Why do some people have a problem with parents driving their kids to school?

[VolkswagenBeetle]

I realise this up there with P&B spaces etc. but I'm bored so...

I'm not talking about people who park right across the school gate (who are annoying as hell), but people who drive their kids to school and park (properly). My dds' school is 2.2 miles away (just checked that on Google maps ). Atm DH drops me and the kids off at my dad's house (who lives around the corner from the school) at about 7.45am on his way to work, and we then walk the 5 minutes to school from there. But come September when he's being made redundant we'll go straight to school in the car.

It would take well over an hour for my youngest dd to walk to school, so it makes sense to use the car. I usually get 2 buses back home cos I'm a lazy cow walk back home when they're in school, and the same going to pick them up.

Actually we pay taxes so we can have a state education system, and yes we are 'lucky' that in the UK education is a right, not a privilege. Posters have given several clear reasons here why school transport is of concern to others. Otherwise there wouldn't be school transport policies, targets, Walk to School Week, etc. We live in a crowded place and need to consider the needs of others, as well as our own. Or at least, society would be a better place if everyone thought that way!

It's the bad parking and irresponsible driving that makes me angry. School's rarely have convenient parking available as there are (quite rightly) various restrictions around them. OP, it sounds like you have a sensible system in place currently and I would suggest you continue with it.

It's acceptable to drive you Primary School aged child to school if you live a distance away (2 miles+ imo) but I can't think of a single reason why a Secondary School aged child would need to be driven every day.

I drive to DD's school every afternoon and DH does every morning. It's over 3 miles and not really walkable. It is on a bus route but why would I take the bus when I have a car? Also, it is on our way to/from walk - so not an additional journey anyway. I never park inconsiderately so that isn't an issue. Pretty much every child at DD's school is driven there as most are travelling.

TBh though even if DD went to the catchment school it is over a mile there, so we'd still have to drive - we just don't have the time to walk there and back, and still get to work in time.

chocoroo - we will give DD the option once at secondary school. It's in a similar location, not far from her current school. So again, it will be on mine and DH's way to/from work. If she wants a lift she can get one, else she can go by bus. Can't see the problem tbh.

I live spitting distance from DCs school. 8.10am, first car generally parks outside my house just to get close to school gate (not even easiest parking space for hasty departure to work after dropping off). Needless to say we saunter out of house at 8.47 for 8.50 start by which time drive is often blocked. People often justify blocking drive by saying they'll only be a few minutes; sadly severaly people doing this one after the other can make me late for work. Ditto when ariving home from work, drive often blocked 20 minutes before pick up time! Twice now I've been given the excuse "Sorry, I'm a grandma!" I don't care what relative you are, if you are fit enough to walk a couple of hundred yards you can jolly well park further away and if you're not then you either need to get there early enough to park properly or get a permit for the school car park. One dad used to block our drive EVERY day in his van just so he could turn up at the last minute, when my husband confronted him this chap's answer was that he was disabled! DH basically told him that didn't make it right to keep parking over our drive.

We knew the road would be busy at school times when we bought the house but weren't really prepared for the rudeness of some people who have blocked your drive, watched you get into your car to leave for work and proceded to sit in their cars chatting on their phones still blocking your drive! 10 minutes after dropping my own dc at school is my record for waiting to leave my drive.
I don't care if you drive or not, please be considerate where you park!!!

Sorry for rant, that went on a bit ddn't it

Its 6 miles to dds school so I don't walk. I think its personal choice for those that do. What gets me is people who buy a house opposite a school and then hate that its busy at school times. I have reject many houses because they were close to a school because of this issue.

I can understand why people who live near schools become irritated with people parking across their drives etc. It would drive me insane.

I don't understand why people would bother about how parents get their children to school otherwise. A little more time spent thinking about their own business rather than other people's would do them some good I think!

Two miles extra walking every day for a primary age child might be enough to make a significant improvement to their health - four miles would normally be good for the parent as well. The problem is of course that logistically it's sometimes a nightmare to get DCs to school before going to work yourself, and a half hour walk that's enjoyable at 3pm can be a PITA if you're picking up from after school club at 6pm.

But there are definitely people who drive simply because they are lazy unused to walking reasonable distances, which is putting their DC's health at risk, and for that reason I think a blanket message of "walking good, driving bad" is worthwhile, and might help a significant minority of people who have a choice to change their mind.

because the mums (and i'm only referring to those where i personally know where they live and what they do before/after picking kids up), live no more than 500 yards from school and are sahm.

there is no need. they are simply being lazy and not helping their chiildren gain independence.

kids should be walking on their own (we live in quiet (but not too quiet) village), we did it for decades!

instead, the cars are parking on double lines, the grass, anywhere where they shouldn't and are polluting the air and posing a danger for those who do walk.

Because most of us have a job to get to and there is no school bus for DD! I dearly wish there was a bus service as it would mean I could get to work earlier so I could finish earlier. And no she can't walk it's over 7 miles away.

From the other side of the coin, I visit schools in my job & parking is often vastly inadequate & parents often just stop in the middle of the road by the gate which holds everyone up hugely.

Poulay - apart from the parking - you could say all the same things about people using their cars to go to work.

Not so much. Schools tend to be in residential areas, places of work generally are not. Also while there is a lot of congestion at 5-6pm when people are coming home from work, it's less damaging because you don't have children trying to walk/cycle/scoot home at that time.

Also people's places of work tend to be quite disparate so the congestion tends to be on main roads, whereas school runs are more concentrated.

even though dd1 who is now 12 has been driven to school every day as we live nearly three miles away

she has been riding her bike to school and back after she did her cycling proficiency and I took her around town on our bikes a couple of evenings too to get up her confidence

she is ever so excited at her new found independence

pugsandseals- parking is inadequate I imagine because most schools were built in a time when there weren't any/few cars (my DS'S primary is 150 years old) and there simply isn't the space to build a massive car park.

If I want to drive to school I have to leave 1o minutes earlier to get parked, than if I walk.
It takes me 20 minutes on my own at a decent pace ,25 minutes with DD.

I sometimes watch the traffic build up when some idiot blocks the very narrow road. Or if someone is having a delivery by truck (especially builders lorries that take forever to unload). Fists have flown.

But what annoys me is the last minute drivers gunning down the road, parked either side, children trying to cross. And people who insist on parking acroos the zigzags.

"Would anyone seriously expect a child to walk an hour to school and an hour home?"
I did for years. I didn't seem at all unreasonable and it didn't do me any harm. (Got very wet sometimes but that was just expected)

Mine walk 40 mins (just over 2 miles) each way, every day, rain or shine, because dh has the car for work. Walking 4 miles a day seems to me a basic minimum for staying fit, no? I'd worry for kids who weren't capable of that.

I saw a mother dashing up the road to school a few days ago (late), she said 'I've just moved the car three times, don't you hate it when that happens, I found a space then someone left so I moved to that one, and then another one left'.

This made me think 'WTF?', considering that the furthest away she could have been is about 200 yards.

Also see people, waiting, engine on, for someone to leave, so they can bag the closest spot to the school gates. Again, there's no problem getting a space 100 yards away, just get out and walk two minutes, but no rather than take the available space, they have to go and see if they can park RIGHT outside the school gate. And when they can't, they turn their giant baby-crushing --tanks 4x4s and go back again. Arseholes.

We walk everyday (2.2 miles home according to my fitness app, there is slightly less as DS2's drop off is last) due to lack of car, and yes, I do get judgy at those parents who live metres from school and drive. Those would be the ones that were moaning they got parking tickets for parking on the pavement the other week.

I've had cars drive up on the pavement behind us terrifying my kids before now, or shout abuse because they are walking on the grassy bit they want to park on!

I did used to laugh at the parents of one girl who used to drive her to school (DS1's old school) and go home, and I'd be back before them because using the footpath through the park was quicker than going round the road - it was only a 5 minute walk! That's bonkers!

It's pretty much physically impossible to walk to our school which eliminates judgy pants nicely Most kids come by school bus though which obviously makes a huge difference.

dd walks but ds's school is 6 and 1/2 miles away so...

I agree that many schools were built before cars were thought of, however seeing as many private schools have bought extra land to provide a parents car park I see no reason why more modern state schools couldn't do the same! The only state school I know which has done anything to aid congestion installed a one way in and out system round a giant roundabout in front of the school. Sadly most schools seem far too keen to sell as much land as possible to developers rather than use it wisely

Poulay - fair enough. I live in a small town, so the work/school runs tend to follow the same routes.

We walk a mile to school, it's a nice walk and an easy way to get some exercise into my day.

Whilst I'm sure there are some people who drive when they don't really need to, I don't judge them as a whole as I don't know their individual circumstances.

I do however judge the woman who is a driving instructor, in her driving school car, of a well known national driving school, who stops everyday on the zig zags right outside the gate. I keep saying that one day I will take a photo of her and send it to their head office.

I've never heard anyone comment about who drives to school - is it really something that gets talked about in RL?

I would be very surprised if anybody judged someone for driving over 2 miles to school. But I think it's ok to exert a little gentle peer pressure at much below that. Our school is massively over-subscribed and in a very densely populated part of London. This year the admissions cut-off was less than half a mile. So, assuming most families live nearby, I am always surprised at how many drive. OK, some may have moved further away since starting at the school, but still. If I walk past the school at 2.30 (which I often do) I see them stretching all down the road, arrived early (really early!) to nab the parking spots. Do they really all live so far away it's quicker to arrive at school 45-60 minutes early?