Saratoga schools to reconsider bike ban

To bike or not to bike? That's the question the Saratoga Springs School Board will take up Tuesday night.

[Rens Co Resident]

I would think with all the attempted abductions in the news recently, no parent would allow their child to ride a bike to school without supervision. Even without the reports being in the news, all kids need a safe way to get to school with a responsible adult be that a bus driver, parent, or guardian.

[Toga]

Abductions or not, the lift on this ban is stupid. The middle school is located on very busy, Route 9 and there are NO crossing signals, or traffic singals out side of the school whatsoever. The school board should not have reversed this. People drive like idiots and speed on that section of road. I was a member of the first class that went through that school and they explained their reasoning to all of us and our parents at that time. They did it for saftey sake...I hope to god that nothing happens, but this could turn out very very bad, and then...hmmm will the parent try and find fault with the school district?

[A Schenectady Observer]

The health benefits of the 8 miles a day the kid rides far outweigh any perceived risks of abduction or accident. The school -- ALL schools -- need more kids bicycling and walking instead of riding buses or cars to school. Did you see how fit the kid and his mother were? Don't you wish you and your family were that healthy?

So it it a busy highway. That means there are many potential witnesses passing by to deter any n'er-to-wells from any funny business. Lot's of eyes make it a safer area.

Almost 12 percent of parents in a nationwide survey cited that crime danger prevented them from allowing their children to walk to or from school. Parental fears of crime include child kidnapping and assault. However, 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.

Times Union reports that stats for that section of road by the school to be safer than comparable areas.

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. One response by many parents is to drive their child to school. 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. BUS crashes are NOT a component of these statistics.

20 percent to 25 percent of morning rush hour traffic is attributable to parents driving their children to school. As the percentage of children walking and bicycling to school continues to decrease, motor vehicle traffic increases, and parents become more convinced that walking to school is unsafe for their children. Parents may believe that the safest way to school is for them to drive their children, but may not be aware that by driving they contribute to the traffic congestion and traffic danger surrounding the school.

Want a ban that really makes going to school safer? Then ban private vehicles from school property.

Read more:

http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/guide/introduct...

And besides - it's not the school's business what a parent a child do together off school property - the best reason yet to drop the archaic, unfounded and paranoid rule.

[A Schenectady Observer]

While the physical health effects of obesity and lack of physical activity are becoming better understood, less is known about the impacts of the decline in walking and bicycling on child development. Adults, whose chief concerns pertain to children’s health and safety, often forget that walking and bicycling to school may be a child’s first chance at independence.

Some children today have less independence than their parents did, and this lack of independence can negatively impact their social behavior development.
(Huttenmoser M. Children and Their Living Surroundings: Empirical Investigations into the Significance of Living Surroundings for the Everyday Life and Development of Children.)

Driving a child from home to school limits the child’s opportunities to interact with their neighborhood and other children. Questions also have been raised regarding how children who spend all their travel time in motor vehicles will master fundamental pedestrian and bicycling skills and what kind of drivers they will become because of their lack of experience negotiating traffic as walkers or bicyclists. Children who spend more time in supervised structured activities have fewer opportunities to explore their neighborhoods. Children may lose some relatively safe opportunities to make decisions independently. They miss some of the lessons gained from learning from mistakes and the confidence that comes with success.
(Hillman M. The Impact of Transport Policy on Children’s Development. Presentation at the Canterbury Safe Routes to Schools Project Seminar, London U.K. May 29, 1999.)

In other words, the "ride to school" generation is becoming a bunch of scaredy-cat / unconfident pùssies

[sparky]

The district doesn't get it, it is not there business how a kid gets to school, it is only there business after they arrive.

[garry preece]

youz school peoples nart dum

[Benjamin Franklin]

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Most of us would still be crawling on hand and knee had we not risked the dangers of falling down and striking our head as we first attempted to walk.

Let the schools educate and let the parents transport in the manner they see fit.