The Idiot Patrol and Their new Puppets

The idiot patrol has gains some new puppets. Imagine That. Anyone I know would not give them the time of day.

SCOOTERS AND CHILDREN AT RISK

by
Evelyn F. Altheimer-Fain

Recently, I afforded with a most unpleasant sight - mothers on scooters as large as motorcycles with unrestrained and no helmet wearing toddlers riding along with them. In one instant, the toddler was riding in front the mother gripping the handlebars of the scooter with a death grip.. In the second instant, the toddler was pressed up against its mother back and holding tightly onto her blouse. The legs of these little toddlers barely stretched across the seats of the scooters. it was also clear to me that any sudden stop would have end their tiny lives,  or at the very least left them in a vegetative state for life.

I cannot explain the shock of these mothers’ actions. However, theirs open disregard for the safety of lives of their children told me that they were not thinking rationally. And the upmost thought that flooded my mine was that at any given moment a sudden stops, an accident with another vehicle, or a bump in the road could sent those toddlers flying and landing with shattered brains and broken bodies. I also wondered were these mothers that uncaring, that confidence, or just so plain stupid that they would knowingly put the lives of their children at that type of risk. 

According to a spoken person for Saint Petersburg Police Department, who shall remain nameless by me, if these children are unrestrained and not wearing helmet, then is a citizen’s duty to call the police department. Although not contacted, I am sure that the Department of Children and Families would like to have their own say to parents who put temporary joy rides such as in these two incidents before the safety of their children.

Under their study, Protecting Children, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has this to say about children safety while riding motor scooter.

Scooter Safety

When lightweight, foot-propelled scooters came on the market a few years ago, their popularity exploded. With that, popularity came a remarkable increase in injuries, however; scooter injuries now exceed in-line skating injuries. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 40,500 scooter-related injuries were treated in emergency rooms in 2000. About 85 percent of those injuries have been to children under age 15. Five deaths have been reported. Most of the injuries occurred when riders fell from the scooter. Fractures and dislocations to arms and hands were common.

In addition, under the section for helmet requirements:

Bicycling and Scooters

Many local jurisdictions have imposed helmet requirements, which are directed mainly at children (table 2). Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws regarding bicycle helmet use. These laws, a relatively new phenomenon, began in the early 1990s. They target young riders, usually those age 16 and younger. Rhode Island and Tennessee amended their helmet laws in 1998 to increase the age to under 16, rather than age 9 and age 12, respectively. The American Academy of Pediatrics has proposed a model law to require the use of certain safety equipment by children when on bicycles.

Many state legislatures have been quick to respond to scooter safety concerns. For example, several states have considered bills to address scooter injury problems. In most cases, the bills require the use of safety equipment such as helmets or protective pads. Maryland passed a law that requires individuals under age 16 riding on roads or pedestrian ways to wear helmets, which must meet or exceed certain safety standards. A new Maine law requires scooter riders to ride on the right side of the road.

In light of this information, why would mothers/parents risk the safety of their children for a few moments of pleasant when it is clear that those are at the high risk of turning deadly? According the risk of accident with scooters is very real. Furthermore, the number of motorcycles in the United States is about 6 million. At this reporting no governmental agency was being counting the number of scooters. However, among motorcycles, between 3,500 and 4,500 riders are killed annually in the United States

Nevertheless, this report does not lessen the riders of scooter risk or responsibility to the children as riding scooters pose as a death risk are just as dangerous as motorcycles and far more dangerous than driving a car (Scooter Vs. Automobile Accidents).

According the U.S. Product Safety Commission, 2,870 emergency room-treated injuries relating to motorized scooters were reported for the first 9 months of 2001. There were 2,760 injuries reported in the same period the previous year. Of the motorized scooter deaths at the time of this report and involving children, in September 2001, a 13-year-old boy died after being struck by a car while riding a motorized scooter in St. Petersburg, Florida (from Scooter Data).

In the 2012 Florida Statutes, Title XXIII, Motor Vehicles, Chapter 316: the State Uniform Traffic Control law states clearly that:

 A person under 16 years of age may not operate or ride upon a moped unless the person is properly wearing protective headgear securely fastened upon his or her head, which complies with Federal Motorcycle Vehicle Safety Standard 218 promulgated by the United States Department of Transportation.

Although, this statue states mopes, I am sure that the United States Department of Transportation would agree that scooters pose the same threat to children under 16, and that this law would (if it has not already occurred) include riders of scooters.

In closing, I really hope that one of the readers point this article to the any parents that they know to take such high risk in joy riding with they children. For me to see two mothers with their unprotected children on scooters, which are potential death machines, has certainly brought to light that there is a need for parents education in the realm of protecting their children while riding with children under 8 years of age.

The Fool

While surfing the web this morning I ran across an interesting article about the "Fool". What makes this article interesting is that it is a part of a bible study by Bob Deffenbaugh and is entitled "The Fool (Proverb 26:1-11)". It is part of the bible study series:  The Way of the Wise: Studies in the Book of Proverbs. And, after learning something important recently, I added the link to the study to my “A Catholic's Life Archives” site. I entitled the page “The Devil and The Fool” so check it out.

A Few Quotes For Better Living

A well-known writer once said “True friends are like diamonds, precious and rare. False friends are like leaves, found everywhere.”
 ---

 "It's hard, but sometimes it is better to have no friends for a time than to have the wrong friends. The wrong group can lead you down all kinds of paths you really don't want to be on. And retracing your steps can be a long and hard journey."
---Sean Covey

“In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.”
- Lee Iacocca
 
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
- Oscar Wilde

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”
--- Albert Einstein


And this writer says, "Be careful of who tries to befriend you".

Peace

Lies That Evil People Spread

 Update - October 21, 2012: I don't to know what lies these people tell each other to making them want to harass me. However, as I wrote a short piece today on paranoid schizophrenia and drug addiction.Perhaps, they thought is was a reference about them. It was not, but if the bill suits the reader, then get yourself help and stop  driving by and harassing me.  I know that someone is triggering you from where I live now. I do not care who they are. This does not mean that I do not know who they are. Their lives is little to me and mine should mean less to theirs. So stop increasing each others paranoid.  I Yes, have reported these your actions.

Oh, yes, if you want your point of view known, then stop being cowards who drives by to harass a sixty year-old lady and leave your comments.
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I want people to stop believing the rumor that I do stop know what I am doing. I know full well what I am doing. This rumor, as with all the another nasty little rumors concerning "Me", was started by those drug pushing families and the families of those children you hear out there everyday and who live on the far south side of town.

Some people are bless in not being aware of those children voices and other just are unable to hear at all. I envy both.  And, I have come to believe that the problem with all those children, and there are more then I can count, stems from the purchase and use of decades of badly mixed illegal dry use. I believe this from deep within my soul. I do not think this could happen to so many children  by any other means.  Some people will want to criticize me for my belief. However,  I say, "Let them but only after they disprove me."

In addition, their parents had the option of coming to me to see if we could come up with a way that we all could co-exist peacefully and live normally. They made the other choice, and that choice has hurt everyone involved, especially their children. Believe me, I am not to blame for what those parents have done and made of their children, and I resent the harm they have caused me and mine.

Nevertheless, and back on track, the rumors that I do not know what I am doing is a flat out lie and was started as a way to discredit my police reports, my abilities and my intelligent. Don't be fooled!

No, don't be fooled by those bad people lies. Most importantly, DON'T BECOME THEIR FOOLS!

Those people are bad to the bone, and they are users of innocent people in the worse way. They have not only caused my family and me much trouble but countless of others who thought they could trust them.

Use your own judgment and not let they pull you into a situation not of your own but one of their design and for their personal gain.

And another thing, I don't want 'thugs' attempting to start conversations with me while I am either walking or riding my bike on the street. I either trust them nor like them. So, stop the crap!

PS: The police department has a copy of this post.