-looking, neighborhoods.
Absolutely. Indeed, the endless crocodile-tear accusations of “anti-semitism” over every imagined slight, by the multitudes of those with oversized senses of entitlement, has been wearying and exasperating. Like the boy who cried “wolf”.