This is the view from my backyard every school day at about 3pm. What you can't see in this photo are two things. 1) There is another vehicle parked hidden behind the SUV. 2) The street that these cars are parked on is approximately 2 city blocks in length and ends in a cul-de-sac. Our street Ts into it and is approximately 1 city block in length and ends in a cul-de-sac. Two additional points: we live on a military post where yes there are concerns about who has been let into the Army in recent years, but no one is allowed on post without having their ID scanned....so at least some sort of filtering is going on. And two, the speed limit is 20mph and is heavily enforced in the neighborhoods.
At about 3pm every school day, 2 buses come through the neighborhoods. The bus stop you can see in the background of this picture services only our two streets as every street off the main street has its own bus stop. Every afternoon about 3pm at least 4-5 cars park at the entrance to our streets (most of which are parents that get in their cars from their houses and drive the block to this spot) in order to wait for their kids to get off the bus and drive them home. When our nation is in the midst of an obesity crisis, when kids don't get enough time outside, and when parents are driving a block and idling their vehicles to release exhaust fumes into the air----its seriously necessary to pick your child up a block or two from home?! I can understand picking your child up if you live a mile out from the bus stop or even 1/4 mile if you lived in an extremely unsafe neighborhood.....but here?! But since most the people in our neighborhood get in their vehicles to drive to the mailboxes also in the picture, only to drive home after picking up their mail....then what more should I expect!
Which leaves me with an additional gratitude toward my parents....thank you for making me walk home from school almost every day whether it was 1/2 mile down the street for elemetary school, just over a mile home from middle school in the city, or about a mile from high school!!
5 comments:
holy. that is a bit much- to only drive a BLOCK to pick up your kids?? wow.
we had to take the bus, we lived about a 10 minute drive, but it took 30 minutes or more by bus.... but whatever.
if we lived closer, we would have walked.
I feel the same exact way. drives me nuts to see my neighbors get in their car just to drive 5 minutes, park and wait for their kids to get out. Hey, here's an idea! Why dont you walk to school? I can understand in the rain but come on! I too live on a cult-a-sak and luckily our neighbors have kids too. Each week they take and pick up all the kids on Mon/Wed/Fri and I do the same on Tues/Thurs. This way its only one vehicle if its raining. If its not raining we all walk.
One thing that really gets me are the lazy parents who sit out in front of the school and block in traffic just so their kid can get to their car sooner. Or the ones who park illegally. Oohh it really makes me mad.
And since were onto this whole rant, what about the people who designed the pick up lanes at schools? Seriously!
Okay im done :) Your not alone and dont feel bad for ranting
I am continually amazed by the whole not walking thing in America. I suppose that is a generalisation but my husband spends several weeks a year in the US and comes back with similar stories. More people seem to be walking here, the village primary school (age 7-11) is a mile/ mile and a half from the main housing but a large number of families do walk. When my children were that age very few walked but now the health message does seem to be getting through.
Plenty of people still drive though. We live almost exactly half a mile from the village shop and yet some of our neighbours drive instead of making the trip on foot - and often it is the younger people who could easily walk that choose to drive!
I had to admit, this is one thing I really struggled with when I lived in North America, people on the whole (there are of course exceptions) don't walk to do anything/for purpose, they may agree to go for a walk but if they need to go to school/work/shops etc they will most often choose to get in the car. I remember watching my neighbour back her SUV (don't get me started on those!) down the driveway and past 1 house to her mailbox and then drive it back. No I'm not joking, the mailbox was 1 house away and she drove.
Over here people walk everywhere, not everyone, but the majority. If you have a shop you want to visit that is a mile away, you walk. I think part of it is that parking is made to be inconvenient - you have to pay, it is about 1/2 a mile away from the shops etc.
I like your public health rants ;)
Well I'm glad I'm not the only one! Living in the city the last two years, I walked and took public transport to get places. Even if I could catch the bus/MAX, half the time I'd walk the mile or two instead as I'd get there faster. Plus all the walking as my mode of transportation meant that I lost weight and then didn't have to work out for two years. After investing in a good wool winter coat with a hood, even the rain wasn't much of a problem. I walked pretty much everywhere and only drove if I was visiting family or friends outside the city (and for night classes as I didn't feel safe w/ walking thru my neighborhood and riding public transport in my city at night). Whenever I'd go home to my hometown I'd make the point of trying to walk to get most places there too (even when most things were a mile away), and my husband (coming from being stationed in Italy) and I initially bonded over being willing to walk there....
Oh the joy of the suburbs and American need to use a car, no?!
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