Why do people drive their kids to school??

[brightonbaker]

Every day My oldest DD 11 walks to school, she is at secondary school and it is about 8minutes walk away. There is one road to cross. I walk my younger DD 8 to school, her school is the same distance. I then get home and go to work, I'm lucky I can start at 9:30.
I think it is good for them to walk to school as it is a good start to the day, exercise, fresh air etc.
I have two neighbours with older DDs about 13 and 14 who I am quite sure have never walked to school, ever. So they leave about the same time as us and get back about the same time as its only 8 minutes walk and by the time they have found somewhere to park** illegally it takes the same amount of time. So why? Why are they doing this? one of the parents does not work so no need to rush and I'm not sure what the other one does.
Really gets on my nerves so thought I'd see if there are some legitimate reasons why people drive to a very local school ?

One of our neighbours used to drive her teenage daughter to the school bus stop just down the road! Reason for it wasn't time because it took longer to get car out but because her daughter didn't want her hair messed up by walking. So that could be anothee reason for all the cars on the school run. Does my head in though when people live so close. Another of our neighbours once drove two doors down the road to go to a party, I kid you not! Unbelievable!

silver in town centres it could possibly work.

Your constant assertion regarding roads being there before is a meaningless straw man. Most places I commute to by car don't tend to have stabling for my pony.

What's your timescale for this load of bunkum interesting theory? where's the money coming from to compensate people from the loss of the vehicle?

What's your timescale for this load of bunkum interesting theory? where's the money coming from to compensate people from the loss of the vehicle?

why would anyone be compensated for the loss of their vehicle?

The outright ban begins in 2040, but already the number being made is rapidly declining, and as I said up thread, petrol stations are already closing, and not being replaced. Electric cars will be legal, but we don't have anything like the electricity generating capacity to run even one tenth as many as we currently have petrol cars, never mind the infra structure to charge them.

The outright ban begins in 2040

Yup. Of new petrol/diesel cars. So you could buy a new one in 2039.....

There will be a vast improvement to the infrastructure for electric vehicles. That's a far more reasonable expectation than public transport in places where it isn't possible.

Your petrol station anecdote is interesting. Around here as fast as they close in one guise they reopen immediately from another provider.

There will be a vast improvement to the infrastructure for electric vehicles there will need to be, starting now, of course it won't matter how many recharging point there are if we can't generate enough electricity to recharge them......

Your petrol station anecdote is interesting. Around here as fast as they close in one guise they reopen immediately from another provider. look at the national figures, they are closing or converting.

So you could buy a new one in 2039 good luck with that, many manufacturers have already stopped making them. Don;t forget, it is a global market, and many other countries are decades ahead of us in bringing in this ban.

In the end, the age of general private car ownership will have lasted less than a century
Humankind survived perfectly well without cars before, and will do so again.

Yes, they walked! and we will walk, and our children will not know or expect any different

Yes, they walked! and we will walk

Yeah not so much.

Anyway. You've amused me greatly. I've enjoyed this. But I need petrol so disappearing for a while

But I need petrol so disappearing for a while grin carry on poisoning the planet then, you will be hated for generations.

I don't really get the aggression towards / sniggering at silver's info. It's not a surprise that how we source our energy is going to change rapidly in the near future, is it? Is the leap from that to no cars such a difficult one to imagine?

I work FT and need to maximize every second of my commuting time. The suggestion that I would have time to walk a 30 minute round trip and then drive to work is laughable. I RUN from the breakfast club door back to my car every morning to ensure I can get to work vaguely on time. And the same at the end of the day.

I don't really get the aggression towards / sniggering at silver's info its because they don't like it, and think that if enough people get together and laugh at the idea of not having cars, then that will prove it isn't true.

Too many people have simply become psychologically dependent on them, and find it difficult to take on board the idea that they could actually walk many journeys. it takes time, adjustment and a rearranging of priorities, and its an uncomfortable thought when you are used to the luxury of driving, to the extent where you don't even recognise it for what it is , a temporary, unsustainable, privilege and luxury.

I work FT and need to maximize every second of my commuting time. The suggestion that I would have time to walk a 30 minute round trip and then drive to work is laughable. I RUN from the breakfast club door back to my car every morning to ensure I can get to work vaguely on time. And the same at the end of the day. this will change, obviously. Many people cope without cars, you can too

Too many people have simply become psychologically dependent on them, and find it difficult to take on board the idea that they could actually walk many journeys

The problem is people like Silver aren't willing to even attempt to understand people's lives. They think because THEY can walk/use public transport everyone else can.

I think you missed my earlier question as to whether you live rurally Silver?

I have a meeting with clients tomorrow - it would be a three hour walk. So that's useful. Six hour round trip for an hour meeting. If everything worked well on public transport it would mean three changes and a 1 hr 55 trip one way. So near enough a four hour round trip for an hour meeting.

Or I can drive in 25 mins.

This isn't a psychological desire. This is my livelihood, how I pay the mortgage and the bills. There's no-one else to do that for me!

I HATE driving and avoid it at all cost.
It's the parking that drives me mad.
They park all over the corner of a road here meaning you have to walk in the middle of the road to be able to look all ways around parked cars. I don't get why the schools don't have a drop off zone where you just stop let the kids out and then go.

I drop my kids off on the way to work and pick them up on the way back. It's catchment secondary but a good hour to walk, and the roads are potholed, parked up and not particularly cycle-friendly. The school bus is £20 a week with terrible punctuality issues (and a rattly old particulate-spewing boneshaker). As I have to use the car for work anyway I'm not adding to the pollution burden any more by taking them. And by the way I use the park and ride to get in to work.

Our society is very much car-based now and people's lives are thus geared up accordingly. I remember my grandma telling me how they used to watch in excitement for the rare event of a car passing by their house. Many people live a long distance from their workplace, children don't automatically go to their nearest school, families are often geographically spread out and public transport in rural areas is usually sparse.

I'm really interested to see these suggestions for public transport on roads you couldn't fit anything larger than a car down

You can't here. We live rurally. There might be business for a kayaking company though.

The park and ride in our city has been remover and a circular bus route as well. So congestion in the city centre is worse and people who would have caught a bus to the other side of town now have to changes buses in the city centre or drive.
Local and national government has underinvested in cycle routes, buses and rail for decades and is still cancelling projects.

Cars will be replaced by another means of transporting people to these short distance destinations. They wont just remove cars and suddenly everyone must walk everywhere. Even if they did these people would buy electric scooters if it meant they didnt have to walk.

People aren't going to have to suddenly walk everywhere - another similar 'luxury' will come along.

There might be business for a kayaking company though

We did have a canal taxi for a while. Really wasn't very efficient if you needed to be anywhere with a deadline

On the other hand the river taxi in Leeds is fab and free!

On the other hand the river taxi in Leeds is fab and free!

Sounds brill.

Sounds brill

It really is - doesn't go miles but a great way to pop from one end of the city centre to the other! Don't get chance to use it often enough actually, it is really fun

Local and national government has underinvested in cycle routes, buses and rail for decades and is still cancelling projects

This^^ is exactly what I think the problem is. Even in London, many people now prefer Uber to tube and buses, especially at night and I don't blame them - the night buses are awful and the night tube barely covers any of south London. That's london! It's so much worse in the surrounding market towns and worse again in rural areas.

I don't know all that much about it, but fwiw, it doesn't feel sustainable to me; the constant use of cars by so many, to get around that is. It's now a bit strange if you don't have a car (I didn't for a long time and people were incredulous when I told them).

I don't see it as a moral issue for drivers, but it's a big issue for governments who I wish would do more for safe public transport, cycle paths and walking routes

The problem is people like Silver aren't willing to even attempt to understand people's lives. They think because THEY can walk/use public transport everyone else can.

you don't understand that it has nothing to do with what I think, or understand , or say, it is just a fact, you will HAVE TO.

I live in London, but travel throughout the county. I have chosen a place to live, schools and jobs on the basis of public transport and walkableness. I live 5 miles from work, and get the bus there and walk home. ( one misconception about London is that because there are public transport links is that you can travel everywhere by public transport - that isn't the case. The bus journey home in the rush hour would take 2-3 hours, because of the amount of cars on the road, also over crowding on the buses, it isn't feasible, so I walk) My children go to a school 4 miles away, and can get the bus there in the morning, but again find it faster to walk home.

My family home is in a tiny village of less than 20 houses and no shop in a rural area, it is a 15 minute bike ride to the nearest grocers. There is a school bus in the mornings and evenings. It travels about 10 miles, in around 20 minutes. ( compared to London, where a journey half this length on the bus from school in the afternoons can be 3 hours)

we travel all over the UK by public transport, and go camping 2-3 times a year.

The worst bus service I have encountered in the UK is in Devon. Some areas, such as Snowdonia, have fewer, buses, but they are very reliable. Devon has many buses, but badly organised, unreliable and irregular.

The use of cars is a problem everywhere, and public transport needs expanding in cities too, also the use of cars needs to be more heavily penalised. Banning cars with one one person in from the main roads would be a good start.

I live in London

You don't say