City of Melville Flatten's Kids Bike Track

[Aushiker]

Good to see the City of Melville sticking to form ...



Source: BikeFreo

Andrew

[hiflange]

Misrable sods.
From dealings with councils in my area it's pretty clear that few if any council staff live in the area they serve.
With country councils at least you know the idiots buggering the joint up are locals and they do feel the heat.

[bychosis]

Happens all the time around here. It's for liability reasons. Council can't afford to leave something that wasn't designed in case on of the helicopter parents decides that little Johnny's broken arm was caused by the 'council' infrastructure and call in the lawyers.

Generally teenagers get back in and build it up again fairly quickly.

[SNAKE ®]

Awesome way to get kids back inside and on computer games.

[Mububban]

Happens all the time around here. It's for liability reasons. Council can't afford to leave something that wasn't designed in case on of the helicopter parents decides that little Johnny's broken arm was caused by the 'council' infrastructure and call in the lawyers.

And as great as it is for the kids to do this, we all know that many parents these days absolutely would call in the lawyers if someone did get hurt Whereas the kid would get a cast, his classmates would draw all over it, and he'd feel like a legend. Now all the kids have learnt out of this is "don't bother trying stuff because it'll just get bulldozed."

or they learn to hide it better and not tell anyone next time

[SNAKE ®]

Gone are the days when we grew up hurting ourselves, bleeding from the knees, scuffed elbows and broken arms from the local park. It was a lesson in character building and fundamental to early childhood development. We endured battle scars on our shins from sharp pedal warfare, fought off dogs chasing the back tyres and developed a greater understanding of outdoor world.
RIP Life..

[tomness]

Happens all the time around here. It's for liability reasons. Council can't afford to leave something that wasn't designed in case on of the helicopter parents decides that little Johnny's broken arm was caused by the 'council' infrastructure and call in the lawyers.

And as great as it is for the kids to do this, we all know that many parents these days absolutely would call in the lawyers if someone did get hurt Whereas the kid would get a cast, his classmates would draw all over it, and he'd feel like a legend. Now all the kids have learnt out of this is "don't bother trying stuff because it'll just get bulldozed."

or they learn to hide it better and not tell anyone next time

Has anyone actually heard of parents lawyering up against local councils when their child injures themselves on an obviously non approved track? I would be surprised, and disappointed, if this was the case in Australia.

As a parent if my sons hurt themselves on a home made track / jump then I would put it down to a learning experience for them. I may investigate the track in question and if it was of dubious enough construction that an accident was inevitable then I would either remove it myself or ask the council to, but I certainly would not sue the council. I would also consider it my role to ensure that my boys can evaluate risk and take responsibility for their actions. I expect there will be plenty of skinned knees.

If however my boys were on a council installed playground and the structure collapsed and put my child in a wheelchair then that is a different scenario, as I have a expectation of safety standards for officially constructed play equipment.