If you lived across the street from your kid’s school, I’m sure many of you wouldn’t have a problem with your child wheeling it over to class.
But what if your 5-year-old begged you to allow him to pedal six blocks along a busy sidewalk to get to school? Would you let him?
If the kid still had training wheels on his bike, my answer would be a big “no.”
You can blame me for putting more cars on the road.
According to a recent New York Times piece, helicopter parents, who are intent on protecting their kids by driving them to school, are ruining the two-wheeled commute for the rest of society.
One American dream – specifically the “car in every garage” mantra – is interfering with another – namely the idealistic one that includes white picket fences and safe rides to school.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation, in 1960 there were 61 million passenger cars on the road. In 2007, that number skyrocketed to almost one 136 million, and didn’t take into account trucks, buses, and other motorized vehicles.
What’s more, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, accidents involving pedestrians make up about 12 percent of all fatal motor vehicle accidents in the United States, and of that 12 percent almost a quarter of the victims are kids between the ages of five and nine.
If those numbers aren’t enough to scare you into driving your child to school, consider that we are also a nation of terrified parents, petrified that our innocent little lambs will end up in the hands of the Philip Garridos of the world. According to the New York Times that’s another reason why we don’t let our kids bike to school alone anymore.
Bottom line: Parents aren’t just afraid a stranger will snatch their child; they’re scared that he’s going to run them over too.
Do you let your kids bike to school?
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