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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to wish fewer people drove their kids to school?

294 replies

zizza · 13/03/2021 15:31

It's been lovely commuting to work since the schools have been (almost) closed. I thought it was because of people also not working, but turns out most of the traffic at "normal" commuting times is school run traffic - kind of knew that from past experience of how much better it in is school holidays, but this has been highlighted by the Covid situation. AIBU to think that more children should walk to school?

I have had to explain to my mum in the past why people drove to school if they have a job to go to straight after dropping off so don't have time to walk to school and then back home to get the car, but I'm still mystified by how many secondary school age children get dropped off by car (again, I understand that some people live too far away from their secondary school to walk but what happened to kids walking up to about 30 minutes to get to school with their friends?) I think I'm getting old...

OP posts:
TeenMinusTests · 13/03/2021 15:33

At the moment you might find more kids getting dropped than usual perhaps?
People might be concerned about their children travelling on public transport or school buses with children from other year groups.
Plus if they are working from home they may have more time to drop their child.

Bunnybigears · 13/03/2021 15:34

Are more kids getting dropped off because there is a pandemic and the parents don't want them on the bus? My secondary age child lives too far away to walk and gets picked up by the school mini bus. He is now isolating for 10 days because someone else that gets the mini bus had a positive test, if I dropped him at school he would still be able to go in so after his isolation I may start driving him to school for the first time in his life.

Frazzled2207 · 13/03/2021 15:37

I agree with you generally but I know several parents currently driving their kids to school to avoid the bus which isn’t great with a pandemic on. Personally I’d like it if there were more safe cycle routes for the kids. We always walk but is easy for me to say as it’s extremely close. That said I’m staggered how many parents drive a really short distance. Is massively adding to air pollution around schools.

lookdeepintotheparka · 13/03/2021 15:39

Personally I have to drive DD to school because she has a disability and despite living locally, she can't manage the walk.

Other people I know that drive their kids to school that live in walking distance do so because of how dangerous our rural roads are. The road the local kids walk down to school has an extremely narrow pavement and cars racing past them at 60mph. Neither the school nor the highways agency will deal with it until there are at least 2 fatalities Hmm Sad

CharlotteWeb · 13/03/2021 15:39

Surveys have shown that the majority of traffic pollution in the city where I live is caused by short (

Sammiesnake · 13/03/2021 15:40

As a mum who works full time and has no choice but to drive our kid to school , I’m sick of being criticised for making a good choice for our family. It’s usually by other women who are/ were either SAHM, part -time workers with more time in the morning or from parents who live significantly closer to the school anyway. I have to be able to get my children to school safely and on time, then also make it to work on time. No I can’t just get up a bit earlier Hmm because the issue isn’t having time to walk them to school - the issue is having the time to turn around and walk back home after before driving to work. I wouldn’t be able to keep my job! Also the reverse is true too because I collect them after school but I finish work at 3pm and collect them at 3.30pm. If I had to drop my car off at home and walk to school to collect them, I wouldn’t arrive until 4.15pm.

AndyBarbersIntern · 13/03/2021 15:40

But why does your need to drive somewhere (work) trump someone else’s need to drive somewhere (school)?

icecreamgirl94 · 13/03/2021 15:41

YANBU but then I’m massively biased. I live on a side road near a school and it’s completely inaccessible for about 3 hours a day, parents sit in their cars for at least an hour before pick up time with their engines running, they park on pavements, across drives, and even on top of the cones that the school put out to stop them parking in certain places! Emergency vehicles can’t access the road and our bins and recycling are regularly not collected. A few years ago the teacher’s car park was being resurfaced for 6 weeks so all the residents got a letter from the head teacher to say the teachers would be parking down our road and we’d just have to live with any inconvenience because the teachers were far more important! My aunt lived in this road 15 years ago and it was nowhere near this bad.
Okay I’m done, rant over, sorry! Grin

GachaBread · 13/03/2021 15:43

I personally drive mine. I have 2 in secondary a boy and a girl and my others in primary. On two occasions of my daughter walking to and from school she had two different men following her. Can you imagine how that feels to know your child has to dodge perverts on her way to school. My son also had local bullies of a nearby school pull out a knife on him and steal his phone. As a parent we do everything to keep our children safe and driving them to school and picking them up is top priority for me.

Twobrews · 13/03/2021 15:43

There used to be around twelve subsidised buses serving the catchment of the local high school. Then the funding was cut for all except those living over a certain distance away. Many of the routes are pretty unpleasant to walk, despite being deemed safe by the council, so parents started dropping off and picking up in cars.

BlackberrySky · 13/03/2021 15:45

It should really be all short journeys that get a rethink. The school run is a rather easy target for this, but there are plenty of others journeys that could also be undertaken on foot. Plenty of people drive to the local shop or to nearby family when they could just as easily walk.

Murraytheskull · 13/03/2021 15:48

@Sammiesnake

As a mum who works full time and has no choice but to drive our kid to school , I’m sick of being criticised for making a good choice for our family. It’s usually by other women who are/ were either SAHM, part -time workers with more time in the morning or from parents who live significantly closer to the school anyway. I have to be able to get my children to school safely and on time, then also make it to work on time. No I can’t just get up a bit earlier Hmm because the issue isn’t having time to walk them to school - the issue is having the time to turn around and walk back home after before driving to work. I wouldn’t be able to keep my job! Also the reverse is true too because I collect them after school but I finish work at 3pm and collect them at 3.30pm. If I had to drop my car off at home and walk to school to collect them, I wouldn’t arrive until 4.15pm.
Yep couldn't agree more! I would love to be able to walk my child to school every day. But I have a full time job I have to dash off to get to, so I can't. It's as simple as that.

Usually the people complaining the most about 'school run mums' are middle aged men who have never done a school run in their lives, have no grasp of childcare pressures for working women, but resent the extra traffic (in my experience that is).

XelaM · 13/03/2021 15:48

Why don't you walk to work?

I'm guessing the same reasons apply to kids as well...

ChameleonClara · 13/03/2021 15:48

Your question was incorrect, it should be AIBU to wish fewer people drove? to which the answer is, of course, yanbu.

But each must look to their own driving, not question other people's.

We got rid of our car a few years ago because I hated being a great big hypocrite on this issue.

murbblurb · 13/03/2021 15:52

Anyone sitting outside the school for more than a few minutes clearly doesn't have work to go to. Anyone sitting parked with the engine running for any time at all needs to have their car keys inserted anally.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 13/03/2021 15:55

I wish I didn't have to spend over two hours a day I the car taking my children to and from school each day either. Used to take about an hour pre-lockdown one. Combination of roadworks plus staggered drop offs and pick ups have more than doubled the time.

It would take about 3.5hrs to do it on foot.

Todaytomorrowyesterday · 13/03/2021 15:56

Usually a lot of the children use the train to get to school near us but understandably a lot of parents are deciding to drive them.

Frazzled2207 · 13/03/2021 15:57

@murbblurb

Anyone sitting outside the school for more than a few minutes clearly doesn't have work to go to. Anyone sitting parked with the engine running for any time at all needs to have their car keys inserted anally.
I recently found out this is entirely illegal and have started knocking on people’s windows! Is terrible
WorraLiberty · 13/03/2021 15:58

YANBU, I used to be a Lollipop Lady and the school traffic used to almost double if it just started raining a bit.

But it's not just school children. So many people regularly make unnecessary car journeys.

I live a 3 minute walk to a parade of shops and the amount of my neighbours who jump in their cars, rather than walk over is ridiculous.

willibald · 13/03/2021 15:59

YABU. It's none of your business we don't all live in some utopia that suits your standards. My h takes our secondary aged children in on his way to work as one has autism and can't use a bus, which also in many regions particularly rural ones cost a fortune but they don't qualify for any help with transport if they're less than 3 miles away and the walk isn't safe.

It's 2021. The car has been around for a century now. It's not going anywhere. Get over it.

Buy a horse and buggy if it bothers you so much.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 13/03/2021 15:59

YANBU but I'm biased as I don't have a car so we've always walked, we manage it.

Level32 · 13/03/2021 16:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NotOnMute · 13/03/2021 16:00

I grew up in London, and it was standard that you hit Y7 and got on the bus / tube. No one was driven, unless they had something like a broken ankle or a double bass. Now, many parents feel Y7 is too young for public transport, and drive their kids. Something has definitely changed, and it’s odd because public transport now (especially buses) is much safer and more reliable than it was when I used it in Y7.

Jumpers268 · 13/03/2021 16:00

@murbblurb

Anyone sitting outside the school for more than a few minutes clearly doesn't have work to go to. Anyone sitting parked with the engine running for any time at all needs to have their car keys inserted anally.
You realise school drop off and collection is a set time (especially during Covid). When I finish work I will sometimes have to wait 10 mins in the car to go collect my son from school. Always with the engine off but I didn't realise sitting in my parked car annoyed people Confused.
BlackLambAndGreyFalcoln · 13/03/2021 16:00

@ChameleonClara

Your question was incorrect, it should be AIBU to wish fewer people drove? to which the answer is, of course, yanbu.

But each must look to their own driving, not question other people's.

We got rid of our car a few years ago because I hated being a great big hypocrite on this issue.

I completely agree. Why were you driving to work OP? Why don't you walk or take public transport?

DD walks to and from school (1 mile each way) because we don't have a car.

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