According to the Federal Highway administration,
- In 1969, 42 out of every hundred children from 5 -18 walked or biked to school.
- In 2001, only 16 out of every hundred children from 5-16 walked or biked to school.
- In 1969, 87 out of every hundred children from 5-18 who lived within a one mile radius of the school walked or biked to school.
- In 2001, only 63 out of every hundred children from 5-18 who lived within a one mile radius of the school walked or biked to school.
Parents surveyed named 5 main reasons for not letting their kids bike to school.
Barrier: Percentage of Parents Identifying with the Barrier
Distance to school: 61.5
Traffic-related danger: 30.4
Weather: 18.6
Crime danger: 11.7
Opposing school policy: 6.0
Other reasons (not identified): 15.0
Distance to School
Between 1940 and 2003, the number of public school districts decreased from 117,108 to 14,465, and the number of public and private elementary and secondary schools went from over 226,000 to approximately 95,000 in 2003, and making bigger schools far for more people.The schools are frequently built where land costs are lower, which tend to be on the edges of communities instead of in the centers of existing communities. School consolidation has made the trip between home and school longer, and longer trips cause fewer children to walk and bike.
Traffic-related Danger
In 2004, 493 pedestrians and bicyclists ages 14 and under were killed, and approximately 29,000 children were injured while walking or bicycling in the United States. However, being inside a motor vehicle does not ensure safety. In fact, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for school-age children.In the United States during 2004, 1,638 children ages 14 and under were killed and 246,000 children were injured as motor vehicle occupants.
Weather
While the weather has not changed much since a generation ago when so many children walked or bicycled, adverse weather was the third most frequently cited reason in the national survey parents gave for not allowing their children to walk to school. Safe Routes to School (SRTS) efforts have been launched in areas with all kinds of weather, from cities across Canada to Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Arlington, Massachusetts.
Crime Danger
Parents most fear that child kidnapping and assault. However, according to the US Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, kidnappings make up less than 2 percent of all violent crimes against people under 18 years old and only 4 percent of all kidnappings occur in the vicinity of a school.
Opposing School Policy
Some schools or communities do enforce school policies that prohibit children from walking and bicycling to school. The solution may be able to address safety issues rather than permanently ban walking and bicycling to school.
Health
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that of children ages 9 to 13 years, 62 percent do not participate in any organized physical activity and 23 percent do not engage in any free-time physical activity outside of school hours. During the school day, only 8 percent of elementary schools and 6 percent of middle/junior high schools provide daily physical education classes,and recess is no longer provided in some elementary schools. According to the TIME/ABC News Summit on Obesity Public health and medical professionals have begun to speculate that the current generation of children may be the first that will not live as long as their parents.
Posts
As a parent of two boys, I am very concerned about safety when my kids bike to school. Parents are driving recklessly during those critical few minutes when they need to get their kids to school. In our school district, I could make a killing giving out traffic citations to all those parents hurrying thru' the morning traffic. I have seen drivers honking unnecessarily too. What we really need is a way to reduce traffic by creating new traffic laws that create a safety zone for kids to be able to walk or bike and thereby reduce traffic congestion around schools. When I was growing up, traffic was not an issue and our parents gave us only one choice bike or take public transportation to school. I myself ended up doing both through my middle school and high school years.
ReplyDeleteI cycle to work a couple of days a week and by far the worst part of this ride is the 200m in front of a school. The driving (of cars) here is at best erratic and often illegal making being on a bike somewhere between difficult and dangerous. The normal rules of the road don't seem to apply to parents dropping their kids at school. Once past this area the rest of the ride is either on cycle lanes on the roads or on cycle/foot paths and is very easy. For the most part drivers are considerate of bikes with only a few exceptions. Given my experience if you can convince more children to walk/ride to school this will in itself help ease the problems caused by parents dropping their kids off but any further ways of reducing traffic around school or reducing the speed at which cars can travel near school has to be helpful.
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