AIBU to wish fewer people drove their kids to school?

[zizza]

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...

We walk to school now as I moved to be close to school and it helped when I was commuting but we have previously lived up to 10 miles away from DS's primary (we lived rurally at that point). How would you like him to have got to school at those points?

Pmsl at residents being more considerate tbh. If parents didn't park on double yellows, on corners, on zig zags, stop at pelican crossings to let kids out, park over driveways, up pavements, over bus stops, across from other parked cars etc then their being there wouldn't be so unpopular.

That's all seen daily near our small school.

Our local bus people are urging people not to make short journeys unless they really need to at peak times.
People need to be at work and at school. The buses only let a small amount of people on at a time.
The weather is shite.
So I can understand why people might drive rather than walk. Never had the luxury as a kid as my parents didn't have a car! half hour, in any weather.

I take my older ones to school and pick them up because it is better than being on a packed bus.
It's also been crap weather the last couple of months, rainy and cold. They get to school and the windows are open due to Covid so they aren't going to get warm and dry very quickly.
3 days of the week I'm also on the way to work.

I've had to drive to pick my 2 DC up from secondary school as the subsidised bus is £500 each child.

The school we preferred (in walking distance) which we applied to changed the catchment areas - so even though they could walk there in under 10 minutes they didn't get in.

They are at a school miles away which would cost me £1000 per year to send them on the bus. So I pick them up in my car for less money

I'm all for walking and cycling but I find I have a raft of excuses why we drove our kids to school. Anxiety/SEN. On the way to/from work. Bullied on bus. Cycle theft risk. Late pickup after clubs. Not safe to cycle 6 miles etc. Schools are often much further away from homes now.

In the end having time to walk was a luxury for those who lived close or didn't WOH.

That said, there was a boy in my secondary school who arrived every single day by taxi. Bonkers. (He lived an easy less than 10 minute walk away, too).

We had a parent who lived next to an alleyway leading to the school she always piles her children in the car drives to the school parks on the double yellows and takes her kids in late it genuinely would be quicker to walk ive no idea why she does it and she has been told now they won't accept late children due to covid and crossing bubbles....thinking about it I haven't seen her lately

Forgot to add the school is on a one way system so it really is a long drive around 🤣

Ds' school is only just over a mile away and might take 25 mins or so to walk. If you're not 5yo. I don't want to spend an hour/hour and a half a day walking each way with a whiney child, so I drive him. In better weather, I may cycle with him - him in a bike trailer. There are no other children in our hamlet that go to his school, so he would have no one to walk with. Our catchment secondary school is over 4 miles away, and a 1hr30 min walk. So no, that's not doable either.

What really baffles me about threads like these is the assumption that the majority of children live within a reasonable enough distance to walk to school in the first place. And why is it that it's always the school run that's highlighted. Maybe there are many working adults that could walk or use public transport to get to work but don't. What about moaning about those instead?

I wouldn't mind the amount of people driving if the parents drive safely. Children are in danger at my primary from parents driving too quickly or swerving to get limited parking spaces.

Parents sit in their cars with the engines idling, directly outside the primary school. I hate it, it's so unsafe for small children and parents queuing outside.

I drive mine because DD is disabled and can’t manage the 1.5m walk to her school, I drop her off and then drop DS2 at his primary school which is actually on the next street over from our house, I just don’t have time to walk him then drive DD when they both have to be at school within 15 minutes of each other.
DS1 walks to school with his friends because he prefers to walk than drive.
DS2 will be old enough to walk next year and I won’t have to drop him off but DD will probably always need to be driven.

murbblurb
I like your thinking. My sister says the exact same thing about people who don’t indicate, she says they should be knee capped lol she is kidding lol 😂

[quote Bunnybigears]@Frazzled2207 we would need some new schools built first. Where I grew up it was impossible to go to a secondary school that wasn't at least a 10 mile drive.[/quote]
I get that some people will live rurally with no schools close by. However I live in a suburb of a major city where cars are literally criss crossing each other in opposite directions to get their kids to school. If all of these children went to their closest school, that would be thousands less cars on the roads, in an instant.

My teens both get dropped off, D's starts at 8 and DD at 8:20 and although it's only a 15 minute walk it's through quiet streets where there's not that many people around so we feel it's safer to drop them off. They both walk home at 3 and 4:30. Eldest ds is at college and if he wants to bus it it's ten minutes walk to the right bus stop then 35 bus ride to get there before 8:50 registration so he also gets dropped off with a friend but buses it back at 3.
Everybody tries to do what's best for their situation.

DD12 school is over 4 miles away, which according to Google takes 1 hour 25 to walk. It's an hour on a bus on a good day. Car journey takes 12 mins. House prices near the school are ridiculous- over twice my current house price. It's a normal state school. I wish she could walk to school but it is what it is.

I'm driving my DD at present. She used to get public transport but because of Coronavirus I don't want her doing that right now. She liked getting the bus with her friends before Coronavirus happened and when it's safe again she'll travel by bus again. For now though we drive the 3 miles to our nearest school along with many others.

Why do I see plenty of sahp who are fit and healthy who live a stone throw away from the local primary school driving to the school and back every morning and home time? Then sit outside the back of the school with engines on? I have actually saw quite a few arguments with local residents. Nothing to do with covid or going to work. Some people are just lazy and rude.

People who drop their teens off because they think it's safer than them walking - do your teens not go out anywhere on their own then?

It won't be solely school run traffic, though. A lot of normal "school run" cars will also be carrying on to work. You'll find there are fewer cars on the road during holidays not just because of schools alone, but because parents are also not going into work.

Yes, I forget how awful it was. Made the mistake of trying to get home at school time around 3.15 and was horrified at the inconsiderate parking and the parents not giving way and blocking the road

YANBU. There is far more risk to people's health from air pollution from individuals driving cars than there is from their child getting the bus to school.

We have only had widespread car use for the last few decades, and people have become very reliant on and feel entitled to it very quickly (like flying). We need a societal mindset change and to adapt our ways of living to not drive.

Buses are reduced capacity at the moment with secondary kids left at the bus stop as bus after bus whizzes past. I wouldn’t be at all worried about my teen getting a bus from a COVID point of view as risks are so tiny for her age group. She has ASD though, she would get too stressed. Due to circumstances beyond our control due to her SEN she isn’t at our local school. She was getting transport but they have asked parents to provide instead where possible and we get reimbursed the mileage. It’s a massive pain having to drive her as we both work. Not sure how we will manage it when DH is back to the office.

I love the people saying OP isn't unreasonable based on environment issues, when OP is annoyed because her car drive is longer because of parents driving their children to school.

People who drop their teens off because they think it's safer than them walking - do your teens not go out anywhere on their own then?
My son does go out occasionally on his own (though he usually prefers a lift) but when he does go on his own he goes in the other direction to the park, where there are pavements. No pavements on the blind bends in the direction of his school!