Parents - keep your kids on a tight leash near roads , please

The horrible stories on Page 13 of todays Standard just about sum up the unpleasant side of life that can suddenly visit anyone in London. The main story tells of the" Madness of Knife Crime". Yet another youngster has been stabbed to death in South London. apparently Rukewve Tadafi - aka Peanut - was the fourth ex-pupil of Crown Woods College in Eltham to have been targeted. There must be plenty of whispers about rivalry from other kids who were there a few years ago. The other story is about a 8 year old running into the road and being hit by a car. The inquest says the driver was blameless. This made my blood run cold, because the same thing so nearly happened to me a few weeks ago.

Crossing the major junction in Camberwell on my motorcycle, I had reached the other side and must have been going at least 20mph. Out of nowhere a young boy ran into the road, directly heading for my path. His head was down, looking neither left nor right. Something made him stop and i brushed past him, with a rizlas width sparing him a broken limb, maybe worse, and me god knows what kind of hassle. Imagine what its like for the driver or rider to hit a child. Its natural for neutrals to blame you; it couldn't be the kid's fault, could it? Or the parents who were standing in the middle island like statues. I wobbled to a stop, my heart was going like the clappers. The relief was huge. The van driver who was behind me pulled up along side.
"Those parents should be flogged" he said.
" Christ, did you see that kid ?" I blurted.
"Mate, they should have a kid like that held tightly by the hand".
It was a good point. Was this the first time he had run into the road without looking or thinking? I doubt it. So you would think the thicko oiks would grab him while waiting for the light to turn green.
No sir. Not a murmur, not a thought. Just bumble on in your daft world, madam.The only accidents I have had on the bike in my 16 years of riding have been caused by pedestrians stepping into the road. There have been many close shaves with cyclists swinging out with the headphones no doubt blaring out. But I have been lucky.On the day a biker was apparently decapitated in Pimlico having been hit by a truck, one can just hope the luck doesnt run out on me.Wheres some wood.
It is also an irony that the successor to Mayor Boris has been voted in today.Johnson is the one politician who has truly done things that have improved my life. The day he allowed bikes to use bus lanes was a wondrous but obvious change for the good. Henceforth I have not been forced to ride a hairs breadth from the ongoing traffic heading at me. Biking became reasonably safe, not just a pastime for suicidal maniacs. The massive numbers of scooters, bikes and cyclists in London now has got to be down to this law, and the new Superhighways which look like they have been properly thought through. The nightmare junction at Oval is really good, I  hope the road works on Blackfriars bridge are equally as successful. The disruption to traffic around there has been mighty, not helped by the Crossrail station being built at Clerkenwell.
They have not all been a success. The weird arrangement going round the Oval cricket ground is hard to comprehend. The cyclists follow a purpose built track half way round. It then ends. The bikes have to cross into the bus lane. The bikers are forced back into the road with the trucks. All this with a right turn up coming that newcomers will not expect. How else do you get onto Kennington Lane if you are coming from Camberwell? Quite bizarre, but the timed signals allowing cyclist to go straight on heading for Stockwell from Elephant are really good.

 Lets hope the new mayor gets a grip of this major London problem - the traffic system. Has it ever been so? I remember Joe Strummer singing a line about it in 1978 ! There was not so much different stuff on the roads then, was there? But i bet 8 year old kids have always had a few dummys in the class!