To think if you live within walking distance of a school you should walk!!

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We live in a small village with a local village school. Most the local children go to this school which is on a rural road. nowhere in the village is more than a 10 min walk from the school, yet still half the parents drive their children to the school, cause huge congestion problems, turn around and drive home! Then have the gaul to complain about the traffic problems around school time. the irony skips them completely that they are the problem and therefore the solution. There is a walking bus scheme etc but these are the parents who just refuse to take part in such things.
Now don't get me wrong I get drivng to school if you live outside the village, have a disability or some circumstance (i.e. dropping off before going to work etc) but driving for no good reason, when you could walk is lazy and causes unnecessary traffic problems and road risks. AIBU?

YANBU. The difference between traffic during school term and during the holidays is unbelievable and parents who are needlessly driving their kids short distances to school cause huge stress to commuters and make their working day far longer than it needs to be.

Even more galling is when you see big lazy teenagers being driven down the road to school. An entire row of traffic was held up yesterday morning while a woman sat with her indicator on and a kid of about 16 sitting beside her waiting to turn into the cul de sac which houses the local secondary school. She couldn't even drop her dd on the main road in case the five minute walk might kill her!

I don't mind this argument as long as the fat suits in their cars going to work are told to walk/use public transport too. It winds me up no end when I listen to arses whining on the radio about 'school mums' increasing the traffic and preventing their fat carcasses from getting to the office on time.

Not you OP btw :o

How do you know they aren't dashing off to work after dropping off? Or to a toddler group, doctors appointment etc? I live a 5 min walk from the school and do walk whenever possible but often, especially in the mornings, I have to be somewhere else just after 9 so driving to school makes more sense and saves time.

I drive when it's raining and our school is a 10 min walk away. .

I agree with you Gwendoline this isn't just about school mums etc this is about all people who use cars unnecessarily.
Bigwheel this isn't about picking people out and as we've all said of course there are exceptions, but surely the whole road network would be easier if people thought a bit and when they didn't need to use a car didn't - it is a general concept. As you say you walk whenever possible - this is all I am suggesting all parents and others consider doing.

(oh and I was a fat carcass going to the office and listening to the debates on the car radio :o)

OP why don't you suggest a walking bus to the school?

Thanks sashh we've got one! It is mainly used by the parents who walk anyway!

YANBU.
Our neighbours used to drive their 17-year-old daughter to the bus stop every morning. It's 10 minutes' walk away. Now they've bought her a car. I despair.

YANBU.

I've lost 3lbs in weight (and kept it off) after starting to walk to school with DD in September. Her school is half a mile away, but up a hill and across a few nasty roads. She goes on a buggy board and I push both DCs.

I do have some health problems and still have to take DS to nursery by car some days, which is further away, but we have agreed to walk 50% of the time (5 journeys a week) and it is definitely enough to keep me fit! I have had fitness tests and weight monitoring since I started, so the weight loss and fitness levels are proper official and everything.

Driving definitely isn't easier (except for me physically), the parking is a nightmare. I wish we could walk every time, but I figure 50% is a good compromise and it feels manageable, although I am always tired at the end of the day.

I wish we had a walking bus, there are loads of kids who walk from our road, but I have too much going on at the moment to organise one.

Some parents may have seen scary headlines. Many child cases recently
which woujld cause great concern. (Then again some people are wedded to their motors)

I don't mind this argument as long as the fat suits in their cars going to work are told to walk/use public transport too. It winds me up no end when I listen to arses whining on the radio about 'school mums' increasing the traffic and preventing their fat carcasses from getting to the office on time. Quote

In fairness, though, very few people are lucky enough to live five or ten minutes walk from their workplace.

Not a concern if the parents walked with the children though, laughter? Or are we thinking about different cases?

I do this because i work from home (bear with) - i drop DCs off at primary school (10 mins walk) and drive back. The reason? I get back home before 9 and can start work immediately.... giving me a lovely 6 hours to get stuff done before i collect them.

Every time i have walked i get stopped, chatted at and cornered by the other parents (oh lets walk back together, dawdle dawdle) and also the occasional lonely old person (village life eh?). I usually get in at 9:25 annoyed and windswept.

Also - I seriously couldn't give a shit who drives or doesn't and why. I don't give them another thought.

But the reason people give out Itsallinthemind is for the exact same reason. The more parents who take cars out needlessly during rush hour, the later commuters get to work or the earlier they have to leave in the morning. People aren't just complaining to be judgey, it impacts on them.

ps Not meaning you as you have a specific reason.

Bless you for saying so Jus ... it's probably not the greatest reason ever .. and i am a friendlier person than my post suggests honest.

I suppose it does impact on other traffic ... i'd not considered that side of it.

YANBU.

The parents in our village park dangerously, so much so, the police have had to write to them (through the school) and ask them to stop parking where they do. The police monitor it for a while, the parents stop parking there, and as soon as the police stop monitoring it, the parents start parking dangerously again.

The parish council are now in the process of trying to arrange an official 'no parking' zone, but knowing some of the idiotic parents who park dangerously, they'll ignore it completely.

Are all village roads pavemented? Depending on how rural some may have no pavement for some part and the little roads to get traffic zooming round far to fast - especially now it's darker in the morning?

YANBU though my ds is driven to school by dh on his way to work I walk to pick him up. TBF most of the kids at our school do walk.

"Also - I seriously couldn't give a shit who drives or doesn't and why. I don't give them another thought."

Clearly not if you are taking up road space and burning fossil fuels so you don't have to talk to people.

completely agree maddening and yes of course parents have to take that safety aspect into consideration, but certainly in our area there are generous pavements and even short cut pathways throughout the village

YANBU, when my dd was poorly and walking caused arthritis to flare in her ankles and knees, I used to drive from my old house (about 3/4 a mile away) and park near my new house (a 5min walk from school). One of my neighbours (at my new house) drives to the school. I was as I can literally walk there quicker. She then drives home. I can't get my head around it, especially with the price of petrol!

"AThingInYourLife" ... i don't do it so i never have to speak to people, just so i can get to my place of work in good time...it just happens to be my home. I'm chatty enough at 3:15

But i genuinely don't think about who drives in the village and whether or not they could, in fact, walk to school. It's not for me to judge.