Numbers cycling to school in Ireland

michaelm

Caught the end of a news clip on the radio yesterday about new report on how young people commute to school. The headline stat (for me) was that only 0.5% of second level students travel by bike. Can I assume parents will cite traffic dangers as the reason? Here's my question: when the same students start college (larger urban areas, more traffic etc) many do actually cycle, so why the change?

johnam

because as you said yourself parents cite traffic dangers as the reason when they are home, and drive the kids everywhere, send them to college and in doing so, remove the free parent taxi service, and all of a sudden those dangers don't seem so major any more. My kids will be cycling to school when they get to that age.

smacl

At a guess, because the mammy's too far away to give their little darlings a lift any more, and cycling is a very economical form of transport for those saving the few bob for pints.

Bikerbhoy

smacl wrote: »

At a guess, because the mammy's too far away to give their little darlings a lift any more, and cycling is a very economical form of transport for those saving the few bob for pints.

Ha got in just before me there . . Yes its as simple as that. . . It is down to beer money . believe it or not.
They certainly arent goin to pay for taxis comin home from wherever at 4am 4/5 nites a week . .wheres me pusher

Jawgap

They don't have to wear dorky helmets or hi-viz......

It's cheaper than taxis and quicker than walking.....

.....and as Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead said....."“Bicycles are almost as good as guitars for meeting girls.”

bedirect

i asked my secondary school kids about this and they say they would get a terrible slagging & the bike would be wrecked by other students

DirkVoodoo

Out of school a while now, but I can still remember it quite clearly: bus or lift. We only lived about 8km from my school, but that was a massive distance to someone who didn't cycle. A few guys who lived close by cycled in, but most of the reasons I can think of off the top of my head for preventing people were:

1) Distance
2) Weather - that old excuse
3) Clothing - teenage boys would laugh at the idea of lycra (unless they are hardcore cyclists) and despite having shower/changing facilities, most people want to travel in their uniforms. Uniforms which are neither comfortable for cycling or waterproof.
4) Theft - despite being in a decent area, bike theft still happened. I reckon most of this is down to crappy locks and not enough cameras. A €200 hybrid is a lot of money to a teenager.
5) Cycling was not considered "cool" at my school. People used to laugh at one of the teachers who cycled, we all assumed it was because he couldn't afford a car. A car, as it still seems to be, was a direct measure of your success.

The big ones:

6) Parents - parents made the call at the end of the day. If cycling was considered too dangerous, you just weren't allowed to do it.
7) Provisional license at 17, everyone wanted to learn to drive and to drive to school. Taking up limited parking space in the school grounds was the ultimate sign of your independence from the parents who bought the car, and pay for the insurance, tax and petrol.
8) Bags - I don't know how it is now, but despite having lockers and evening study, you'd still be hauling a massive bag home with you. I fell backwards getting onto a 46A one day. In my defence, I was extremely small (was?) and my bag and tech drawing gear completely unbalanced me. I would have suffered a spin injury if I tried to cycle with that much gear, or a severe wedgie if I commuted with panniers.

RobertFoster

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

4) Theft - despite being in a decent area, bike theft still happened. I reckon most of this is down to crappy locks and not enough cameras. A €200 hybrid is a lot of money to a teenager.

My bike was stolen from outside my house and I found it a few days later in the bike rack outside my school :pac:


There was a school run set up between my parents and a few others in the area whose kids went to the same school. It was established in primary and continued to secondary, so cycling to school never really crossed my mind. I think the weight of my bag and the fact that I would've done most of the ~5km journey on a 60MPH national route would've put me off.

DirkVoodoo

RobertFoster wrote: »

My bike was stolen from outside my house and I found it a few days later in the bike rack outside my school :pac:


There was a school run set up between my parents and a few others in the area whose kids went to the same school. It was established in primary and continued to secondary, so cycling to school never really crossed my mind. I think the weight of my bag and the fact that I would've done most of the ~5km journey on a 60MPH national route would've put me off.

Yeah, we either got lifts or for a good few years there was a bus organized by the parents in the area which carted a few car loads worth of kids. So while it wasn't as healthy or fun as cycling, it was certainly saving more time for all involved and didn't lead to increased congestion.

The bus was in a poor state though, constantly getting pulled over by the Gardai and it stank of diesel fumes. Don't know what clown picked the company.

Tonyandthewhale

Weight of the books was the main one for me. The mammy wasn't worried about traffic (from about the age of 8 I was allowed roam anywhere up to 10 miles from the house, further if I could manage it) but she was convinced I'd injury myself if I had to carry my own bodyweight in books the 3.2km to primary school or later the 16km to secondary school. For that reason you could probably count on two hands the number of times I cycled to school between junior infants and 5th year.

Luckily, coming into leaving cert year I decided I wanted to do a month-long European Tour once school was finished so in preparation for that I bought a touring bike and panniers which allowed me to carry my books in comfort and (relative) style. I commuted to school pretty much everyday that year and it was an awful lot quicker than the bus.

The 'cool' factor was never an issue although I was already well known as an eccentric so that didn't really come into it.
I also didn't have to worry about theft because going to school in a small west of Ireland town I was pretty sure if someone did steal my bike I'd see them riding around town on it a few days later.
Luckily I didn't have a uniform so I could wear comfortable clothes on the bike.

In a secondary school of 400-500 boys I was one of maybe half a dozen students who cycled to school and the only one from outside the town and for the one year I did it I was the only one who could be relied on to completely ignore any and all weather conditions.

It is pretty shocking how few people cycle to school in Ireland but there are a lot of barriers in place (none of them by any means insurmountable of course).

Harrybelafonte

Ballymun kids seem to have no problems cycling to school. There's a well worn path of muddy grass along the pavement where they bomb past pedestrians, sometimes coming a cropper.

Compare that to the traffic jams around DCU and the roads that are down to single lanes because of double parking, which the Garda Síochána don't seem too bothered about. When I was in college all of 15 years ago we could point out people who had cars there were so few of them.

My son's national school did a survey about how the kids got to school, most where by car but when all the other forms of transport were put together the cars were in a minority. The school has space to park maybe 20 bikes and all those places are taken (only five by scooters, sigh). There's a load of the parents who cycle and the kids will still cycle in the rain. There's a few that cycle every few days, but car it the others.

What we really need is an excellent film for kids that incorporates bikes in some form, The Goonies had them, ET and a load of 80s movies where a bike was the way to get around. (Let's not get into BMX Bandits and RAD).

Tenzor07

michaelm wrote: »

The headline stat (for me) was that only 0.5% of second level students travel by bike. Can I assume parents will cite traffic dangers as the reason?

It's a vicious circle! Don't cycle 'cos of "all the traffic", therefore drive and become "all the traffic"

ROK ON

As a kid i began cycling to school from around the age of ten. Cycled in all weathers except ice. When it was wet I wore rain gear. It was about a 7k trip.

Always cycled to college. Trip was around 15k. Asked my wife out on our first date as I cycled past her on the way into college one morning.

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Cycling was not considered "cool" at my school. People used to laugh at one of the teachers who cycled, we all assumed it was because he couldn't afford a car. A car, as it still seems to be, was a direct measure of your success.

This just confirms my deep-seated prejudice that privately educated children are a bunch of cocks. :pac:

(present company excepted)

gubbie

michaelm wrote: »

Caught the end of a news clip on the radio yesterday about new report on how young people commute to school. The headline stat (for me) was that only 0.5% of second level students travel by bike. Can I assume parents will cite traffic dangers as the reason? Here's my question: when the same students start college (larger urban areas, more traffic etc) many do actually cycle, so why the change?

I think it's seen as slightly uncool. I was working in a school last year and out of 300 students and around 30 staff I was the only person to regularly cycle. The odd time, there was another bike (a student's), but most of the times my bike really stood out (the bike stand was at the front of the school)

Anyway, the school had a few loiterers, who would just stare over at you when you were cycling in while they hung out just nearby. It was quite unnerving and if I felt like that I'd say the actual students would be slightly worse.

Once I started needing to drag A3 paper, a laptop, books and copies in, I started going for the car more often.

Lumen wrote: »

This just confirms my deep-seated prejudice that privately educated children are a bunch of cocks. :pac:

(present company excepted)

In my case, it was a public school

Lawrence1895

As long as parents drop their children to school in their cars in thousands, nothig will change, imo

DirkVoodoo

Lumen wrote: »

This just confirms my deep-seated prejudice that privately educated children are a bunch of cocks. :pac:

(present company excepted)

Before I bought a bike at the age of 23, the last time I was on one was when our school had a sponsored cycle out to Wicklow somewhere. I think it was about 60km.

That was the last year they did it. They believed it was far too dangerous and it was stopped.

Of course, allowing 13-18 year olds to bulk up to ~90Kg and then allowing them to bash lumps out of each other on the rugby pitch was seen as just fine. My brother suffered an injury in a rugby match that was described as something that was only seen in car crashes because of the force required.

Another guy the year ahead of him ended up in rehab for a while after a "second-impact syndrome" hit, he had suffered a concussion, was allowed back into training a while later and got hit again. I believe he still suffers some neurological impairment.

Dermot Illogical

ROK ON wrote: »

As a kid i began cycling to school from around the age of ten. Cycled in all weathers except ice. When it was wet I wore rain gear. It was about a 7k trip.

Same here. It was a 6km trip each way in my case, but then I moved school* to one which was just 5km away. That made it feasible for me to cycle home for lunch as well, which I did most days.

*At the "request" of the school

Planet X

Both my youngest kids cycle to school, with hurlies and sports kit most days aswell.
Daughter came off on the ice a couple of weeks ago, just when it started to get cold. Great lesson!

Harrybelafonte

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Before I bought a bike at the age of 23, the last time I was on one was when our school had a sponsored cycle out to Wicklow somewhere. I think it was about 60km.

That was the last year they did it. They believed it was far too dangerous and it was stopped.

Of course, allowing 13-18 year olds to bulk up to ~90Kg and then allowing them to bash lumps out of each other on the rugby pitch was seen as just fine. My brother suffered an injury in a rugby match that was described as something that was only seen in car crashes because of the force required.

Another guy the year ahead of him ended up in rehab for a while after a "second-impact syndrome" hit, he had suffered a concussion, was allowed back into training a while later and got hit again. I believe he still suffers some neurological impairment.

Bad memories returning... sharpened boot studs and tackles on frozen ground, bloodied legs and faces, horrible cotton shorts that gave you wedgies. Glad I ended up moving schools before I got to the real stuff in Seniors. Though I spent long enough at it to injure my lower back and to still have probs with it.

Boarders didn't have to cycle, but no-one cycled in that school, there wasn't even space to park the bike. Mind you that was around 1990.

What I've always wondered about was how we, in rural Donegal, spent all our weekends on bikes, but never cycled, we just bloody walked it.

ROK ON

I attended secondary school in inner city Limerick between 1986 & 1991.
900 pupils.
Every morning the bike shed would be full by 845 for classes beginning at 9.

There would have been room for hundreds of bikes. I can't understand just how cycling to school stopped.
Now my eldest daughter keeps asking can she cycle to school - it's about 3km.
I have said that she can when she is ten - reason - she needs a little bit more time in the road before being left off unsupervised. There is a family down the road where the three kids cycle to school.

I work four days a week many weeks - my day off I collect the kids from school and montesori.

There is a new bike shed in the primary school, there are about four bikes in it every day. That's it.
I never see kids from the secondary school cycling. Now, infairness the location is rural and mountainous - but I imagine that kids of a different generation would have cycled.

Harrybelafonte

ROK ON wrote: »

I attended secondary school in inner city Limerick between 1986 & 1991.
900 pupils.
Every morning the bike shed would be full by 845 for classes beginning at 9.

There would have been room for hundreds of bikes. I can't understand just how cycling to school stopped.
Now my eldest daughter keeps asking can she cycle to school - it's about 3km.
I have said that she can when she is ten - reason - she needs a little bit more time in the road before being left off unsupervised. There is a family down the road where the three kids cycle to school.

I work four days a week many weeks - my day off I collect the kids from school and montesori.

There is a new bike shed in the primary school, there are about four bikes in it every day. That's it.
I never see kids from the secondary school cycling. Now, infairness the location is rural and mountainous - but I imagine that kids of a different generation would have cycled.

So my question is:

Is the decrease in cycling because 1) Parents just don't want to let their kids out onto unsafe roads (In fairness there's more traffic now than when I was a kid) or 2) It's just uncool for kids to do?

For me as a kid being on a bike was a way to get away from my parents and go out on my own. My friends lived about 5 miles away and I could just cycle down to them, from about 10 on and then we'd all head off somewhere else for the day. Ugh, I was about to start going on about current youth and their fixations with the Playstation yada yada. Getting old. I just figured that level of independence would make bikes a must for anyone.

Grian1

In primary school I had a 10minute cycle I did every school day. My friends got a lift in because of their overprotective parents. They were jealous of me. Secondary school I have to go from Crumlin to Stilorgan. At first I took the bus. Then I saw others from my area cycling and decided to give it a try. The bus took 45-60mins. The cycle took 30-45mins. I look at all those posh people in Stilorgan getting a lift or on the bus and think WHY? I can only think them as lazy.

rp

At my daughter's primary school they have been promoting walking and cycling to school inside the school, posters, etc., but no concrete steps are taken to make it happen, for example, teaching road skills, organizing parents to run a bicycle 'train', secure parking nor lockers.
Ironically, one of the posters promoting cycling shows three young girls cycling to school with schoolbags, etc. From the clothing and standard of the bikes, it was obviously taken in Germany or the Netherlands, and of course they weren't wearing helmets - so the school got the kids to paint helmets on them!

marketty

I don't think you can blame the kids. Kids are generally adventurous by nature and like going off doing their own thing away from mam and dad, even more so as teenagers. If they are not this way it is generally due to a very molly coddled upbringing I think. In that case those kind of parents are hardly likely to allow their kids to walk or, god forbid, cycle to school when there's a perfectly good urban assault vehicle in the driveway.
I don't get the 'cool factor' argument either. When I was in school (not that long ago) it was a lot cooler to arrive on foot/bus/bike than to get a big smooch off Mam in the car park...
Having said that, one young lad I know who really enjoys cycling tried bringing the bike to his new secondary school at the start of the year and came back at the end of the day to 2 slashed tires and a missing saddle. :-( Not a 'rough' school either

el Bastardo

Cycling was certainly the done thing in my school in the eighties (LC '89). I blame over-protective parents: Those same parents are driving their kids to school and collecting them afterwards. I pass several schools on my route and there's no way I'd allow a kid to cycle on those roads; the 'soccer Moms' would run them over!

Cookie_Monster

Similar story for me.

When I started secondary in 97 you couldn't fit your bike into the compound (120 spaces iirc) if you arrived after 845, lined another good hundred bikes up along the back wall of the school. by the time i left in 02 you could get a space in the compound no problem every day.

BostonB

Part of the problem is the daft catchment areas. Many aren't in the catchment areas of the schools they live beside, and have to watch people drive into the area taking all the places. Then you have the planning. Over development leading to the road on which schools are built becoming rat runs.

smacl

I cycled to primary and secondary school reasonably regularly, about 1k & 6k each way respectively, in the late 70s early 80s, as many did. I'd also get the occasional lift or get the bus in secondary (free bus pass helped). Then as the interest in girls kicked in, and many of those girls were on the same bus route, the bike got ditched for commuting, though was still in use for getting to friends houses. Looking back, groups of you lads on bikes was pretty much the norm, girls probably less so. You got your first bike in primary school and pretty much stuck with it.

Trying to get our girls, 10 & 13, cycling regularly has been a struggle. The distance to our younger one ~7k is a bit too much with books, hills, etc... on a single speed BMX, and the number of books, uniform etc... don't make it that conducive for our older girl. During the summer, my wife sticks the bikes on the rack, drives them half way and cycles the rest, but its a chore and not particularly functional.

A couple of thoughts on blocking factors involved in cycling to school;

- Weight of books. Why the hell do we still use bulky paper school books as opposed to Kindles, Pads etc.. with content on-line. Books have got bigger and more numerous since my day, with workbooks specifically designed that they cannot be passed down between people. Number of subjects has also increased.

- Compatibility and cost of uniforms. School uniforms aren't well designed for cycling and tend to be overpriced, making buying extra sets prohibitive. Lugging about changes of clothing isn't the ideal solution.

- Parents that have never cycled have a phobia of the dangers of cycling that they pass on to their kids. Get the yummy mummies cycling, and they're more likely to pass on the habit to their kids.

Outside of getting to and from school, we also have this wretched phenomenon called the play date where the long suffering mammy, in taxi mode. also drives the kids to and from their friends houses. I reckon this really needs to get knocked on the head as well, and presents a better opportunity for functional bike usage than getting to and from school.

Peterx

Slightly off topic;
The numbers cycling to school would have been one less this morning were it not for a very alert truck driver.

Young lad cycling along the footpath towards a junction, people walking and me jogging towards him so without looking he veers off the path and right in front of the truck.
He didn't notice me screaming at him to stop, me patting/hitting him on the shoulder or the truck's brakes screeching - he just kept cycling across the road.
Amazing stuff.
If I were a parent wondering is it safe to let little Johnny cycle to school this incident would not have encouraged me to let him.

There is a road design issue at that junction in that there is no currently no space for a dedicated bike lane and the road is very busy which can force nervous cyclists up onto the path but this lad seem to have any nerves, not even the ones attached to his ears, eyes or shoulder...

monument

Graphs and more from the CSO's report: http://cyclingindublin.com/2012/12/16/graphed-irish-students-hopping-from-bicycles-to-cars/

The switch of secondly and third level students from bikes to cars is stark.

Distance just isn't a factor for a large bulk of people -- maybe perception is, but actual distance isn't. There will be always some who are too far, but we have to look at the bigger picture. We're still waiting for the distances from the 2011 census, but I still feel safe saying the above based on past data.

Highway_To_Hell

I cycled to primary and secondary school every day (only other option was to walk) it was only 2km so was never an issue, during secondary school I would cycle home for lunch. This was during the late 70's early 80's and everyone cycled, if you called around to a mates house and no bikes were outside you just went to the next mates house until you found the bikes stacked up outside and you knew who was there.

As others have said weight of books weren't an issue back than and I cannot understand why the schools now don't move to some form of electronic books. My kids are 11 and I am eager to get them cycling to school but my wife a complete non and never will be cyclist is putting up the too dangerous argument. I have convinced her that my daughter will start cycle once the weather get a bit better and it is only 1.5km for her. While my sons school is 10km away it would be a lot quicker to cycle then drive or public transport, but I am fighting a loosing battle on this front due to the road safety and the weight of bags. - On a positive his school are running a cycling awareness program once a week over a 6 week period and from next spring they have organised a group cycle every Sunday.

My nephew was mad keen to cycle to school (less than 2 km) so his mum let him but would drop his bags off for him - Madness, but at least he was cycling, he is now in secondary school and able to get himself and his books in by himself.

I know it is only Monday but another discussion/argument I have at home is the helmet wearing one. I argue that I would prefer to see the kids cycle without a helmet than not cycle at all. I have seen too many people just stop cycling because they are forced to wear a helmet and also I notice a lot of teenagers cycling around with helmets draped over handle bars instead of wearing them. (how many accidents are caused by the straps getting caught in the wheels?)

seamus

I cycled to primary school probably from 8 years of age, but then it was all estates and footpaths to get there, so I don't think my parents were too worried. I'd been hammering around the local estate roads racing the other kids unsupervised from 4 or 5 years of age.

The trip to secondary school involved "real" roads, so I wasn't allowed go until the second half of first year, and even then only being accompanied by my older brother, for a week or so to show me the ropes. "The ropes" being liberal usage of footpaths and ignoring red lights.

This was 1994, and the bike stands were always fairly jammed. If you came in late you had to hunt for somewhere to park the bike. I would say that most days you'd have close to 300 bikes parked in various locations around the yard, which would be 20-30% of the kids.

My parents seemed to relax about it at an exponential rate then as by the start of 2nd year I was riding down the side of Montpelier hill on a BSO and then built my own MTB 6 months later and would be off 20 or 30km away for half the day.

I don't recall there being any stigma about bikes being "uncool". Though in fifth year I was riding a BMX to school and jumping down steps and over walls in the yard, so I probably had some cred for being "edgy" and wouldn't have noticed if cycling was uncool. When I was 16, everyone was spending every spare penny they had buying themselves a moped and then the cars started appearing in fifth year, but most people still cycled. That said, there were definitely more students with cars when I left school than when my older brothers left.

monument

Highway_To_Hell -- have you looked into panniers which would double as a school bag or one which a school bag would fit into?

Or it could be a matter of getting a school bag to fit on a rear rack securely.

Highway_To_Hell

monument wrote: »

Highway_To_Hell -- have you looked into panniers which would double as a school bag or one which a school bag would fit into?

Or it could be a matter of getting a school bag to fit on a rear rack securely.

Use panniers myself so would be going down that route, bigger barrier will be my wife's concern over safety.

Harrybelafonte

Though I'd agree that the bags are a bit heavy these days I don't see how that should stop kids cycling to school. (Also, not a hope in hell I'd let my 8 year old have an iPad. He destroyed all his books last year and they had to be bought again, I can imagine what he'd do with an iPad)

Someone mentioned problems because of single speed BMXs too, they get used to it.

Those getting hassles about it letting kids cycle to school or kids that aren't up to it, would you get away with suggesting one or two days of the week to begin with?

smacl

Though I'd agree that the bags are a bit heavy these days I don't see how that should stop kids cycling to school.

The weight of books issue would more be junior cycle in secondary school, where they seem to cover many more subjects than we did, all with hefty reference books, and often workbooks rather than thin copies. My daughter in first year also has PE twice a week, and does after school sports on another two days, and after school cooking on a third. At a guess, her bag varies in weight between 6-10kg on any given day. She's got a smart phone, and uses the computer regularly, so a kindle or cheaper pad would seem like a decent alternative. Better still, just put all the coursework up on-line and use the house PC.

I'd still love to see her cycling to school, and will encourage her to do so. Part of that is identifying and removing the obstacles. I think independence of movement over a wider area (e.g. up and down to the dreaded Dundrum shopping centre with her mates) will swing it for her in the longer term.

The younger one is a hazard to herself and others. If she gets out and about solo, its the rest of the population that should consider buying helmets

Harrybelafonte

smacl wrote: »

The weight of books issue would more be junior cycle in secondary school, where they seem to cover many more subjects than we did, all with hefty reference books, and often workbooks rather than thin copies. My daughter in first year also has PE twice a week, and does after school sports on another two days, and after school cooking on a third. At a guess, her bag varies in weight between 6-10kg on any given day. She's got a smart phone, and uses the computer regularly, so a kindle or cheaper pad would seem like a decent alternative. Better still, just put all the coursework up on-line and use the house PC.

I'd still love to see her cycling to school, and will encourage her to do so. Part of that is identifying and removing the obstacles. I think independence of movement over a wider area (e.g. up and down to the dreaded Dundrum shopping centre with her mates) will swing it for her in the longer term.

The younger one is a hazard to herself and others. If she gets out and about solo, its the rest of the population that should consider buying helmets

My apologies, I thought we were talking National school. We used to have lockers so only needed to bring what we needed "home". National school books are heavy enough so I can see Secondary being worse (However, I live around Ballymun and from what I see, not many could afford the home PC, or at least, it wouldn't be a priority).

I have no experience of daughters either, but the mother of the boy used to cycle all over (parents couldn't afford a car, so they all cycled) and has made an effort to start it again so have had no safety arguments, though she wouldn't be too keen to see him off on his own for awhile.

In saying all this, one of the families in the school would often walk the few km to school in the morning and after awhile they'd walk while the kids cycled. This year I noticed the mother and kids all occassionally cycled together which I thought was cool. Their dad confessed to me a few years ago he was too concerned about safety to cycle to work. Bumped into him during the week and he's cycling to work now too. There is some change.

michaelm

Really enjoying reading all the replies. My own situation - I teach in a second level school and cycle in most days up to October break and after St. Patrick's Day. It is 25Km from my home along rural roads and not safe in the dark. Was delighted last week when I was approached by 3 fifth year lads who want to take up cycling and asked if I would be interested in organising spins/training after school when the evenings are longer so I'm really looking forward to this. It is an opportunity I would love to have had when I was in my teens. When I started in the school in the late 80's there were 2 racks which held 20 bikes, full each day - now the racks have been taken away.

On a related matter - it frustrates me no end the way cycling and bikes are so popular in marketing and advertising (how many window displays and TV ads have you seen featuring a bike?) Yet so few of the target audience actually cycle. Also can't help but notice the irony of how bikes bought for Irish kids have so many springs, suspensions and various features - yet are rarely ridden, contrast this with the rattling bikes that are found all over Holland, Belgium etc on any given day.

Red Belly

I cycled to school from about 5th class up to leaving cert. Went to a CBS in a provincial town and the entrance was onto the Main Street. At 4pm a horde of about 100 of us would emerge like a bogman peloton into the traffic and the cars had no choice but to stop! I work in a school of 160 pupils now and only one cycles to school.

I reckon it's all about numbers. If motorists were used to seeing shed loads of kids on bikes they'd be more careful. But how you get the numbers up in the first place I just don't know. I know I wouldn't let my ten year old cycle on the road unaccompanied by me round where I live anyway. Few cycle lanes (some of the ones we have are more dangerous than having none), very heavy traffic, nutters behind the wheel, hardly any bikes on the road etc etc.

rb

BostonB

The Primary school we attend has lots of kids cycling to it. But I reckon its mainly because there are cycle paths in the immediate area. Most of the roads aren't great for kids cycling.

Used to see some kids cycling clubs in the Phoenix Park. Haven't seen them for ages.

BobbyPropane

I walk but loads cycle in my school. Must be different from most other schools then.

Surveyor11

Bike was my method of choice when growing up for getting about, primary school we all congregated into a big mad looking peleton on the 1.5 mile trip to school, each 'gang' (the lads you hung around with) had it's own distinct groups - Raleigh Grifters, Choppers, Triumph 18s and the Irish-made folding bike whose name escapes me right now. As thing progressed, my Raleigh Medale got me though secondary school (cost me 140 pounds from Wright's in Waterford, took me a whole summer to earn it, paying back 5 pounds a week...). Conntiued through college, even took a bike on summers and an Erasmus year in Germany, plenty of happy memories cruising through Alsace to visit the vineyards, day trips to the Black Forest, cycling around Lake Konstanz and numerous other trips, even heading across Paris from Gare de Nord to Gare De L'Ouest in rush hour. Happy days.

tomasrojo

monument wrote: »

The switch of secondly and third level students from bikes to cars is stark.

Saw a recent study that is related to this (though based on data from England).

Official reports on modal risk have not chosen appropriate numerators and denominators to enable like-for-like comparisons. We report age- and sex-specific deaths and injury rates from equivalent incidents in England by travel mode, distance travelled and time spent travelling.

For the young, especially males, cycling is safer than driving.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0050606

Dermot Illogical

Surveyor11 wrote: »

Raleigh Grifters, Choppers, Triumph 18s and the Irish-made folding bike whose name escapes me

The only folding bike I remember from that era was the Eska. No idea where it was made though.

tomasrojo

I was very struck by the RSA's update of the old Safe Cross Code advert from the 70s. The RSA couldn't bring themselves to show a child actually crossing a road in their update. So walking is also, apparently, regarded as less safe than in the 70s.

tomasrojo

Dermot Illogical wrote: »

The only folding bike I remember from that era was the Eska. No idea where it was made though.

Raleigh/Triumph Twenty?

Dermot Illogical

tomasrojo wrote: »

Raleigh/Triumph Twenty?

All coming back to me now!

smacl

tomasrojo wrote: »

Raleigh/Triumph Twenty?

A blue triumph twenty folder was my bike throughout the school years. Solid and functional bike.

piston

smacl wrote: »

A blue triumph twenty folder was my bike throughout the school years. Solid and functional bike.

I still have mine and occasionally use it, a Dublin built Raleigh from 1971.

thesimpsons

son in secondary cycles on days when the bag isn't laden down or has after school training which necessitates 2 gear bags. seriously, the weight of the bags is a major deterrant to anyone cycling. when my kids were in primary school they wanted to cycle but the school wouldn't provide a facility to lock the bikes onto - a safety issue !!!!! The health aspects of it seemed to go over their heads.