donrhummy
04-12-07, 03:19 PM
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/default.asp?sID=1102425335218
We need this in the U.S.
We need this in the U.S.
View Full Version : Cool program to get kids to bike to school
fordfasterr
04-12-07, 03:29 PM
I think that the nannys would just die if we tried something like that in this country...
wahoonc
04-12-07, 04:23 PM
First thing we need to go is get the schools back in the neighborhoods...I grew up going to neighborhood schools. Then they started counting their colored marbles and my younger sister got bussed past the neighborhood school to go to a school in a different neighborhood. We fought and argued with the school board but it was a waste of breath and time. We need to bring back the old neighborhood structure then kids can be kids again. As well as get rid of the nanny issues.
Aaron:)
Aaron:)
kjohnnytarr
04-12-07, 07:13 PM
That's great. My town has something called "walking school buses" where an adult escorts walking groups of kids from home to school and back. I wish they did this though, gotta start 'em young!
deputyjones
04-12-07, 09:03 PM
First thing we need to go is get the schools back in the neighborhoods...I grew up going to neighborhood schools. Then they started counting their colored marbles and my younger sister got bussed past the neighborhood school to go to a school in a different neighborhood. We fought and argued with the school board but it was a waste of breath and time. We need to bring back the old neighborhood structure then kids can be kids again. As well as get rid of the nanny issues.
Aaron:)
I agree. My wife and I just moved into a house where my daughter will go to elementary school less than 1/2 a mile away on the same street and middle school 3 blocks away. Of course that means we bought in a city not in the sprawled out 'burbs. I would raise holy hell if they tried to ship my daughter off to a school that was not within walking distance.
Aaron:)
I agree. My wife and I just moved into a house where my daughter will go to elementary school less than 1/2 a mile away on the same street and middle school 3 blocks away. Of course that means we bought in a city not in the sprawled out 'burbs. I would raise holy hell if they tried to ship my daughter off to a school that was not within walking distance.
LandLuger
04-12-07, 11:14 PM
First thing we need to go is get the schools back in the neighborhoods...I grew up going to neighborhood schools. . .
Wow. Now that brings back memories. When I went to early grade school (3rd or 4th) I walked everyday, and my parents didn't once voice a concern. It was awesome. If memory serves, the trek was something like two miles involving a combination of city streets and wooded trails. At one point the kids could hike a couple hundred yards around a deep creek or more commonly just attempt a hairy crossing on a makeshift bridge.
Who do you know that lets their kids do this nowadays? What has happened to our culture and quality of life?
Wow. Now that brings back memories. When I went to early grade school (3rd or 4th) I walked everyday, and my parents didn't once voice a concern. It was awesome. If memory serves, the trek was something like two miles involving a combination of city streets and wooded trails. At one point the kids could hike a couple hundred yards around a deep creek or more commonly just attempt a hairy crossing on a makeshift bridge.
Who do you know that lets their kids do this nowadays? What has happened to our culture and quality of life?
wahoonc
04-13-07, 04:50 AM
Wow. Now that brings back memories. When I went to early grade school (3rd or 4th) I walked everyday, and my parents didn't once voice a concern. It was awesome. If memory serves, the trek was something like two miles involving a combination of city streets and wooded trails. At one point the kids could hike a couple hundred yards around a deep creek or more commonly just attempt a hairy crossing on a makeshift bridge.
Who do you know that lets their kids do this nowadays? What has happened to our culture and quality of life?
Nobody, we have become a nation of scaredy cats due to the over reporting of things in the media. I also think that a lot of the criminal types have become bolder because they see and hear of people getting away with things in the media. There was an interesting paper written a while back that contended that the criminal element is a certain percentage of the population and the percentage has been pretty constant thru the history of this country.
My two went to neighborhood schools for elementary and high school. Middle school was about 5 miles up the road. They walked or rode bikes to elementary.
Another interesting phenomenon I have noticed in my ungodly commute to the office (which will be ending in another week:D ) is the number of cars sitting at the end of the roads in the "lollipop" subdivisions. They contain an adult with one or two children waiting for the bus. The end of the road looks like a parking lot and on colder mornings they are all sitting their idling and these aren't compact cars either:rolleyes: When we lived in the country growing up we had to walk the 1/4 mile to the end of our lane and wait for the bus, regardless of the weather. That is what coats, rain coats and umbrellas were for. Momma did have a set of binoculars that she kept a watch on us with though...I got caught more than once whoomping my brother and boy did I catch hell when I got home:eek:
Aaron:)
Who do you know that lets their kids do this nowadays? What has happened to our culture and quality of life?
Nobody, we have become a nation of scaredy cats due to the over reporting of things in the media. I also think that a lot of the criminal types have become bolder because they see and hear of people getting away with things in the media. There was an interesting paper written a while back that contended that the criminal element is a certain percentage of the population and the percentage has been pretty constant thru the history of this country.
My two went to neighborhood schools for elementary and high school. Middle school was about 5 miles up the road. They walked or rode bikes to elementary.
Another interesting phenomenon I have noticed in my ungodly commute to the office (which will be ending in another week:D ) is the number of cars sitting at the end of the roads in the "lollipop" subdivisions. They contain an adult with one or two children waiting for the bus. The end of the road looks like a parking lot and on colder mornings they are all sitting their idling and these aren't compact cars either:rolleyes: When we lived in the country growing up we had to walk the 1/4 mile to the end of our lane and wait for the bus, regardless of the weather. That is what coats, rain coats and umbrellas were for. Momma did have a set of binoculars that she kept a watch on us with though...I got caught more than once whoomping my brother and boy did I catch hell when I got home:eek:
Aaron:)
dingster1
04-13-07, 06:21 AM
I was telling my son this very thing yesterday! Talk about obesity epidemic! Kids can't even walk to the bus stop and stand for 5 or 10 minutes anymore!!! Good Grief!!! My son walks all over our neighborhood and takes bus/metro to the mall. I only drive him to his night class because there is no bus line on that route.
EnigManiac
04-13-07, 08:13 AM
We all seem to be on the same page on this with most of us having grown up using our bikes to get to school (who would have thought the 70's & 80's were enlightened eras?).
I recall hundreds of bikes jamming the bike racks of the public schools I attended and the mass invasion of the neighbourhood by kids on bikes before and after school. My son goes to a neighbourhood senior public school with 422 students, yet there are only four or five bikes in the single rack provided, including my sons'. The vast majority of the kids live within just blocks of the school and the school is not situated on a major road with the residential streets around the school relatively safe to operate on. It strikes me as illogical not to ride to such a close and easy to get to destination.
Even after-school events that parents attend, like softball and soccer games, concerts and dances, are all travelled to by car. And they wonder why there are more and more obese kids every year? Duh.
Granted, many kids walk to school, but an astounding number of them are dropped off by parents. I've seen it hundreds of times as I tried to negotiate the suddenly congested neighbourhood streets and the endless line of illegally stopped cars in front of the school that prevent traffic from moving while little Johnny and Jane are delivered to the front door.
I just sent an email off to local city councillors and the mayor, citing the link herein provided, encouraging our school board and city embrace an aggressive program to get kids back on their bikes, to foster a new generation of kids (like we were) that continue to ride throughout our adult life as part of an overall effort to re-acquaint ourselves and our kids with environmentally positive, healthy, efficient and safe cycling practices.
Thanks for the link!
I recall hundreds of bikes jamming the bike racks of the public schools I attended and the mass invasion of the neighbourhood by kids on bikes before and after school. My son goes to a neighbourhood senior public school with 422 students, yet there are only four or five bikes in the single rack provided, including my sons'. The vast majority of the kids live within just blocks of the school and the school is not situated on a major road with the residential streets around the school relatively safe to operate on. It strikes me as illogical not to ride to such a close and easy to get to destination.
Even after-school events that parents attend, like softball and soccer games, concerts and dances, are all travelled to by car. And they wonder why there are more and more obese kids every year? Duh.
Granted, many kids walk to school, but an astounding number of them are dropped off by parents. I've seen it hundreds of times as I tried to negotiate the suddenly congested neighbourhood streets and the endless line of illegally stopped cars in front of the school that prevent traffic from moving while little Johnny and Jane are delivered to the front door.
I just sent an email off to local city councillors and the mayor, citing the link herein provided, encouraging our school board and city embrace an aggressive program to get kids back on their bikes, to foster a new generation of kids (like we were) that continue to ride throughout our adult life as part of an overall effort to re-acquaint ourselves and our kids with environmentally positive, healthy, efficient and safe cycling practices.
Thanks for the link!
DevilsGT2
04-15-07, 10:23 PM
Agreed, living in SF, where the traffic is atrocious and the bus system is abysmal at best, at a school with about 2500 students only three people that I know of (including myself) biked to school. Part of the problem was vandelism, kids at my school didn't seem to have any regard for personal property. While nothing that drastic happened, it was still unnerving to hear about my friends tires being deflated (not slashed or punctured, just deflated), and having both my bike and the other guys bike knocked down repeatedly said a lot about the attitude that kids these days have towards bikers. I blame MTV.
HighRollaMerola
04-18-07, 06:25 PM
Kids at school used to make fun of me because I rode my bike everyday...but then I was picked for Pimp My Ride and Xzibit outfitted my whip with 19 FLAT SCREEN TVS!!! Theres so many tvs i needed front and read custom oversized 3 phase generator hubs to run them $$$$$. THANKS MTV!
donrhummy
04-18-07, 09:38 PM
Kids at school used to make fun of me because I rode my bike everyday...but then I was picked for Pimp My Ride and Xzibit outfitted my whip with 19 FLAT SCREEN TVS!!! Theres so many tvs i needed front and read custom oversized 3 phase generator hubs to run them $$$$$. THANKS MTV!
Are you serious? I love that show. Do you have pics of it or a video clip?
Are you serious? I love that show. Do you have pics of it or a video clip?
Roody
04-19-07, 11:44 AM
It's really sad that parents are scared to let their kids walk or ride to school. If I'm not mistaken, auto accidents are the leading cause of serious injuies and death in American children. People are totally unrealistic when it comes to evaluating risk, especially when kids are involved.
Sir Lunch-a-lot
04-19-07, 01:26 PM
It is sad indeed... I was fortunate. I graduated from High school last year in a small town, and all throughout, I either walked or biked (granted, I got the occasional ride, and started driving my car more towards the end when I got my license... but then I went back to riding for the last couple of months). The joys of living in a small town.
I know that the elementary racks were always round full of bicycles... but that was the only end of the school where they had racks. In the high school end, they didn't. I got told a few times by our principle that I had to park it in a rack. The reason I didn't was that I didn't want it all the way at the other end of the school where some of the younger, lesser trustworthy kids are (not saying that all kids are that way by any means). The first time it happened, I quit riding my bike to school. Then I started parking it exactly where I had been. Eventually he told me no again, so I walked for a couple of days, and I was right back at it.
Actually, years before, after some hooligans at school stomped on my rear wheel, tacoing it good and thoughraly, I was told that we couldn't ride bicycles to school any more (turns out that he wasn't serious... but I didn't know that at the time!)
Anyway... on the whole, my school was pretty good for riding bikes to. But even so, it's amazing how many people drove their cars and trucks (including myself for a while) a couple of kilometers (or less) to get to school.
I know that the elementary racks were always round full of bicycles... but that was the only end of the school where they had racks. In the high school end, they didn't. I got told a few times by our principle that I had to park it in a rack. The reason I didn't was that I didn't want it all the way at the other end of the school where some of the younger, lesser trustworthy kids are (not saying that all kids are that way by any means). The first time it happened, I quit riding my bike to school. Then I started parking it exactly where I had been. Eventually he told me no again, so I walked for a couple of days, and I was right back at it.
Actually, years before, after some hooligans at school stomped on my rear wheel, tacoing it good and thoughraly, I was told that we couldn't ride bicycles to school any more (turns out that he wasn't serious... but I didn't know that at the time!)
Anyway... on the whole, my school was pretty good for riding bikes to. But even so, it's amazing how many people drove their cars and trucks (including myself for a while) a couple of kilometers (or less) to get to school.
I-Like-To-Bike
04-19-07, 02:42 PM
Wow. Now that brings back memories. When I went to early grade school (3rd or 4th) I walked everyday, and my parents didn't once voice a concern. It was awesome. If memory serves, the trek was something like two miles involving a combination of city streets and wooded trails. At one point the kids could hike a couple hundred yards around a deep creek or more commonly just attempt a hairy crossing on a makeshift bridge.
Who do you know that lets their kids do this nowadays? What has happened to our culture and quality of life?
My closest middle school, enrollment 340, grades 6-8.
Who do you know that lets their kids do this nowadays? What has happened to our culture and quality of life?
My closest middle school, enrollment 340, grades 6-8.
Artkansas
04-19-07, 03:33 PM
That's great. My town has something called "walking school buses" where an adult escorts walking groups of kids from home to school and back. I wish they did this though, gotta start 'em young!
I saw one in Santa Cruz, CA. My first reaction was WTF!!!
But this approach could be applied as a bicycling school bus. An added benefit would be that kids would learn to ride in formation, great training for bicycle clubs.
Personally, as a kid, I started bicycling to school in 2nd grade along Highway 41 which was then the busiest street on the west coast of Florida. Shoulders????? Most kids bicycled to school and we never lost a one.
I saw one in Santa Cruz, CA. My first reaction was WTF!!!
But this approach could be applied as a bicycling school bus. An added benefit would be that kids would learn to ride in formation, great training for bicycle clubs.
Personally, as a kid, I started bicycling to school in 2nd grade along Highway 41 which was then the busiest street on the west coast of Florida. Shoulders????? Most kids bicycled to school and we never lost a one.
chephy
04-19-07, 09:39 PM
It's really sad that parents are scared to let their kids walk or ride to school. If I'm not mistaken, auto accidents are the leading cause of serious injuies and death in American children. People are totally unrealistic when it comes to evaluating risk, especially when kids are involved. Sadly so. Even though a lot of these people have probably biked or walked to school, they feel that "today is different" and "I'll never let my kid do what I did as a kid". Yeah, instead make him do something more dangerous. Even if the conditions were the same as in the 70's, today's parents probably still wouldn't let their kids walk and bike to school. They are too paranoid these days.
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