Why don't kids walk to school anymore

[Failingatthemoment]

I'm obviously old. BUT, when I went to school the majority of kids walked to school on their own from around the ages of 7/8. Now it only seems that ( some) secondary school kids do this.

That was a error - should have been half an hour, not an hour.

10 minutes on a bike. Can't really get more practical than that - by the time that you've parked it will have taken you that long to drive.

We moved to a place where we could walk to school.

However, society has changed alot since I was a kid. Growing up, only one Mum in my whole class worked.

Nowadays, almost all of the Mum's work. They usually go by car because Mum's have to go straight on to work as many of them work school hours.

The roads are much busier so more pàrked cars, many more cars on the road and more powerful cars speeding along.

Parents can also cycle to work

Because primary school places are now so over subscribed where we live that children do not automatically go to their village primary school anymore. Not my choice for him not to walk but it is impossible for him to get to the school he has been offered a place at to. Not everybody gets the the luxury of a school within walking distance these days.

To be fair the world is a far more dangerous place nowadays. I see horrible stories on Facebook all the time now whereas my mum said in the 70s and 80s you never heard of anything bad happening locally.

Loads more traffic on roads = more dangerous for children

to be honest for kids the world is actually safer than it has ever been, the death rate of children has never been lower than it is now, despite the increases in traffic the number of children killed in car accidents is much much lower than the 70's , the risks of a complete stranger harming a child hasn't changed in decades. The biggest risk to kids is online and adults they know; not the streets or the playground,
The major thing that has changed is the number of mothers of children in the lower years of primary working full time so mothers would walk to school with kids under 7 often colecting them at lunchtime and taking them back again, but once kids walked alone about 7-8 or younger if they had older sibling, when I was 8 I walked my 6 year old sister home there were no busy roads and it was normal

@tinysoxx the traffic has increased but the number of children injured by cars has falled dramatically
child pedestrians killed by car in 1975 =1632
child pedestrains killed by car in 2019 = 138
this is less than 9% of the number in 1975

sorry those are not UK figures but for Western world in general

UK figures 639 in 1979 and 48 in 2013 a 92% decrease, the peak age for casulties is 11-12

Yes it would be interesting to see how many children are walking to school compared to 1970s to get the real answer to this.

peak age of casualties nowadays is 11-12 when they start walking to school.

Yes you clearly are old. You must have lived somewhere where there were fewer cars, busier roads, less stranger danger etc. I don't understand how people like you can't accept that times have moved on and are not stuck with such a backward mentality.

Because my job requires multiple community visits each day so I need the use of my car.

Many primary kids still walk to school, alone, where I live. Age 6 plus. Times haven't 'moved on' everywhere.

I agree safer roads and cars mean risks are lower for walking to school, but I think another factor is that fewer young children are left unsupervised for large chunks of time, this has to impact child safety on roads too. Walking with parents is less likely simply because so many adults have access to a car now, a very high % of households have 2 even 3 cars . Children are walking far far less than ever in the UK.

What did that have to do with taking kids to school though? It most likely still entails dropping them off, going back home and then heading out again with the bike.
In most cases probably quicker to drop the kids to school on route which got can’t do on a bike.
Not to mention looking like a hot mess when you reach work.

I’m an 80’s kid and we walked. BUT there were loads of kids living on our very long road that were going in the same direction and school was only a 20 minute walk.

@Tinysoxx there is quite a bit of evidence that teaching kids to do dangerous things needs to happen before they are 10 or wait until 18
kids at forest schools etc learn to use fire and sharp knives and whittling tools before age 5 so they respect it and listen to safety but by 11-12 they think they know it all so don't listen as well, this is why cycling proficiency etc for road use of cycles used to happen aged 8-9. I used to live in an area where hunting shooting and fishing were common and the general view was you could teach an 8 year old to use a gun safely but not a 12 year old I am not and never have been an advocate of people under 18 having access to guns but in speaking to gamekeepers and such like they dreaded a 12-15 year turning up that hadn't handled guns before. the peak age for child safety is 9-10 you are least likely to die age 10 then at any other age, after 10 teen / tween risk taking behavior kicks in
so before 8 children can't adequately judge spped and distance well enough to cross busy roads by 11-12 the hormones mean they take risks they ought not to so best age for teaching this is ages 8-10.
When a child goes from being not being allowed 200 metres alone to suddenly going 2-3 miles alone it is a recipe for disaster a much more gradual exposure to risk from age 8 is better
as I said earlier in thread children aged 8 P4 ( equivalent to Y3) in Scotland are just let out of school Scottish children are not intrinsically different to English children Glasgow is as busy as birmingham, they are also not more likely to be victims of car accidents or abductions etc