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...

At a guess 25% of people who drive secondary school aged kids to school have good reasons - additional needs, no footpaths, no buses or whatever. The rest seems to be about themselves and not society..

Those Enfield videos are a total disgrace. Enfield is one of the best locations for transport in North London. There is no need for this mayhem.

YANBU OP.

These threads are always full of people who say "but I have to drive my kids to school because >insert perfectly reasonable and understandable excuse here

How do you get to work op?

Let’s set aside the £800 per school year cost of the school bus from the village to the town 5 miles away with the nearest secondary school and consider the fact that it was not until after the Christmas term, when my son was in year 8, that we were finally offered a place on that bus. With no other bus or train options and a road much too dangerous connecting the two, we had no option but to drive him in and back everyday for the whole of year 7 and the first term of year 8. It was massively inconvenient to us and made it really difficult to get my other DC to their primary school in the village without dragging them along too everyday (in the car). So, before you wish harder for less parents to drive, may I kindly redirect your frustrations to the utterly shit and expensive transport alternatives provided by most local councils.

It's been lovely driving my keyworker kids to school since people have been working from home. I thought it was because of people not doing the school run, but turns out most of the traffic at drop off and pick up times is people driving to work. AIBU to think that more people should walk to work?

I work in a fairly small town and i am surprised at how many people drive their kids to school. Most live under 2 miles of the school, could walk it in 15 mins or so and to cross the whole town for an average person would take like 40 mins at a push. I have a 40 min commute, very rural, not good buses etc so if i decide to put my DD in school in that town i may need drive her, so feel i cant really comment to my colleagues. But Im jealous of them who could walk work - most dont- as its an easy way to keep fit without thinking. In previous jobs i would walk 10 -15 mins there and back and sometimes at lunch. Was noticable how this got me in a good baseline fitness. I also walked to school as a child/teen (except if raining etc) and mostly liked it.

Also the way that the parents park at our local school is just disgusting! Not a care in the world for anyone but themselves. It took 3 days back at school this week before the school had to send an email out about inconsiderate parking.

How many of those on this thread who drive their kids to school (and where time constraints or disabilities are not an issue) park 05+km away from the school and walk/their child walks alone the rest of the way to ease the traffic and parking problems in the immediate area of the school?

The infrastructure isn't always there. I do cycle with my DC but it's not the most pleasant of journeys, we have to negotiate a very busy junction to a secondary school where people drive in huge 4x4s and swing into and out of the turning without thinkng there might be a tiny 5yo on a bike (and there's no pavement) The entire journey is quite stressful for me! I would love it if there was a clear cycle path, away from the road so my DC weren't breathing in fumes and having to dodge traffic.

I love the school run- I get 15 minutes peace walk on my own and they're always chatty about their day on the way back.

It's before and after when's a big pile of shite (endless nagging for them to get dressed and then whinging the other side about homework). The school run is an oasis of calm.

I feel sorry for people who drive, the traffic and parking is always wank.

We don't do catchment areas in my county, it irritates the bejesus out of me that I have to get held up by morons who park their car AROUND the roundabout taking a stupid amount of time to get past my local primary school in order to then have to drive nearly 4 miles to the nearest school we could get into. I have a school 0.3 miles away from me, that I'd happily walk to, but instead have to drive 4 miles and get stuck in traffic of children who live further away.

Our nearest secondary school is notoriously difficult to get into, it buses 50% of its pupils from the neighbouring town (bigger than ours with plenty of schools) 9 miles away. Meaning I am most likely destined to pay £600 a year to bus my child the other side of town when he could walk to this school.

I understand catchments can create house prices bubbles which can unfairly impact the lesser off, but the situation in my town is untenable, and needs to be re-thought if we really are going to start taking environmental concerns seriously.

To clarify that was meant to say 0.5km

There's a street on our estate where parents park up 50 minutes to an hour begire school kicking out time to get a parking space, to pick up their kids.

I can only assume they all need to tush off somewhere straight after pick up.

@willibald

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.

@willibald Well actually fossil fuel cars are going somewhere as their manufacture will be illegal in our lifetime. In the meantime it's everyone's responsibility to question their impact on the environment and cut down on unnecessary journeys.

I scoot the 0.8 mile with to school with DD because I live near two private prep schools and the road is absolutely RAMMED. It's bliss the week before the holidays when the privates are off.

Far too many yr6 and secondary children being dropped off in a car. When I was at school at that age it would have been the ultimate humiliation to have mummy or daddy drop you off. Massive loss of independence for children not being able to walk or get the bus with their friends.

Of course one of the primary causes of this is perceived safety caused by... too many cars on the road. Which is true. We are are a nation addicted to cars, utterly car sick. Too many fully mobile adults have forgotten what their legs are for.

There has been a significant difference in the number of children who walk to school since I was a child - there are statistics on this if anyone cares to look them up.

Some of the reasons for this have to do with changes in infrastructure - more consolidated schools outside of local neighbourhoods, fewer sidewalks so it isn't safe to walk, and also parents don't trust their kids to get off to school or come home when the parents is at work, to a much later age than used to be the case.

But a lot of it is a change in attitude about kids walking on their own. It was normal where I live, from the time my parents were kids, right up to about 1985, for kids to walk themselves to school in towns and cities and villages, up to about a km for primary school. I just looked up the walk I took when I was five was 1.1km, and I came home (or to my babysitters) at lunch and went back to school.

Almost all kids did this on their own. Children from 7 or 8 years old would often leave after their parents, or be home an hour before their parents came home. Those who went to a caregiver usually went to another mum in the school neighbourhood and walked there.

Children could walk a fair distance to higher levels of education.

No shock this change where few kids walk corresponds to kids getting less exercise, my school walk meant I did 4km a day, rain or shine or even in the snow.

I never got a lift to school as a kid and I've never driven my kids to school

Secondary is too far away and the school bus is too expensive.

Primary the pavement is muddy and it’s not safe with the roads etc.

My DD would love to be able to walk to school every day. Sadly, her fibromyalgia means that doing so would cut her attendance to about 50%. If I drive her, she can be in school more and achieve while she's there. Priorities.

I drive my DC to primary school.

I guess we could walk it if we had to. It would take me about 45 minutes each way by myself, longer with the DC in tow. But honestly, lazy as it is, I’d rather not spend 3 plus hours a day doing the school run if I can avoid it.

Secondary schools will involve either buses or the car, our nearest secondary school is about 5 miles away and there’s no safe walking route - routes involve travelling along roads with a 60mph speed limit and no pavements. I know a number of local parents who’ve chosen to drive their secondary school age DC rather than have them use the buses this year because of cost or because of Covid.

Well why don't you walk to work OP?
Take that reason and apply it to why some children can't walk to school.

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

I agree and think it’s a cultural thing combined with our awful weather. First of all, in this country, we don’t let our children walk to school alone until they’re quite old, which means a parent has to walk with them which takes longer than driving especially if you have a job to be getting to. Our Swiss friends used to let their kids walk alone with other kids from the age of 4 or 5. Secondly, as a nation we don’t walk or cycle that much for commuting outside of big cities, more for leisure. Compared to Holland for example where they’d never drive a short distance instead of cycling. Thirdly with such dark winters and unpredictable weather most parents would wind up dropping their kids fairly often anyway so probably think it’s easier just to stick to a routine of driving. I think it’s a shame though for so many reasons - traffic, climate, childhood obesity...

Our primary is a 30-40 minute walk one way (down hill) longer back and I go straight to work from drop off. I don’t know any mum in our class who doesn’t either live too far or have work to get to. Catchment is odd though as there’s an airfield that means the as the crow flies measurement isn’t the way you can actually get to school as you have to go around the airfield.

My issue is not so much about whether or not people drive their kids to school, it's more to do with their parking when they get there!

Honestly there just seems to be this sense of entitlement to park as near to the school as possible regardless of whether or not they block driveways, park illegally, obstruct views at junctions....

I live in an area where I can understand that people might need to drive to the school near us (edge of a town, catchment is quite spread out) but jeeez have some consideration for other road (and pavement) users when parking.

I'm having to take a different route to work depending on the time. If it's school run time I take a detour to avoid the utter fuckwittery at the end of the road