Walking vs driving kids to school

[OpportunityKnocks]

I've seen a few rants about traffic on local Facebook pages.

Every single time there is someone who says 'well, if the parents walked their children the half mile to school then we wouldn't have this problem' with an inference that parents are lazy.

Well, actually, people usually drive because it is quicker, just like they drive to work because it's quicker than walking or public transport.

Parents, like the rest of the population have stuff to do. It wound me up because a lot of comments were targeted at parents that don't work. I'm currently on mat leave and drive DS to/from preschool. I have other reasons why I drive him aside from time, but that's irrelevant. Why is my time any less valuable than someone who has to go to work? That half a mile is a 40 minute round trip walking vs a 20 minute round trip driving.

So AIBU to call these people out on blaming parents for traffic?

There is no logic to being willing to drive half a mile but not take a pram/buggy board for the distance.

The issue with people driving when they don’t need to is most schools are very limited to space nearby. Most parents who drive when they don’t need to also insist on being right outside the door. This leads to daft parking, it leads to people blocking pavements. It leads to people sitting with engines on. Basically it makes it much more dangerous for people to walk.

Depends on what the traffic rant is tbh. If it's the atrocious parking then I have every sympathy with the complainant as a few bad people spoil it for the majority.

If you wish to fire a come back at them then I would suggest along the lines of statutory guidance recommends that pupils aged between 8-18 years are expected to be able to walk 3 miles to school and back and pupils under this age to walk 2 miles. Provide there is a footpath/suitable route (taking road speeds and type into consideration).

By their reasoning of 'lazy parents', there are also lazy shoppers who choose to drive to the supermarket instead of walking across town to do their shopping. Or drive to the library, the gym, their doctors.

However; anyone can justify why they need to drive when someone who lives closer should walk. It doesn't mean they are right or that their time is more or less important than another persons.

@Sirzy I think this is spot on.

I also think that the limited space issue outside schools creates some sort of arms race with parents, where people are determined to get a perceived advantage over others.

You can't really change behaviours by asking people to be considerate - so many folk would seethe at the thought they're parking further away to be nice, and then the next day they see other parents getting an advantage by parking directly outside the door.

You then also have the issue of timing - if people want to drop off as late as possible and then speed off to work, you're going to have folk mounting kerbs and parking across drives just to make their commute as short as possible.

The only way behaviours will change is if people are fined £100+ when they infringe parking laws, or if the school operate a very sharp and effective parking monitoring system. Neither are very likely so chaos continues.

I do understand traffic rants, but mostly its about the WAY in which people park - their general lack of consideration for both the local residents and the space (or lack of it) on school grounds.

Its clear to me, that most of the parents that use vehicles to take their children to school, are on their way to work (as am I) I need to be at work on time - If I walk my child to school so they are there on time, then it will take me 15 minutes to get home to pick up the car, which makes me 15 minutes late for work.

Likewise, when I collect my child from school, on the two days I'm able to do so, I use the car.
Part of it is being lazy, yes, part of it is that I'm time-short.

I have an hour after I finish work to have my lunch and run around cleaning and doing washing. Then I jump in the car and get DS2. Then we have approx 40 minutes to do his favourite thing - visit the charity shop on the way home, then go home for a snack, and hang out together for a short time before we have to go out again to get DS1 from the station, which has to be done in the car.

Mostly at our school, folk aren't too bad. There are some inconsiderates, but it doesn't happen that often.

@sugarbum

But can you and others concede that the WAY in which people park, is directly related to the kind of lifestyle you just described in the paragraphs below?

If someone has to get to work straight after drop-off, that means they're very tight for time.

If they pull up to the school and find every legal parking space within a 5 minute walk has been occupied...then it's pretty clear to me what some people will do next.

At that point of self-imposed desperation, then someone's driveway, a grass verge, anything becomes a place to dump the car.

As I've said dozens of times on other threads, so much of this could be solved if parents got up earlier and organised themselves to ensure their parking provision, instead of bowling up to the school at the latest possible moment, finding that parking is all taken, and then dumping their car in a panic and putting kid's lives at risk, just because they'll otherwise be late for THEIR job.

Oh my god people sitting with engines on also drives me mad. One woman I know who lives less than a mile from school (doesn't work, able bodied etc). Drives to school 20 minutes early (longer than it would take her to bloody walk there and back) to get a good parking space and sits with her engine running right outside for the entire time. Gives me the absolute rage.

I also agree with PP that I'd be very much in favour of just having the area around school heavily patrolled and huge fines for anyone who parks illegally (double fine if it's also dangerous). I think you'll find the people who had absolutely no option but to park like a dick because of their busy schedule will suddenly manage to be more considerate.

i drive my children to school everyday,especially when so cold.its a nightmare to park by schools.i have young children and walking with then can b stressful if they fall over etc or run further then u would like. i don't want school pick up to be stressful when i haven't seen them all day.i want it to be as quick and easy as possible then i gives me more time to spend with the children x prepare them a meal x

It’s a nightmare to park at schools because of the number of lazy people who drive when they could so easily walk but don’t want to wrap up warm!

It’s a nightmare to park at schools because of the number of lazy people who drive when they could so easily walk but don’t want to wrap up warm!

😂 😂 Are you kidding? So you can drive because it makes your life easier but others can’t do the same?

I have to drive my DCs, always used to walk but now don’t have the option.

For me it isn’t if you choose to drive, it’s if you choose to park like a prize idiot as close to school as you can. It’s the dangerous parking that irritates me the most rather than the volume of traffic (which is crazy in my town now).

I don’t drive at all unless disabled DS is in a position where he is unable to. But the dangerous parking from others makes that much harder for us

i have young children and walking with then can b stressful if they fall over etc or run further then u would like
How many do you have? Surely this is all part of educating them about walking carefully and getting them to obey and walk closely. It's a great time to engage with them about their day whilst teaching them how to walk carefully.

With this attitude, it's no surprise we see 11/12 to who are a danger on their walk to and from school and appear totally clueless to the danger if indeed, they've always been driven everywhere until then.

@GinDaddy I can't really answer that in relation to our particular situation, because honestly its rare that someone parks like a dick on the school run. (where we live) Maybe we're just not that desperate to get to work

Seriously though, I can honestly say that even if I'm running late, which I rarely am, I still don't park anywhere that will inconvenience someone else. I'm talking about a minute or so, not the 15 minutes it would take me to walk home to get the car, so the difference between obviously late for work, and not.

The school is in a residential area, but its not that hard to find places to park so I guess we (the parents) are lucky in that respect.

I realise not everyone is that conscientious.

With this attitude, it's no surprise we see 11/12 to who are a danger on their walk to and from school and appear totally clueless to the danger if indeed, they've always been driven everywhere until then.
It's the reason we have threads every summer where a poster is worried about how their child will manage getting the school bus/walking to secondary school because they've always been driven door to door and aren't allowed to walk to their friend's house or the shop round the corner because there's roads.

Well, actually, people usually drive because it is quicker, just like they drive to work because it's quicker than walking or public transport.

Well, actually, if you're able-bodied and in good health, driving a distance you could reasonably walk IS lazy.

i have young children and walking with then can b stressful if they fall over etc or run further then u would like

You are doing your children a huge disservice by failing to teach them the basics of walking safely. Lugging them around like sacks of spuds in the car is a terrible response to these issues.

Half a mile does not take 40 minutes walking

Did when I was doing it with a 2 year old in tow as well....

Most of the people dropping off by car at our school then carry on to work - so it's not as simple as walking the kids to school. Lots of families don't have SAHP any more, they have other places to be.

TBH I think that staggered starts would be a good idea. Our school lets kids in from 8:10 (not breakfast club, we don't have that) which means parents can actually make it to work on time, unlike a lot of other schools in the area where you're dropping off for 8:30 then being persistently 10 mins late to work.

Did when I was doing it with a 2 year old in tow as well....

But not if the two year old is in a pushchair. If you walk most places the pushchair is your convenience tool for when you are pushed for time instead of the car. When you are not pushed for time they can walk. I think when people walked more people generally kept using their pushchairs for longer. I certainly went in a pushchair still at 3 years old. So did my D.C. However we used the car less. Reins were also common place. People criticised, albeit passive aggressively, both my pushchair use and use of reins. But I walked miles with my D.C., still do. Other children were in the car more.

YANBU- stuff the sanctimonious who blather on about all those reasons. At the end of the day, everyone assigns their time a value- sometimes I drive sometimes I walk. Mostly the difference is if we'll be late. But that's my choice to make.

i drive my children to school everyday,especially when socold.itsa nightmare to park by schools.i have young children and walking with then can b stressful if they fall over etc or run further then u would like. i don't want school pick up to be stressful when i haven't seen them all day.i want it to be as quick and easy as possible

^ this right here is the problem - people want life to be as effortless as possible, so even though they're harming the environment, making the parking situation worse and annoying the school's neighbours, they crack on anyway. No wonder the planet's in such a state.

COPD will become worse, with more and more youngsters suffering, we are literally killing our kids

It’s not just pollution from cars, it’s so many things, and it’s all taken so lightly.

Nothing I can do

It the abstract environment

We all can do something and it all helps

It’s not just pollution from cars, it’s so many things, and it’s all taken so lightly.

Walking to school and back again with all my kids (sometimes with kids in both infants and primary I was up and down that hill three times a day) was quality time. You know, that thing we're all supposed to get with our kids.

Occasionally we would go home the long way round which involved going via the swingpark. Other times we would turn right as we came out of the school gates and go for a walk up into the hills. Every day we would find things to look at and talk about. Notice changes in the environment. Buds on bushes, early flowers, birds... Nature.

The most important things in the world to me are my kids. What did I have to rush home for when I had them with me and there was stuff to explore?

DS2 and I walk whenever we can. There's a forest next next to his school I walk the dogs in once DS2 is in school but I also travel for work often so have no choice but to drive him there some days.

It's about balance; realistically we can't walk every day, but we do when we can so that he's learned to ride his bike and walk and cross roads safely. I'd love to be able to be home with him and walk every day, but I also know I'd go mad without my work, so it makes sense to try and find a nice middle ground.