Okay, so I went to primary school in the early 1980s. I lived just over a mile from my school. Sometimes we walked. Sometimes we got the bus (which for some reason only ran in the afternoon - couldn't get it in the morning.) Sometimes we got the car. From about nine I sometimes did it without parents.
Here's the thing. There's differences now between the 1980s when I went to primary school and the now that my children live in.
1) that school bus I used to get no longer runs. I didn't grow up in Marple, but for children doing the journey I had to do, they either walk or they get a car. There's no public transport option for them. None.
2) there were a LOT less cars. My parents still live in the same house on the same estate. There used to be loads of space for children to play in the road. And children did. You couldn't do that now. It's impossible. Many houses on that street have three cars. There's cars going up and down it all the time. That's not just that estate. That's everywhere. There's cars everywhere. That's not just schools. That's everyone. We had one car in our house growing up. That's why the street was quiet. It's not like that now.
3) there's decreasing consideration of pedestrians by sine drivers. Before anyone starts shrieking at me in outrage, go stand at the Coop petrol station on a school day. You'll see cars go through red lights. You'll see cars zooming through when the green man is lit saying its safe to cross. I use that crossing 10 times a week. And it's a rare week I don't see some driver doing something they shouldn't be. It felt a lot safer as a child to be out and about when I was growing up in the 1980s than it does when I take my children to school. Should be said, most drivers round are good and considerate. But all by any means.
4) my mum didn't work when I was at primary school. Many mums didn't. Let's not beat around the bush here - this is a major difference between society in the early 1980s and now. Now it's quite normal for both parents to be working. And where do they work? If they don't work in Marple, then they've got to travel. And they'll have to travel in rush hour, dropping the kids off at school on the way. And if they have to drive to work, they're going to drive the children to school. It's obvious.
Before we all sit here with our misty eyed rose tinted glasses, it's worth thinking about the different world we live in from when we grew up. A world where more children end up in cars to school because the public transport doesn't support them well. Because there's far more cars on the road and parents don't feel confident letting their children cross busy roads safely. Because there's some absolute arseholes in cars creating dangerous conditions. Because both parents are working and don't necessarily work locally, and don't necessarily have the time or ability to walk their children to school.
Incidentally my children do walk to school. Well they scoot, I walk. I take them every morning. Four days a week they travel back on foot/scooter. The fifth they go to swimming lessons. Going swimming now needs a car now that we no longer have a swimming pool in Marple (thus creating more traffic) and the buses and trains are timed in such a way that makes it impossible to get to Romiley in time for their lessons. And I see a LOT of children travelling on foot. On scooters. On bikes.
