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jonboy1

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Ok, it's a bit of a moot point as we're under lockdown at the moment, but where are we supposed to go now?

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The local club with an outdoor track aren't accepting new members, so the options are even less now :(

 

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Could you petition them to build a designated RC track at Churchdown Park, given there’s a specific area for skaters, bmx’s as well as the play area? :D 

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I have experienced this too. Sadly with today's cancel culture it seems that just one person, that takes offence to you driving your car, complains and the village council members vote to ban you. I have no idea why they can't just deal with the person causing the issue instead of ruining it for all but sadly that is what happens. My guess is they don't want a confrontation with the 'troublemaker' so it is easier to just ban the entire activity?

Our rec ground, despite being, you know, a RECREATION ground has a growing list of prohibited activities posted on the gate. It is almost like the only activities allowed are what the 70 year old village council members agree with - gentle strolls and quiet chats about the weather :lol:

We are very careful when we use our village rec ground when doing the postal racing. We stop the cars immediately if anybody comes close and we try and be as quiet as possible.

We generally go down there on Sundays when nobody is about but you still get dog walkers out (who shouldn't even be on there) or parents with young kids out for a stroll etc. Most of them have been fine and we've even had a few people stop and want to watch us race HOWEVER we have had a couple of women mutter to their kids to stay away from the 'dangerous' fast cars.

It does really annoy me that the rec ground is several acres, maybe 6 acres? And they choose to walk or let their kids start playing right next to where we are and then moan! We are just running on a flat bit of the tarmac drive/car park not a specific kids play area so in my view we are posing no nuisance but I am almost certain to go down one day and find a prohibition notice up for RC cars.

The only time we potentially caused a nuisance was using the Cougar on the ice. It is damned noisy compared to the Thundershots and Avante2001, making a high pitched whine that was even annoying me. On top of that, wheelspinning the full pin spikes on the icy tarmac produced a very loud screeching noise. We have old people's homes nearby so we have stopped doing that to avoid upset.

The problem is, it only takes one person to go and try launching their Traxxas off the top of the children's slide etc to give us all a bad rep and get us banned. :(

 

 

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Looks like you need to invest in an IC model car? Although running nitro cars are a bit noisier, but hey 🤷‍♂️

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To be fair to our local town council (not the parish council mentioned above), when I approached them a few years back about using a brownfield site they owned, they were really positive and welcomed the idea of utilising an otherwise wasted bit of land. Sadly the red tape and insurance requirements and other restrictions meant it was not viable for us. However if a club was to approach them then it may have worked because the club has all the organisational structure already in place.

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I think that, with the focus on STEM within the education system, we need to start petitioning for more areas to run, citing the clear educational benefits this hobby has for the youth, and pointing out that seeing the cars running might get young people interested in the hobby even if the cars in question are being run by adults. 

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they have to make sure their is somewhere safe for the dredded dog walkers to get the dogs to foul the place up and the pikey bike theifs to ride the robbed bike safely

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I just don't get it! You can walk your dog, go out jogging, or shopping, but when it comes to taking your RC Car out and get a bit of fresh air it's a no go! shocking. I can't see why it would course a problem, if you take the right precautions. I'm lucky, the car park where I live is big and I can get in a good run, but if didn't have that and people told me that I can not use a park but joggers and dog walkers could, well I would go off my head.

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8 hours ago, jonboy1 said:

Ok, it's a bit of a moot point as we're under lockdown at the moment, but where are we supposed to go now?

image.png.43f8004418bb2c386be57c5a10c052bc.png

The local club with an outdoor track aren't accepting new members, so the options are even less now :(

 

It only prohibits “electric cars”. Get you a nitro basher....

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What was their justification?

at my local skate park, the few RC cars fit in well with the bmx and skateboards 

JJ

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My guess would be that a parent probably complained that it was putting their toddler in danger as they rode their bike with stablisers round the skate park whilst in turn preventing the teenagers from using it properly. I used to ride BMX when I was younger and there was almost always small children riding their bikes in the skatepark whilst their parents sat watching and then telling us off for nearly crashing into them. I know these things are funded by the public and are for public use but some people just don't have common sense.

To be honest though, I would have been a bit annoyed myself if I had to avoid running into an R/C car in a skatepark but running them round a BMX track it's not so bad as long as it's not flying through the air and hitting people. We used to run our cars on our local BMX track between riding our bikes on it but eventually it got re-furbished to be one of the national tracks and it ended up fenced off so we couldn't use it anymore.

I'll add that a comment further up has reminded me of something that happened to me a couple of years ago.... These days the only place I can really run my cars is on a big gravel overflow car park at my local park, it is almost always shut off to cars and it's always empty so we run around on it regularly and have never been told to leave. For the record It's about the size of a football field and is in a large park that is mostly grass and has well maintained foot paths (ideal you would think for riding a bike on...). One day me and my brother were running our cars on it alone when a young family pulled up and decided they were going to teach their toddler how to ride a bike right slap bang in the middle of it, baring in mind this is a sandy/gravel surface that isn't going to be kind to anyone falling over on it. They then proceeded to glare at us as we ran the cars around the perimeter until we eventually decided to keep them in one third until the batteries were spent and we packed up and left. Of course it's a public space and they are just as entitled to use it as we are, but from our perspective if we turn up and someone is using it (some people do workout routines on it for example) we will wait until they are done before running the cars. Live and let live you could say, unfortunately some people don't see it that way.

As for OP,  I can only suggest you write a letter to the council saying you accept the new rules but request that they acknowledge you also pay council tax and would like them to suggest an alternative location for you to run your cars.

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I only asked because In our one it’s combined skate and bmx and at times I have felt guilty but on the whole I try and make sure those get priority and it’s normally only 2 of us there at any one time and we pick 8am Sunday morning.

but in terms of who can and can’t use it then it’s hard because yes it’s designed for a certain set of people but it is public and the cars are way less dangerous than what the BMX do and the speed they go - I’ve seen a few near misses in the bowl between a newbie kid and an adult which could end badly 

such a shame though

id challenge it and ask for a specified slot when you are allowed 

JJ

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Apparently the issue was raised by an old lady who was out walking her dog - on a leash - when it saw the RC car on the skate park and went for it. The lady evidently didn't have the strength to control her dog and it pulled her over hurting her.

I wrote to the parish council prior to the issue being voted on by the committee but my letter was ignored. So I've since written to the county council asking them to investigate. My hunch is that as people already knew it was going to be banned before the meeting (I was accosted by another old lady when I was out with my car to tell me I shouldn't be there) that the lady that was hurt is a friend of someone on the parish council.

The times I've been there I've used the bmx pump track which I've never seen anyone ever use. The skate park is always busy with kids on their scooters and bmx's so I keep out of there. I usually get a little crowd of kids come round and watch and ask questions - never had anyone complain.

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1 hour ago, jonboy1 said:

Apparently the issue was raised by an old lady who was out walking her dog - on a leash - when it saw the RC car on the skate park and went for it. The lady evidently didn't have the strength to control her dog and it pulled her over hurting her.

I wrote to the parish council prior to the issue being voted on by the committee but my letter was ignored. So I've since written to the county council asking them to investigate. My hunch is that as people already knew it was going to be banned before the meeting (I was accosted by another old lady when I was out with my car to tell me I shouldn't be there) that the lady that was hurt is a friend of someone on the parish council.

The times I've been there I've used the bmx pump track which I've never seen anyone ever use. The skate park is always busy with kids on their scooters and bmx's so I keep out of there. I usually get a little crowd of kids come round and watch and ask questions - never had anyone complain.

Says it all, so similar to my experiences too.

The lady should not be walking a dog near a kids play area anyway regardless of whether it was on a leash or not. They still poo everywhere which is awful in kids play areas. Dogs have been banned in all our local play areas and rec grounds yet the owners don't take a blind bit of notice and because so many of the parish council all own dogs they just ignore it. 

The fact the dog went for an RC car (if true) and she could not control it is even more evidence that she should not have taken it near a kids play area. It could equally have gone for a small child on a bike etc. (We've had dogs go for us when we have been out cycling. 

I have upmost sympathy for you, our parish council are useless and do nothing to support the community other than their own inner circle of friends. They even banned football on the rec ground for a short period which forced the kids to play on the streets and promptly cause everybody else issues with balls denting our cars etc. After the bulk of us complained very loudly to them and the police the parish council backed down. Might be worth pushing hard for better explanation and for a specific area set aside for you to run your car. Anything that encourages kids to get outside in the fresh air and away from computer games should be supported by these parish councils not banned.

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57 minutes ago, mud4fun said:

.The fact the dog went for an RC car (if true) and she could not control it is even more evidence that she should not have taken it near a kids play area. It could equally have gone for a small child on a bike etc. (We've had dogs go for us when we have been out cycling. 

 

Totally agree. My Mum is now 75 and rescued a lab / collie cross a few years back. In hindsight, it is probably too big for her given age and size (was a young dog, my Mum is only just over 5ft). The dog would go for squirrels at any opportunity, wasn't keen on other dogs (barking at, not attacking fortunately) and had my Mum on the ground a few times.

So she found a trainer, ex-police dog handler who has helped transform the dog. Now, I don't know how it would react to RC but there's a good chance my Mum could control her now.

If the dog mentioned goes for RCs, I imagine it goes for squirrels and maybe birds too and perhaps the owner should consider a dog walker if they can't handle it? Or some training?

Banning RCs for one incidence like that is pretty and disproportionate and I think you have done the right thing to take it up with the council.

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I have a county forest preserve just a couple minutes from home that I can’t use any R/Cs in and when I was part of an R/C crawling club, all of our events were in other counties due to that and the club president actually had a park ranger go full on Barney Fife and threaten to ticket him and confiscate the crawler truck he was driving.  I’m not sure what the original reason was, but this county wanted hobbyists to buy permits to run their boats and planes in designated parts of the park system, they also had a mandate that you had to have a full AMA Membership to fly, even is it were some cheap, light, foamy that was build from insulating foam and corplast political signs. One county didn’t care so long as we weren’t putting up tents without a permit.....though if you were on the path, you had to watch for cyclists, I swear they would try and run people over! The county I used to work in didn’t seem to care either, I might have park police look at what I was doing, wave, then drive on. I did have one actually stopped and ask about it, but since it was my SCX10, it was slow and his just was concerned it was going to be one of the fast ones that might destroy the grass and/or hurt somebody on impact and once it wasn’t, I got a “cool” before he drove off. 

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I think the numb heads in these councils need to realise we vote them in NOT to rule us and they forget😤 I got into the same heated debate a fair few years ago with a few little Hitler's from my local council at the time! they wanted to put restrictions on "surface rc vehicles" basically wanting to ban them but crazily not a mention about rc aircraft? I sat and listened to them talk absolute s#@$ for what seemed like an eternity then they patted themselves on the back job well done and tucked into the buffet which was expensively supplied for them at our expense🤔  this came about apparently some one person complained to the dictatorship at the council because someone startled his dog when he was walking in the park adjacent to the carpark......in the UK we just love to ban anything which involves fun!

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These old 'clicky' Parish Councils don't like to have their power or authority threatened though - we found that a mere hint at me running for a position on the Parish council unless they took certain actions was enough to get them to get off their backsides and do something. Of course it is almost impossible to actually get enough votes to get onto our Parish council because the vote rigging and manipulation of the village population makes certain dubious communist states look positively democratic :D

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On 1/22/2021 at 9:52 AM, jonboy1 said:

The local club with an outdoor track aren't accepting new members

Is this because they're close because of Covid? 

I can't imagine any club saying ,no no no, we don't anymore members bringing more money into the club.

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That’s ******* - the dog could chase a football or a frisbee - are they to be banned too?

were you not able to attend the hearing?

id carry on - what’s the law you are breaking?

JJ

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Reading through this makes me want to open up an rc park.  Keep "natural" areas for the different sects of play... the fun basher area with some mild jumps, the more extreme areas for the X-Maxx type launching, and the crawler areas.  Have membership, but you can access these areas whenever you want.  Maybe have tracks that are protected and only available on official days.

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Keep in mind the traxxas bros. They can ruin community relations with their nonsense. And often rightly so, they can do a lot of damage and generally disturb the peace with their mere existence.

Traxxas bros ruin everything.

 

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5 hours ago, isomer1 said:

Keep in mind the traxxas bros. They can ruin community relations with their nonsense. And often rightly so, they can do a lot of damage and generally disturb the peace with their mere existence.

Traxxas bros ruin everything.

 

I know what you mean but it isn't just Traxxas, it is a type of owner that goes out with the specific intention of deliberately crashing the vehicle off the highest ramp or the longest jump. Now that is fine if done on their own private property but sadly many do it on public skate parks or play areas where young children are playing. 

There is more than enough evidence this goes on because YouTube is full of videos of people doing just that.

Also noise is an issue. Nitro cars are just a nuisance full stop. They are not only loud and annoy everybody but they are large, heavy and go at high speeds. That is dangerous if done on public areas where kids are playing or people are trying to enjoy other activities. It is true that electric cars can go very quick too but because they are quieter they attract less attention.

I remember going to Tamiyaclub meets down in Clumber Park way back in 2003'ish and it was all electric Tamiya cars, generally quiet and not particularly fast. I don't remember any issues with other members of the public or the park authorities. Then by 2005 there were alot more people meeting up and they started running nitro cars and blasting around at high speeds with alot of noise and attracting negative attention. I knew pretty much then that we'd be banned if this continued. In the end I hear that the meetings were stopped due to insurance reasons but in reality I think the park had complaints and the park authority took action. I went down to Clumber with my daughter in about 2009 on our own, we were playing in a totally empty area, not another person in sight but a park services guy turned up and told us the RC cars were not allowed.

We haven't been back since, it is a long way to go to risk being turned away.

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8 hours ago, isomer1 said:

Keep in mind the traxxas bros. They can ruin community relations with their nonsense. And often rightly so, they can do a lot of damage and generally disturb the peace with their mere existence.

Traxxas bros ruin everything.

 

I have a couple of Traxxas.  That must be my problem...  smdh

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On 1/23/2021 at 12:33 PM, mud4fun said:

Says it all, so similar to my experiences too.

The lady should not be walking a dog near a kids play area anyway regardless of whether it was on a leash or not. They still poo everywhere which is awful in kids play areas. Dogs have been banned in all our local play areas and rec grounds yet the owners don't take a blind bit of notice and because so many of the parish council all own dogs they just ignore it. 

The fact the dog went for an RC car (if true) and she could not control it is even more evidence that she should not have taken it near a kids play area. It could equally have gone for a small child on a bike etc. (We've had dogs go for us when we have been out cycling. 

I have upmost sympathy for you, our parish council are useless and do nothing to support the community other than their own inner circle of friends. They even banned football on the rec ground for a short period which forced the kids to play on the streets and promptly cause everybody else issues with balls denting our cars etc. After the bulk of us complained very loudly to them and the police the parish council backed down. Might be worth pushing hard for better explanation and for a specific area set aside for you to run your car. Anything that encourages kids to get outside in the fresh air and away from computer games should be supported by these parish councils not banned.

This is my real issue - I'm expected to comply with the rules and get accosted by old dears if I don't - yet the same old dears are quite happy to let their dogs go and poo everywhere. Who is doing more harm? Could my car cause a horrible disease in a child, or cause it blindness? No! :angry:

As I said above, I have always kept out of the skate park as that has always had one or two kids playing in it, and at the end of the day, if they are getting exercise and enjoying themselves then I consider they take priority. The BMX pump track I've only ever seen other kids playing with their RC cars on (one has a ridiculously fast Losi Mini-T which was great fun to watch) so again, if no one else is on there I'll have a blast around it. I usually take my Durga and the CR-01, so if the track is being used I go and find a little track by a stream a bit further away and play with the CR01out of the way of everyone. On the occasions when I have used the track and someone with a dog has walked by I always stop until they've passed. 100% of the time they acknowledge this and say thankyou, share a smile and carry on quite happily. 

And with the Durga, the grass on the field is too long for it - it'd just stop dead - so it's not even as if I can accidentally trip someone up or hit a dog or child. And the CR-01 is so slow if they can't get out of the way then they have a serious problem. Reminds me of Speed 3 episode of Father Ted :D

So why does one grumpy old woman who shouldn't have a dog she can't control be able to control what everyone else does there?

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