Riding to school

Ride2school Program

Our exciting new Ride2School program is now up and rolling at our first ‘model’ school, Cambridge Primary in Hoppers Crossing. A keenly awaited temporary bike shelter, brightly painted by students, will be in place at the school for the official launch. The school-based community initiative aims to get more students riding more often to schools across Victoria. The program will rely on the participation of volunteers, especially during the Ride2School day planned for later in the year. Go to the Ride2school site for details.

Riding to school

Not so long ago, most students walked or rode to school. Now only a small percentage are lucky enough to get themselves to school. It is not surprise that as walking and riding has declined and more and more parents choose to drive their children to school that exercise rates and obesity rates have risen alarmingly among children.

Concerns about stranger danger and traffic safety are the main reason parents give for preferring to drive. On the other hand, when children respond to surveys they say they would like the responsibility and freedom of getting themselves to school. How do we make it easier and safer for children to ride or walk to school?

Safety concerns

Traffic safety concerns can be addressed by training riders and ensuring that paths link to schools. It is often possible to choose safe routes that avoid most busy main roads. When a school is cycle ready - even if only from one direction - then we can begin to promote the idea. The fear of abduction is harder to tackle but most agree that a busy street with many children and parents walking and riding will feel safer.

Some schools ban cycling to school but this does not address the issues. We encourage schools to provide a framework for children to ride safely.  For example, requiring parents to accompany and supervise their children riding to school when the child is under 10 years of age is a good way to encourage riding to school in a safe way (under 10s lack the cognitive skills to negotiate complex road situations by themselves). Older children can be given a 'bike licence' to ride to school by themselves if they have undertaken bike education or ridden for a number of years under the supervision of a parent.  Other things schools can do is provide a secure place to leave bicycles and a separate entrance for children who walk or ride that is segregated from the car drop-off zone. Organising a 'Walk and Bike to School' day is a great way to promote alternatives to driving.  For more see International Walk & Bike to School Day

Parents

Since parents make the decision whether their child is driven, walks or rides, they have a big role to play.  Often the route used to drive to school is on main roads and not suitable for children to ride along. A look at the street directory will show local roads, trails and signalised crossing points which can help parents plan a new route to school that is more suitable for walking or riding.  The next step is to leave the car in the driveway and ride, scoot or walk to school so that Mum or Dad and the kids are all getting some exercise.  Parents can legally ride on footpaths if supervising a child under 12 years.  Primary school children usually live less than 2-3kms from the school. It's an ideal distance for a daily exercise dose and doesn't take much longer than a car journey on congested roads.  Parents who ride with their child not only get to spend quality time together, but also provide their child with valuable training in road awareness such as stopping, looking both ways before crossing local roads and waiting for the green man at pedestrian signals.  Parents also have a role to play to ensure the safety of other people's children by driving cautiously around schools or informally supervising neighbours' kids on the way to school. 

Local government 

Local streets are important for getting to school and Councils have a role to play in making them safer.  Roundabouts on local streets make it much more difficult for pedestrians and bike riders to cross at the intersection as they have to give way in all directions.  There are many other methods of slowing traffic speeds in local streets and improving crossing points for pedestrians. See the Campaigns section of our website under 'Local Government Toolbox' for more.  Some local councils are also developing walking or cycling groups where children are 'picked up' by a supervisor.

State government

Many schools are close to a trail, but often there is no connection into the school.  Bicycle Victoria would like the state government to provide $1 million per year (to be matched by local government) to connect schools to the trail network.  Often all that is required is a short section of path, a gate in the school fence and a path leading to an area where bikes can be stored.  There are also a couple of government programs to help change travel behaviour.  The Travelsmart Schools program aims to "...reduce the amount of chauffeuring of children to school by parents/adults in cars and to increase the number of students walking and cycling to school."  The Victorian Greenhouse Office is looking at reducing the barriers to walking and cycling to school.

Benefits of walking and cycling to school

The benefits of children cycling and walking to school are being recognised the world over.  Canada, NZ and the UK have developed programs to encourage parents and children to adopt alternative transport options for getting to and from school rather than using a motor vehicle.

Benefits of cycling and walking to school include:

• Children are more alert and ready to face the school day
• Helps children to develop and practise their road safety skills and neighbourhood awareness: it gives them the ability to ride to a friend's house or the BMX track.
• Provides opportunity for exercise and helps to tackle the increasing child obesity rates
• Allows children to socialise with friends and develop independence and confidence
• Less traffic congestion and pollution around schools
• Allows parents to accompany their children (and also gain exercise), as well as providing a fun way for parents and children to spend time together.

Deakin University Professor and child health specialist, Lawrence St Ledger, is concerned about the physical wellbeing of children.  While he shares concerns about traffic, lack of excercise exercise for children means inactivity becomes a habit later in life. "Low physicality is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke, diabetes, for a number of cancers and for mental health and for injury.  Some of these things don't manifest themselves until later in life, but the problem is the behaviours become entrenched.  The big thing is healthy kids learn better and therefore schools should be tackling health issues to make sure their (the students) learning outcomes are better."

The Murdoch Children's Research Institute reports the number of overweight children aged from 7 to 15 doubled between 1985 and 1997, while obesity increased almost fourfold.  For more on the health, community and child development advantages that come from reducing car dependency click here.

Reasons for leaving the car at home

For every parent who adopts a more physically active mode of transport for taking their child to school, the better off local communities are.  Taking the car to school has many negative impacts.

• Cars make the area around schools congested and unsafe for students, including children who were dropped off at school by car
• Travelling by car deprives children of valuable exercise time and puts them at risk of obesity and related health problems
• For older students, being dropped off and picked up from school takes up parents time (usually already scarce) and doesn’t encourage independence or life skills development.
• Using the car for short trips encourages car dependency in our children as they grow up
• Car exhaust emissions pollute the air around our schools and harm our environment.

The stats

A survey of parents in 34 schools was carried out by the Victorian Greenhouse office in 2003. It found:

• 25% of traffic between 8.00am and 9.00am are trips to school and 80% of them return straight home afterwards
• 80% of primary students and 60% of secondary students live within 3km of their school
• 59% of primary students and 51% of secondary students are driven 5 days per week, literally just around the corner
• Over 17 million kilometres are travelled driving to and from the project's 34 participating schools each year, which costs parents over $12 million annually
• The vast majority of students are driven to school some days of the week; very few students are never driven.