Kevin Karplus wrote:
On 2005-09-17, Sushi Fish wrote:
to be safe, you want to drive her to school. cars are not the only
threat. your child is still at elementary, too little to walk by
herself, shortcut tends to be in obscure area.

Wrong---the health hazard of being in a car far exceeds the risks of
being a pedestrian, except in the very worst neighborhoods.

For pedestrians and bicyclists, cars are not the *only* threat, but
they are the biggest threat to kids of death or serious injury by
orders of magnitude.

The attitude that everyone *ought to* drive their kids everywhere is
probably one of the largest contributors to the obesity epidemic in
the US.

When mine were little, I wouldn't have allowed them to walk. There were
no sidewalks in some areas. There were roads to cross. Most kids in the
area did not walk. I didn't like the idea of the children walking
alone. I would have no way of knowing they had reached school.

By the time my kids were old enough that I would have considered
letting them walk (about 10-11) we were no longer living close enough
to school for it to be feasible.

The schools did not provide buses except for children being bused in
from other neighborhoods as an affirmative action measure. It was
easier for me to drop them in their schools and then go to work,
knowing they were safe.

Rupa