Latest news with #DanRoss
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Annfield Plain speed campaign plea from crash victim aged nine
A nine-year-old boy who faced surgery and lengthy rehabilitation after being run over at a speeding blackspot is heading a campaign for traffic-calming was airlifted from West Road in Annfield Plain, County Durham, to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary in April last year, on what his dad Craig Ross described as one of the worst days of his local community has backed the campaign, called Silence the Loud, to force changes to the road where residents say they even hear cars speeding, especially at County Council said it had been in discussions about safety on West Road, but the ward's new councillors said it is time to "get on with building the thing". Dan was walking to the cricket club near his home when he was Ross said: "As he was unconscious, I didn't know if he was alive. He was in a bad state."The youngster stayed in hospital for six nights and had metal pins inserted into his then needed weeks of recovery in a wheelchair followed by rehabilitation using a walking frame. 'Am I going to die?' Mum Jess Stephenson said the crash has had a long-term impact on her."I'm so frightened to let him out my sight. I find it difficult living so close to where it happened."We've always said it's an accident waiting to happen, but we never thought it would be one of our children."Dan's grandad David Stephenson, who started the safety campaign, said: "When Dan was lying on the side of the side of the road, he said, 'Mam, am I going to die?'"No mother should have to hear that. That's the day I was determined to get something done on this road." West Road, which is known locally as The Loud, is designated a 30mph zone but campaigners say its long, straight, downhill stretch encourages speeding and children have been killed there in decades at Dan's school, Catchgate Primary, created posters which have been displayed on the aged nine, said: "There's normally a lot of cars speeding. Cars here just go too fast."Classmate Jackson said: "We have been helping, but cars have still been going over the limit and fast."Mr Ross said: "You can see people aren't doing the correct speed. "We need something put in place to slow the traffic down. It's only a matter of time before it happens again."Durham Police said it was "aware of the community concerns" and was using speed camera vans to identify drivers breaking the campaigners want permanent measures introduced which have been estimated to cost about £50,000. 'Time to deliver' So far, the local authority and Durham's Labour Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen have pledged £33, current councillors for Annfield Plain and Tanfield, Darren Grimes and Karen Allison of Reform UK, said they were prepared to use their local budgets to meet any said the pair "have been pushing officers to get this moving"."They're finalising detailed designs and getting contractor quotes as we speak. "We're talking weeks to have firm costs and a delivery timeline, then we can get on with actually building the thing. "The residents of Annfield Plain deserve action, not more meetings. These campaigners have done the hard work, now it's time for the council to deliver."Dave Lewin, Durham County Council's strategic traffic manager, said: "A number of discussions have been held regarding speeding concerns on West Road and, as a result, we are working hard to introduce traffic-calming measures to address the issue."We will continue to work with residents, police and the police and crime commissioner on this important issue." Follow BBC Sunderland on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bittensor App Gets Hack Risk Cover From Nexus Mutual-Backed Insurance Firm Native
Digital-asset insurance broker Native said it arranged $25 million of blockchain-based cover against hacks for Team Rizzo, an operator of machine-learning businesses and staking validator services on Bittensor, the popular cryptocurrency-driven AI network. The London-based company acted as a broker and also an underwriter using its own syndicate and capital pool on Nexus Mutual, a decentralized insurance alternative that backed Native in October of last year. The cover protects against smart-contract hacks leading to the loss of Bittensor tokens (TAO) used to validate the network's proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Hacks are a persistent worry in the crypto ecosystem, where insurance cover remains thin on the ground, particularly in more experimental and esoteric realms like staking or decentralized finance (DeFi). Last week, Bybit, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, lost $1.5 billion to North Korea-linked hackers. Nexus Mutual arrived in 2019 with an alternative form of insurance cover for the emerging DeFi sector, incentivizing a community of members to deploy assets into blockchain-based syndicates, similar in some ways to how the Lloyd's of London insurance market allows syndicates of investors to back risks. Native, which runs one of the larger capital pools on Nexus Mutual, also acts in a more traditional broker role providing access to Lloyd's for certain types of crypto-related insurance cover. The striking thing about the Rizzo validator risk on Bittensor was the speed with which Native arranged the cover, which took just four weeks, Native co-founder Dan Ross said in an interview. 'This is the first time Bittensor has been underwritten,' Ross said. 'Team Rizzo wanted to buy their own policy to attract people to come and stake to their own validator and make them feel safe. So we've been able to create a new product, underwrite a new protocol, get third party smart-contract cover with a $25 million limit in about four weeks. If we did that with traditional insurance, that's a three to six month thing at minimum — if it could be done at all.' The Bittensor policy will be followed by cover for bitcoin staking platform Babylon in the coming weeks, Ross added. 'Team Rizzo has played the long game to become one of — if not the most — consistent and performant validators on Bittensor,' said Bittensor founder Jake Steeves in a statement.
