UK charity, Living Streets is calling for new measures to reduce the number of cars on the school run. This comes after research (YouGov 2018) released by the charity for the start of International Walk to School Month, reveals that too many cars are the things parents find most annoying on the school run – specifically too many cars around school gates (54%); cars parking on the pavements (50%); and too much traffic on the journey (45%).
Living Streets is calling for more local authorities to pilot school street closures – prohibiting cars from the school gates at drop off and pick up times, alongside a series of other measures, to encourage more families to walk to school.
Motor vehicles are the biggest source of air pollution and one in four cars on the road at peak times are on the school run[1]. As a result, over 2,000 primary schools in the UK are situated in pollution hotspots[2], putting pupils’ health at risk.
New figures released by DfT last week (27 September) revealed that 14 per cent of children killed on Great Britain’s roads last year were between 7-9am and 23 per cent were between 3-5pm – school run hours.
The charity for everyday walking says that encouraging and enabling more families to walk to school will clean up toxic air and make our streets safer.
Top 10 reasons[3]
1. Too many cars at the school gates (54%)
2. Cars parking on the pavements (50%)
3. Too much traffic on the roads (45%)
4. Bad weather (41%)
5. Feeling rushed (35%)
6. Dangerous crossing points in the road (33%)
7. Me and/ or child(ren) forgetting something (28%)
8. Poor street conditions (e.g. narrow pavements, litter, dog mess etc.) (28%)
9. My child(ren) squabbling (19%)
10. Having to travel a long distance to/ from the school (9%)
