Failing to protect pedestrians

WE hear a lot about child abuse, but ignore a systemic form of abuse — deprivation of the right of children and adolescents to travel, because traffic has become far too dangerous and there are no provisions to walk in safety.

When I was a child, we would play unsupervised in the street and everyone would walk to school unaccompanied, but nowadays children and adolescents have to be chauffeured everywhere. No wonder they are so fat.

Teenagers would cycle or walk distances considered superhuman by today’s standards, but now, unless they can get a lift, with no public transport, they are prisoners in their own homes. You have to be brave or stupid to risk your life walking on rural roads, and nowhere is cycling safe.