One in Four Seattle Public Schools Students Walk/Bike to School

This from a survey done by Seattle Greenways 


Comments

Anonymous said…
I do applaud the intentions behind these "walk/bike to school" movements. However, I have seen or heard of so many horrible accidents and near misses, particularly among bicyclists, that there is just no way I would myself get on a bike to go anywhere in this city, let alone allow my child to bike to school in the early morning darkness, balancing a backpack, lunch, and/or instrument, or back after school along with the growing hordes of harried commuters. Even a bike helmet, sadly, is no match for a suburban SUV with a texting driver gulping down a Starbucks Frappucino.

I really do think that people are taking their lives in their hands when biking around this city of ours. Greenways are great - but don't entirely solve the problem.

-Non-biker
11/20/15, 3:33 PM
Anonymous said…
It's a two day survey of 13,000 elementary and K-8 students. Only 3% biked. 21% walked.

It's cheerful news, but like any survey, from the info given in the link, this appears to be a snapshot in time so if you say yes to walking or biking once in a school year, that's counted. No discussion of frequency per week over the school year.

Having done the whole walking school bus thing with the little ones, once crappy weather hits, it's often me and my very grumpy child walking to school. Eventually we gave in and carpooled too. Too many hills on our route to bike and was never successful at the end of the school day to get a tired kid to push the bike home without a lot of fussing. We biked or walked the bikes on the sidewalks, never on the road.

parent
11/20/15, 6:48 PM
AnonMom said…
I wish it were easier to encourage other families to ride or walk to school. Doing so is a time commitment that most families can't make, even just one way. If your child's school day is in the last tier (9:40 to 3:40), you are lucky to return home by 10am...it's impossible for any family without a stay-at-home parent.
11/21/15, 4:27 PM
Anonymous said…
My high school son bikes to and from school most days (he gets a pass when it's really raining hard). It's faster for him than taking the bus and he gets some exercise, but it is a scary commute. We've taught him to be a cautious and rule-abiding cyclist, but I sure do wish that drivers would be a little more careful. Simple things, like using turn signals and parking tight to the curb so as not to crowd the bike lanes, can make a world of difference for cyclists.

cyclist mom
11/23/15, 9:00 AM
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