School Run Traffic.....any 'pattern' to it ?

[glasgowcyclist]

There is clear pattern round here - a sizeable percentage drive their kids to school when the same journey would be less than 10 mins to walk.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

when tlh started teaching, at a school on the other side of the next town from us, it used to take her 20 mins to get to work. Now takes an hour. That's 15 years.

 

[MiK1138]

There is definitely a pattern, I live near one of the largest schools in Glasgow, If I leave my house before 08:10 i can be at work in sub 11 mins if I leave after 08:10 its 16 to 20 minutes,

 

[BoldonLad]

There is clear pattern round here - a sizeable percentage drive their kids to school when the same journey would be less than 10 mins to walk.

We live near a small primary school (fortunately not too near, ie generally out of parking, litter and dogcr*p range).

On my morning cycle ride, I frequently noticed a rather smart and eyecatching Honda CRV parked near the school. I subsequently realised, it belongs to a parent who, lives near me and drives her child to the primary school.

The road layout is such, there is a pedestrian route from the neighbour's house to the school, which, even walking slowly would take five minutes.

To drive, would take at least five minutes (probably more, given the traffic!). Then, there is the time to load child(ren) into car, strap them in etc

Defies logic IMHO

 

[vickster]

We live near a small primary school (fortunately not too near, ie generally out of parking, litter and dogcr*p range).

On my morning cycle ride, I frequently noticed a rather smart and eyecatching Honda CRV parked near the school. I subsequently realised, it belongs to a parent who, lives near me and drives her child to the primary school.

The road layout is such, there is a pedestrian route from the neighbour's house to the school, which, even walking slowly would take five minutes.

To drive, would take at least five minutes (probably more, given the traffic!). Then, there is the time to load child(ren) into car, strap them in etc

Defies logic IMHO

Do you know whether the mother goes after dropping the kids off...perhaps she then has to get to work some distance in the opposite direction? I certainly have friends and colleagues in such a situation

 

[wormo]

It comes down to what state Bridgefoot is in and then the motorways. I live in Penketh and tuesday is the busiest day of the week to get into work. Or if one of the bridges is closed in rush hour.

 

[Dave7]

No bakfiets, tagalong or tandem bike? If you're doing the school run by car, can you perhaps guess why there might be too many cars around?

If that is addressed to me and is serious then it is a very stupid comment.
If not please ignore my reply

 

[Dave7]

It was a question. Sometimes you can borrow something. And presumably they usually get to school somehow and hopefully that's not in a car. And there may be alternative routes (although I think Warrington has some people who are pretty vocal against cycling infrastructure) and you can wrap up warm... but regardless of all the excuses offered up and whether they're valid or not, if you take someone to school in a car, it's bizarre to then ask on a cycling forum why the roads are now so busy at school start/end times - just look in one of the car's mirrors for the answer!

I did not ask why the roads are so busy............please read my OP.

 

[BoldonLad]

Do you know whether the mother goes after dropping the kids off...perhaps she then has to get to work some distance in the opposite direction? I certainly have friends and colleagues in such a situation

In a word... No

But, I am not querying her right to drive, if she so wishes, just doubting the logic of it. Even if "travelling on" it would still make sense to walk to school and back again in this instance, since school is in a "one way in, one way out" situation.

As I said, not querying her right to drive.

In the bad old days, when I was working (sorry for use of inappropriate words), one of my latter jobs (I was a contractor, worked in many locations), involved working in an office where the majority of staff were women, who had school age children. I always felt quite sorry for them, in that, many of them had incredibly tight schedules to drop-off/pick-up children, then get to work / leave work on time. Indeed, three of my four daughters have had or have this problem. It did however also make me wonder if there is any correlation between number of Road Traffic Incidents and School Run times.

 

[Dave7]

It comes down to what state Bridgefoot is in and then the motorways. I live in Penketh and tuesday is the busiest day of the week to get into work. Or if one of the bridges is closed in rush hour.

I live near the Winwick end (Houghton Green).......so am more or less obliged to go via Kingsway. On Tuesday, when I got to Kingsway it was absolutely solid as far as I was able to see (possibly the bridge was off). I managed to do a right.........through the council estate then over the Cantilever bridge.........still took me 45 minutes. As I said, same journey took 15 minutes today. Very strange.

 

[BoldonLad]

I did not ask why the roads are so busy............please read my OP.

I suspect the answer to your question is Yes (there is a pattern).

In my experience, in the area I live, there is a definite peak in traffic volume 08:15 - 09:30. A similar peak occurs 15:00 - 17:30 (quite why the evening peak is longer, I have no idea). I have no statistical evidence as to why this is, but, anecdotal evidence (ie school/college holidays) suggests to me, it is so called School Run Traffic. In fairness to the parents/grandparents/etc involved in the school run, it is not simply children being ferried to school, but, also students driving themselves to college, Teachers / Lecturers making their way to work, and, of course, ancillary school/college staff making their way to work.

Of course, I do not live in/near Warrington, but, as far as I know, there is no reason to suppose Warrington is any different to any other urban area in the UK, in terms of "school run".

 

[Dave7]

In a word... No

In the bad old days, when I was working (sorry for use of inappropriate words), one of my latter jobs.

Work is one of the 4 letter words not allowed on CC. You circumvented this by lengthening it, so it will be allowed...........but please be more careful in the future.

 

[BoldonLad]

Work is one of the 4 letter words not allowed on CC. You circumvented this by lengthening it, so it will be allowed...........but please be more careful in the future.

I did say sorry in advance!

But, message received, I will try to be more careful in future

 

[Dave7]

I suspect the answer to your question is Yes (there is a pattern).

In my experience, in the area I live, there is a definite peak in traffic volume 08:15 - 09:30. A similar peak occurs 15:00 - 17:30 (quite why the evening peak is longer, I have no idea). I have no statistical evidence as to why this is, but, anecdotal evidence (ie school/college holidays) suggests to me, it is so called School Run Traffic. In fairness to the parents/grandparents/etc involved in the school run, it is not simply children being ferried to school, but, also students driving themselves to college, Teachers / Lecturers making their way to work, and, of course, ancillary school/college staff making their way to work.

Of course, I do not live in/near Warrington, but, as far as I know, there is no reason to suppose Warrington is any different to any other urban area in the UK, in terms of "school run".

Fully agree with your thinking..................my query was, why SO different at exactly the same time 3 days apart. @wormo may have put his finger on it as we have a bridge over the Manchester ship canal which Peel Holdings (with their power) can close at any time......up to 6 times per day as I understand/

 

[Profpointy]

One of the reasons is that children are simply not allowed to go to school, or more correctly, leave school, unless picked up by a specifc adult. This pretty much forces said adult to drive in order to pick up their kid. When I was little the bell went and off we went, whether straight home or to the park or whatever. This must be a huge burden for parents these days, doubly so for working mothers. It's almost a kind of sexist handmaiden's tale policy to prevent women working.