Safe Routes to School Question

[Tim Smith]

Like many of you who are LAB (League of American Bicyclists) members, I recently got a solicitation
to donate money for the "Safe Routes to School" campaign.

My first reaction was "yeah, that's a good cause, I approve of it, and I'll contribute".

But I wonder: where does this money go? Does it do any good? The information supplied with the
appeal for donations was, as usual, a bit less than specific.

Where I live (a very safe and crime-free suburban Californian city) the idea that kids might ride
their bikes to school, or even walk, seems to be something out of the past. All kids now are
chauffered by their moms (or very occasionally, pops), usually in large SUVs.

Is "Safe Routes to School" fighting this trend? If so, how?

 

[Cathy Kearns]

I know "Safe Routes to School" is an grant program that gives money to communities for planning and
implementing safe routes to schools. If you need bike path cut-thrus repaved or sidewalks added
around schools this is whom you apply to. I've also seen local folks apply for these grants for
traffic calming, which for some reason figures if they curve the bike lanes into traffic it will
slow the cars down. That's more anti Safe Routes to School, but they try for the money anyway. Our
"Safe Routes to School" PTA committee was trying to make it safer for cars. So watch out.

"Tim Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Like many of you who are LAB (League of American Bicyclists) members, I recently got a
> solicitation to donate money for the "Safe Routes to School" campaign.
>
> My first reaction was "yeah, that's a good cause, I approve of it, and I'll contribute".
>
> But I wonder: where does this money go? Does it do any good? The information supplied with the
> appeal for donations was, as usual, a bit less than specific.
>
> Where I live (a very safe and crime-free suburban Californian city) the idea that kids might ride
> their bikes to school, or even walk, seems to be something out of the past. All kids now are
> chauffered by their moms (or very occasionally, pops), usually in large SUVs.
>
> Is "Safe Routes to School" fighting this trend? If so, how?

 

[Eric S. Sande]

>Is "Safe Routes to School" fighting this trend? If so, how?

I have some basic disagreements with organized cycling, the main one being that I'm a
disorganized cyclist.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________ ------------------"Buddy Holly,
the Texas Elvis"------------------
__________306.350.357.38>>[email protected]__________

 

[Doug Huffman]

Why should you 'donate' to buy what your taxes shouldn't buy?

The physical and legal infrastructure for safe cycling exist. What is needed now is effective
principled leadership to allow their use.

LAB ain't cuttin' it.

"Tim Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Like many of you who are LAB (League of American Bicyclists) members, I recently got a
> solicitation to donate money for the "Safe Routes to School" campaign.
>

> Is "Safe Routes to School" fighting this trend? If so, how?

 

[Tim Smith]

"Doug Huffman" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Why should you 'donate' to buy what your taxes shouldn't buy?
>
>The physical and legal infrastructure for safe cycling exist. What is needed now is effective
>principled leadership to allow their use.

What's really needed is a shift in cultural values, and I suspect that LAB cannot do that. $6 per
gallon gasoline would, but that's not going to happen any time soon.

 

[Matt O'Toole]

"Doug Huffman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...

> The physical and legal infrastructure for safe cycling exist. What is needed now is effective
> principled leadership to allow their use.

I disagree. I just got back from that Reston/Herndon/Tyson's mess near Wasington DC. I can't think
of a more cyclist-hostile environment. The layout of the area and the kind of development they have
is very similar to southern CA, but the latter is much better for cyclists. Great, in fact. Why? CA
roads are much better designed.

> LAB ain't cuttin' it.

I'm not sure what they accomplish either. I'm sure someone will enlighten me though.

Anyway, Safe Routes to School is a great program, but you're better off getting involved locally,
rather than throwing money at it. I'd much rather see activism begetting more activism, rather than
a bunch of managers being paid to create bureaucracy for themselves to preside over.

Matt O.

 

[Brent Hugh]

Tim Smith <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> "Doug Huffman" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Why should you 'donate' to buy what your taxes shouldn't buy?
> >
> >The physical and legal infrastructure for safe cycling exist. What is needed now is effective
> >principled leadership to allow their use.
>
> What's really needed is a shift in cultural values, and I suspect that LAB cannot do that. $6 per
> gallon gasoline would, but that's not going to happen any time soon.

On the contrary . . .

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=449053
http://www.isv.uu.se/uhdsg/OilIPCC/Conclusions.doc

"World oil and gas supplies are heading for a 'production crunch' sometime between 2010 and 2020
when they cannot meet supply, because global reserves are 80 per cent smaller than had been thought,
new forecasts suggest."

Their argument is NOT that we are going to run out of oil & gas that soon. But demand will exceed
supply that soon. And when that happens, prices are going to go through the roof . . .

--Brent bhugh [at] mwsc.edu

 

[Brent Hugh]

Tim Smith <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Where I live (a very safe and crime-free suburban Californian city) the idea that kids might ride
> their bikes to school, or even walk, seems to be something out of the past. All kids now are
> chauffered by their moms (or very occasionally, pops), usually in large SUVs.
>
> Is "Safe Routes to School" fighting this trend? If so, how?

See http://www.saferoutestoschools.org/

As some others have mentioned on this thread, your best contribution might be to go down and get
your local PTA and local school(s) on board with this. It's really designed to be run as a local,
grass-roots effort that starts with asking students the question, "What is keeping you from walking
or riding your bike to school?" But, on the other hand, the national organization does have some
good ideas . . . the free book you can order or download has a lot of very good ideas.

The name might suggest that building facilities (sidewalks, crosswalks, etc.) might be their main
emphasis, but actually changing attitudes is equally important. SR2S has quite a lot of inexpensive,
simple ideas to get things jump-started.

--Brent bhugh [at] mwsc.edu

 

[Tim Smith]

[email protected] (Brent Hugh) wrote:

>Tim Smith <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>> "Doug Huffman" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> >Why should you 'donate' to buy what your taxes shouldn't buy?
>> >
>> >The physical and legal infrastructure for safe cycling exist. What is needed now is effective
>> >principled leadership to allow their use.
>>
>> What's really needed is a shift in cultural values, and I suspect that LAB cannot do that. $6 per
>> gallon gasoline would, but that's not going to happen any time soon.
>
>On the contrary . . .
>
> http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=449053
> http://www.isv.uu.se/uhdsg/OilIPCC/Conclusions.doc
>
>"World oil and gas supplies are heading for a 'production crunch' sometime between 2010 and 2020
>when they cannot meet supply, because global reserves are 80 per cent smaller than had been
>thought, new forecasts suggest."

Yes, I'm aware of the doomsday predictions about a forthcoming oil and gas crunch. See also

http://www.oilcrisis.com/laherrere/

At least these reports are done by geologists, not economists, which lends them more credibility.

If an energy crunch comes in 2010 (the earlist projected date), it's very hard to imagine all that
will ensue. As a cyclist, I would rejoice to see fewer cars, and more pedestrians and cyclists, on
the roads. But I would not be so happy to discover that a round-trip tourist-class air ticket to
Europe now costs about $6500, or that it will cost $7000 to heat my home for the winter (and I live
in California).

I'd split the difference between the geologists and the economists, and will guess that the energy
crunch will occur about 2025-2030. That's what I meant by "not any time soon".

 

[Steven M. Schar]

"Tim Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...

> Where I live (a very safe and crime-free suburban Californian city) the idea that kids might ride
> their bikes to school, or even walk, seems to be something out of the past. All kids now are
> chauffered by their moms (or very occasionally, pops), usually in large SUVs.

I live in a similar type of city.

I walk my kids to school every day. They actually would rather that I drive them, because crossing
the two, non-major, streets on the way is scary. It's like we're invisible, the crosswalks are
ignored and the stop signs are ignored. Screaming at the drivers is fruitless. Oh, and most of these
cars are driven by parents driving their cars to school. The police come out occasionally to do
enforcement, but it's not enough.

I was determined to not lose this battle. It cost me $15, but now the cars all stop. My kids call me
their "personal crossing guard."

http://www.lumastrobe.com/warning1.htm

While driver's may not stop for pedestrians, it is EXTREMELY rare that they won't stop for what they
percieve to be a crossing guard.

I wish I could let them walk to school by themselves, but I just don't have the stomach for it.

 

[Mark Weaver]

My son rides his bike to middle school most days (about a mile to a mile and half) and rode it to
elementary school when he didn't walk (about half a
mile). My daughter *could* ride her bike to high school (also a bit over a mile with a good
residential street / bike path route) but wouldn't be caught dead doing so. The attitude of
parents and kids is the real problem, I think, not the infrastructure.