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?

If you can walk, you should walk.

Well, actually, people usually drive because it is quicker

I don't think this is always the case.
We walk to school daily and have a couple of neighbours who drive.
They leave maybe five minutes maximum after us and usually arrive at school the same time, sometimes afterwards, rarely before us.
We used to live on the same road as school. I would see parents parked in cars outside school bagging a space. I could walk to the supermarket, shop, walk back, put my shopping away, maybe squeeze in a cup of tea or start dinner and walk to get my children from school and all the time they'd been sat in their cars or just stood in the playground.
Some of these parents will have genuine reasons to drive but for others it's simply the case they don't consider not driving as an option.
You only have to look at the threads about non-drivers to see how essential some people feel a car is to their lives.

Why is your time less important? Why are my lungs?

40 minute round trip. With roads. Yes, it absolutely does.
I guess we can't go as the crow flies, so maybe 3/4 a mile, but it absolutely does!

I think in general people should walk whenever possible. But I agree with the general sentiment that people should stop piling on parents doing the school run. We could all stand to make some changes to our routine in order to reduce carbon emissions and traffic. The school run isn't anymore more or less important than Mister Big Salaryman driving to his Big Important board meeting

But the whole ‘time’ issue is that you’ve got to go straight to work from school for a certain time and wouldn’t make it otherwise.

What’s the ‘time’ issue that means an extra 20 mins is unreadable, if you don’t have to get to work?

I don’t care who drives or walks personally but if there’s no disabilities/bad weather/work then most of the time it is laziness, I drove this morning because I felt lazy. I don’t know why people don’t admit that

School runs certainly bring out the lazy. We walk unless Ds (who is disabled) is having a bad day, it’s less than half a mile to school. Yet there are half a dozen houses we walk past who drive every day without fail and then drive straight back home. One lives about 20 houses from the school yet drives every day!

Pick up time is the worst. Due to his disability Ds can’t cope with walking home, he finishes school 15 minutes before anyone else yet most days I struggle to park because of the amount already there sat in cars!

The whole catchment of the school is less than a mile and a local pub and church within 5 minute walk have both offered their car park for parents to use with a safe footpath.

Obviously some people need to drive even when it’s a short distance but for many it’s laziness

I think everyone should in general be driving less and walking/using public transport more.

I just think everybody should be doing what they can to help cut pollution and also to help their children (and themselves!) be more healthy and active.

If someone works close enough (and is able) to walk then they should be walking too. It's not a vendetta against school parents, but more that you know their homes will be within walking distance most of the time.

From many places it would be quicker to walk than drive once you count parking especially allowing time to get "good" parking...

^This

I nearly always walked with DD. We lived half a mile from her primary and it most definitely did not take us 20 minutes to walk there - even when she was small! I was working but fortunately had a start time of 9.30 and worked locally so I could walk her there and then hurry home, pick up the car and drive to work. It was honestly easier to do this than try to find somewhere to park near the school.

When she got to secondary that was a mile away and she walked there by herself or with friends. By that stage I was walking to work myself and sometimes I would pass a house where a mother was getting her car out to take her son to school. From his uniform I could tell he went to same school as DD but honestly, from where they lived it really would have been quicker for him to walk bearing in mind the traffic and the one way system at that time of morning.

In some ways it saves time to drive but walking save some time in a different way as it kills two birds with one stone as it helps you and your child get exercise while doing the journey.

If it takes 40 minutes to walk half a mile then your preschooler might need a bit more practice at walking.

I don't know the individual circumstances of any of the parents driving their children to my school. But even if they're all just lazy, I don't really care about anyone else's laziness. I only care when that laziness means that the streets I have to walk with my children are packed with traffic, making it more dangerous for us to walk because of all the people driving and parking like idiots and belching exhaust fumes into the air. And then fewer parents who can walk are inclined to, because the traffic is so bad, so then there's more people in cars and the traffic is worse... and so on. It might save YOU a few minutes but it's not great for everyone else.

I could walk m kids to school. It takes about 25 minutes. But Then I'd have to walk home again, and I'd be 30 minutes late for work very day. If I walked to collect them, I'd have to leave work 30 minutes earlier. So that's 5 hours less work each week.

It's not just laziness!

Plus round here, some of the roads are not safe enough to walk along. Would you walk your primary aged child along a dual carriageway with no pavement? Thought not.

Why is my time any less valuable than someone who has to go to work?

I work pt. I drive when it is a work day (though I use wraparound school care so it is quiet - though I wouldn't have time to walk) and I walk when I am at home.

It is nice to be outside, it promotes a healthy lifestyle. And there is definitely more time.

I don't think I'm more important... I do think I have to be at work on time. And so do my employers!

I drive my children to school, I’m a SAHM but I live about 5 miles away from school at the top of some cliffs the school is in the village at the bottom, there’s no way on this earth I’m walking everyday, I might be classed as lazy but I’d have a heart attack 😂

Cars have taken over people’s lives. Yes, partly because of the ridiculously crap public transport we have in our small, rich country, but also it’s like a kind of fetish. 10 years ago I used to work at a primary school a 15 minute walk from my home (I always try to find jobs as local as possible). I didn’t drive at the time and enjoyed the walk or, occasionally, cycling. But other teachers would frequently offer me a lift home. I’d explain I’m just a 15 min walk down the road, and usually they’d look at me with a mixture of bewilderment and pity as they set off for their typically 15-30 minute drive home themselves.

Half a mile does not take 20mins to drive or 40mins to walk. You’d have to be driving there slower than 2mph. Your car would stall. You could push your car faster than that.

So either you are right about the distance, you do live half a mile away and therefore YABVU to pollute the air for convenience sake when a half mile walk is teeny tiny.
Or
You are right about the drive time as so actually live around 10miles away or more and travel by car in heavy traffic or built up areas at around 30mph for 20minutes to take your child to school. Which means YANBU because 10miles is too far to walk to school.

I work FT and walk DS just under two miles to school. Well, he scoots.

Bully for you. Want a medal? 🏅

I work full time. Even if I could walk DD to school, I would be late for work as I'd also have to walk back home to get my car.

As it is, she is unable to walk the five minutes walk so we have to take the car.

Is it really so difficult to accept different people have different lives? To assume it is laziness is just completely ignorant

This morning, the school drop off was busier than usual because the pavements round by us are sheet ice. If councils want people to walk to school they should be out gritting the pavement.

Round trip. Not each way.
And it does. Welcome to my town

If half a mile takes you 20 minutes to drive you must be doing it at walking speed anyway!

Is it really so difficult to accept different people have different lives? To assume it is laziness is just completely ignorant

I think most people accept and understand that there are parents in circumstances who cannot walk for whatever reason - including because they have to head straight to work from the school.

But those who aren't in that kind of position really should make the effort to walk.

From his uniform I could tell he went to same school

That is all you can tell. There are any number of reasons he wasn't walking, instead you judge them.

I can't understand how half a mile can take 20 minutes to drive unless you're in heavy traffic?

I used to think exactly this. Then I became a parent and the reality is: on my working days whilst school is a 15 minute walk away it means I have to walk home again to pick up the car before I start my day. Whereas if we drive those days I just jump in the car after and get straight out.

Well it is parents who cause traffic to be heavy, certainly in my area. My children's school was a mile and when I wasn't working we always walked. It took about 20minutes but mainly because there was a steep hill. Every day the roads were busy with parents and trying to cross the road safely was a nightmare with cars parked everywhere.
I know some parents have to drive but a lot of it is laziness.