Today is Bike To Work Day. It’s also a great day to bike to school with your kids. Parents driving their kids to school account for 20 percent of morning rush hour traffic.

If you live within a few miles of your child’s school, which most of us do, walking or biking might be a better option for your health and the environment. It’s also a lot of fun to experience a little morning sunshine and fresh air with your child. And if you live in an urban neighborhood like mine, walking or biking can actually be faster than sitting in traffic.

Even if you’re not up for biking every day, doing it once in awhile can give you a fresh perspective on your commute.

Continue reading »

Tweet

0

Pin It

On one of her earlier trips out with our daughter in a bike seat, my wife got roundly told off by a stranger in a car for daring to do something so dangerous with a child.

I wish it were feasible to print up little copies of this post over at ChildWild and toss them into the windows of cars with drivers like that.

Short and sweet, and more polite than I would be, even in theory, the writer points out that taking your attention off the road to “startle, alarm, and anger” the bicycle rider vastly increases the danger of the situation.

Some great follow up comments note that the more people who bike, the safer it is (i.e., if you’re concerned about how safe it is, get on a bike yourself), and that regular biking is modeling healthy, active behavior for your kids, which we certainly need more of.

If I were actually making such an informative flyer, I would add “Oh, and by the way, it’s illegal for me to ride on the sidewalk, as I am over 10 years old, even though I do so sometimes anyway when I feel unsafe on the roads due to jerks like you. I like to follow the law. I’d appreciate it if you did the same, which in your case includes sharing the road with other vehicles.” Then I would give said informative flyer to the police among others.

It’s not that everyone with any experience in urban cycling isn’t constantly aware of how defensively they need to ride, especially with kids in tow. The point is not that it’s risk free. But it is amazing how many drivers who would never yell at parents for doing other less safe, less legal, less otherwise beneficial things feel OK letting loose at parents who cycle with their kids.

Photo CC by Howard N2GOT.

More by this author:

• Why Are People Such Jerks to Children?
• Caillou: Love Him or Hate Him?

Tweet

17

Pin It