A lot of the school run traffic would be alleviated if children were able to walk to school. I know that it's not always possible due to a multitude of very good reasons, but one very bad reason is just pure laziness.
My daughter is fortunate that she only has to walk about 400 yards to get to school, whereas my son has to walk a mile. Some days he walks, some days he cycles, but he is fortunate enough to be able to do so and we fully encourage him to get the exercise. Last year we drove to the school three times, just three, and two of them were parents evenings.
In stark contrast, we have a neighbour that drives her children to the same school as my daughter (400 Yards!) and we know the vast majority of the parents we personally know drive there children far less than the distance our boy walks.
Make them walk, make them exercise, encourage a healthy lifestyle, alleviate strain on the NHS. Seems a no brainer.
I agree with getting the kids to walk and cycle to school where its possible, but i would`nt have my child cycle for the reason i was initially making, because the sheer weight of traffic on the roads make cycling very dangerous.
My child walks to school (about 1.5 miles), fortunately she doesn`t have to cross any busy roads, but that`s not the case for a lot of school children who may have a lot further to walk or encounter busy main roads.
I`d be less inclined to let my child walk to school if their were busy roads to cross.
As i said before, i agree with getting the kids to walk and cycle, but until we get over this school run culture that most parents seem to have adopted then the roads wont get any less busy! so it seems to have become a perpetual cycle......
"No you cant walk or cycle to school as the roads are to dangerous, we`ll take the car"
And its "taking the car" that is making the roads dangerous for school children in the first place...a vicious circle.
Safety of the kids was one of my original points in favour of school buses, and i think the only way to make the roads safer and less busy is to adopt a school bus programme, and maybe then the kids will have the choice of walking, cycling or take the school bus as the roads will be safe for them to do so.
We have school busses where i live but they are awful vehicles and i wouldn't want my children to travel on them. Most schools here are far away from where children live so they have to go by car, public transport isn't available for all places and the roads arn't safe for cycling plus there isn't anywhere safe to keep bikes at school ... so car is the best option.
It is "rare" in suburban Britain for a child not to be able to get to school on public transport.
We have a child at High School which is around seven miles away and we are not on a school bus route this means that two buses are needed, one into town to the bus station and another to drop off outside the school. It is about a 45 - 55 minute journey involving two buses or we could do it half an hour in the car - we choose the buses for all the reasons made by the OP.
Keep village schools open and children would not have to travel so far to school
I agree with your sentiment blue, however I would offer the opinion that the vast majority of school run traffic is completely unrelated to village schools.
My daughter lives 3.5 miles from her school....
She will get a lift to school from her Mom as she passes there on her way to work but she has to walk home...
And if her Mom has to be in work early then she has to walk there as well....
I recall that there used to be a 'walking' bus in the village where I last lived.
There would be a set timed route supervised by parents and children would 'join' the bus, walking to school, as it wound its way round to the school gates.
Nothing healthier than kids getting fresh air and some exercise before they start their lessons for the day.
On a side issue. When kids are collected from Infants/Junior school - why do the parents always (as far as I can see) choose to carry the child's book-bag/lunch-box? Do the kids develop paralysis of the arms as they leave the school? Youngsters have 10x the energy of any given adult - let them carry their own bags.
I helped out at a school trip once, a lad turned up - no disability identified to the adults in charge - and his Mum hauled 3 bags of stuff out of the car and proposed to carry them all onto the bus for him. This was for a 4 day stay 10 miles away. The head stopped her and asked who was going to carry the bags at the other end. The mother obviously expected one of us to porter for her darling boy. She was told very pointedly that there were 30 kids going and everyone was going to carry their own bags. The phrase "If he can't carry it, he can't take it" was used. They rearranged his stuff into 1 bag and he dragged that with much sighing onto the bus. Of course he managed - all the others had one or two bags and dealt with it. I can only imagine how that unfortunate child might have turned out thanks to his ridiculously doting and servile mother.
the schools are back open and the traffic was 30 fold, and it really hit home just what a massive effect the school run makes to rush hour traffic :huh:
and less strain on A&E depts.
but d`ya see the benefits and the knock on effect it would have ? 
) and crossed 4 or 5 main roads. After the age pf 13 I wouldn't be driving any child any distance so long as there was a bus. Some 11-12 years old kids are really small and may have grown up away from traffic so they would need time to get used to busy roads. 
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