Parents: do you let your kid(s) cycle to school?

[william_just]

Yes or No?

 

[DCLane]

I'm a "no" because there aren't secure facilities / any bike storage.

Happy to report we're working on it because son no. 2 wants to cycle to school.

 

[summerdays]

I qualify my yes with, I did at primary school, but I rode as well, both of us on the road. Now they are all at secondary school (or beyond), which is closer so there isn't any point getting the bike out to get to the other end of the road.

In fact thinking about it the youngest probably didn't ride to school less than 20 times over the entire 7 years at the school, though did start off on the pavement.

 

[4F]

Yes, my youngest daughter (10) cycles 1 mile on her own to primary school and my son (14) cycles 3.5 miles to secondary. Eldest daughter (16) insists on taking the free school bus.

 

[stuee147]

my older 2 both have cycled to school at different times once i knew they were competent on the roads

 

[fossyant]

My lad does, been doing it every day since starting high school. He is the only one in about 1000 that does cycle. Large unused covered bike shed. Oh and he has type 1 diabetes, so has to be careful he doesn't go low on the way home (has been doing recently).

He also has an N+1 for school !

 

[John the Monkey]

The question has never come up, but given the treatment my daughter and I got when we cycled the same route on a Sunday (close passes, tailgating), I'd be tending to "no". Shame, because it's an eminently cyclable distance, on a road on which everyone moans about school run traffic (my two get the school bus).

 

[Fab Foodie]

Yes. The girls did and my 14 year old lad is still. It's quite common in Abingdon

 

[cardiac case]

We have a village primary with 90 pupils and I can't imagine anything more dangerous.
The surrounding roads are no problem but as you near the school the chance of being knocked off your bike
by a child running out from between the 89 parked 4x4's is very high indeed.

 

[Beebo]

We have a village primary with 90 pupils and I can't imagine anything more dangerous.
The surrounding roads are no problem but as you near the school the chance of being knocked off your bike
by a child running out from between the 89 parked 4x4's is very high indeed.

90 in the whole school! My daughters primary school has 120 pupils in each year group, so you can imagine the chaos on the roads.
My daughter is 7, she does cycle, but with one of us walking behind, so she has to stop every so often for us to catch up. My 2 year old son goes on his scooter. When we get near the school the pavements and roads get so busy that she has to get off and walk.

 

[User169]

Yes, but that is normal here and I cycle with them as it's on the way to work. The older one (9) could cycle on her own and some of her classmates do. The younger one (6) still shows an alarming lack of road awareness and I wouldn't ride alone. Once they go to secondary school, they'll go on their own since we'll likely be going in different directions.

 

[numbnuts]

My local school lets kids ride, but they have to past the bikeability test first which is good, but then they all cycle on the pavement, why sorry I just don't get it.

 

[Sara_H]

We only live about 3 minute walk or so from school so my Y6 son walks there.

I don't let him ride alone yet. Despite riding with me regularly and having done Bikeability level 2 the roads local to us are too complex and fast moving for him to navigate safely.

 

[4F]

We only live about 3 minute walk or so from school so my Y6 son walks there.

I don't let him ride alone yet. Despite riding with me regularly and having done Bikeability level 2 the roads local to us are too complex and fast moving for him to navigate safely.

I think this is the thing, all road conditions have to be taken into account, ours is very rural with a nice wide road and she only has 1 left turn to negotiate. She is still only Y5 but has already done the bikeability course and to be fair she has been riding with me on the road since she was 5 and probably has more road sense than her brother who is 4 yours older...

 

[Colin B]

I'm a no because my youngests school is across the road and the eldests is 2 minutes away and that's without going into the lack of places to store them once there.