To make the kids walk 3miles to school?

[DHdoingmyheadin]

Due to ongoing roadworks, the main road through the village to my kids school is closed and will be for c. a month. We are right at the edge of where the roadworks are so we have two options:

(A) A 15 mile detour by car, down the road all the traffic is being funnelled down (a main A road that is congested even when the road through the village is open). Which I trialled yesterday, and took me 45 minutes each way. This was with no school traffic as schools go back tomorrow. So I’d be doing at least 90 minutes of driving each morning and DH 90 mins in the afternoon.

(B) The kids walk to school and back. 3 miles each way.

DH is adamant I can’t possibly expect them to walk. It’s hilly. It’s due to rain. I think they walk. I think it would be insane to drive when it’s literally faster for them to walk. It’s 3 miles. I’m not asking them to swim the channel and then scale Mount Everest. Kids are 12 and 13.

AIBU to put my foot down and refuse to drive?

walk/bike or hire bikes for the month if you dont have any already

Have we found out why the kids can't get a bus yet or why the council aren't assisting in the disruption by maybe laying on a bus if for some reason there's none at school times? I bet a 15 mile detour will be a problem for many people.

Or why they can't use traffic lights? .

Local council putting on lots of different bus routes to make allowances for the road works according to Battle Town Council page

Well there you go op. Problem solved!

They are! But the bus routes will be going to same way as the cars and given the schedule they have suggested I don’t fancy their chances of making it in time. And I think after school it’ll be even worse which isn’t ideal with clubs etc. Most of the kids DC know appear to be walking and most parents think that’ll be faster than the bus.

@Gloriia no traffic lights. It’s a gas supply (new pipes) so I imagine they think there’s some sort of health and safety risk? Or maybe they just like chaos.

Many of us walked much further to our senior schools through all weathers get a grip

'They are! But the bus routes will be going to same way as the cars and given the schedule they have suggested I don’t fancy their chances of making it in time.'

Well so what it'll be the bus services fault if they're late, the school will surely be expecting issues.

The point is you won't have to drive 15 miles and they won't have to walk 3 miles before school.

'no traffic lights. It’s a gas supply (new pipes) so I imagine they think there’s some sort of health and safety risk? Or maybe they just like chaos'

We've had lights with gas works. They're maybe just thick and as no one is kicking up a stink think it's ok. Ring them, tell them most/all places use traffic lights in this day and age rather than closing a major route.

When I was in high school if you lived over a mile away from the school you were eligible for free transport. So in my case I lived in a village about five miles from the school and we got train passes, some people got buses (either laid on or passes for public buses) and the odd people got taxis, sometimes shared. I find the idea of kids routinely walking distances like 3 miles in all weathers to and from school a bit wild in that context.

😂

That one helluva packed lunch.

3 miles is quite a lot girl 😬😬

I can't believe how many people think 3 miles is unreasonably far - I lived a similar distance and my mum used to give me bus fare but if I fancied a bit of extra cash I would walk and save / spend the bus money. Granted it was normally only on the way home because, in typical teenage fashion, I got up too late in the mornings. A lot of my friends did the same so there was always someone to walk home with, at least part of the way. I was the furthest away but I would say at least half of my class walked somewhere between 1.5 to 2.5 miles every day.
It's not forever, they'll be fine, particularly if they're already fairly fit and active.

Can they walk in the morning and then be collected in the afternoon by dh if he thinks the traffic isn’t an issue.

I was referring to distance, NOT comparing circumstance.

probably depends on the width of the road.

The dh does collect them.

They can get the bus. The council have responded to the issue and altered bus routes to accommodate.

I used to walk 2.5 miles to school & back each day (& im not THAT old) if we were lucky a parent might pick us up halfway home, making it only 4ish miles that day, and there was a huge hill each way (think Devon)...
Make sure they have waterproof shoes though... to this day I have a strong aversion to getting wet feet (in shoes) probably due to memories of spending all day with wet feet & then walk home again!

The reality is that loads of Claverham pupils are going to be in the same boat.

And B+L pupils.

Damn the moaners who insisted the work was pushed back to September due to the tourist trade.

Edit: oh @Gloriia , if only you knew how much of an issue this is causing. It's ridiculous. These works are happening on top of the A21, the major road to London from Hastings, being on slow traffic lights. The closure the OP is talking about is the secondary route to London. It's caused havoc these last 2 days. And that's without the school run for about 1500 pupils in the primary/secondary in the town. (Not village @DHdoingmyheadin !)

@Dilemma654 Yep and BA too. September is always chaos anyway because it’s back to school/work and it takes a while for it to settle down. I think our record in rush hour when DC were at primary was an hour to get from little Tesco to school. September is also really popular for the tourists in Battle, it always appears to be the height of coach season, so businesses will take a hit. All terribly thought out.

True; town not village. But I like saying village as it does have an old village feel. As long as it’s gone by Bonfire Night, I will try not to whine too much.

I’m with your OP! I think 3 miles there and back to school is quite long and they are young teenagers, not 15/16. I wouldn’t want my 12 year old walking three miles anywhere without an adult.

You wouldn't want your 12 year old walking 3 miles anywhere at all without an adult? Why not? Would you be happy with them walking a shorter distance but not 3 miles? If so, why does the distance change it? Or not happy with them walking any distance at 12 years old?

I used to walk 1hr & 20 mins each way to school at their age. Then when I got my first job, I was walking an hour each way. I don’t think you’re being unreasonable. There are a lot of lazy kids out there these days because their parents offer lifts constantly.

I always forget about BA @DHdoingmyheadin That's another two hundred children.

Your rush hour record sounds awful, although I'm sure Mr Hughes forgave you for that late hour. You wouldn't have been the only one.

Someone on FB said they'd spoken to one of the workers at Battle Hill this morning, and they're trying to complete in 2 weeks. Then other posters reported only seeing workmen there for 3 hours on Monday. It really hadn't better be there for bonfire night. Can you imagine what the Boyes would do?!

I am extremely fit and would find walking 3 miles to and from work in the pouring rain every day miserable.

I always understood that 3 miles an hour was average walking speed so that would be an hour there and an hour back again which does sound a lot. I always walked to and from school back in the day as it was actually quicker than the bus, which always got stuck in traffic, but that only took me about half an hour so about half the distance.