Stupidity (on the school administrator's part)

[bikkuri bahn]

'nuff said:

Students Punished for Riding Bikes to School in Michigan

 

The mayor was handing out doughnuts. There was a police escort. But a group of 64 high school seniors who rode their bikes to school in Kenowa Hills, Michigan, Tuesday were sent home as punishment by an angry principal who denounced the ride as a dangerous prank.

 

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/05/students-punished-riding-bikes-school-michigan/2084/

[bill937ca]

At least the parents are after the principals head.  Not surprising she was a no show at the meeting.  Guess she'd prefer vandalism.

 

EDIT:

 

It gets stranger. The kids had a police escort (described as a courtesy) on their ride.

 

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/212951/2/Principal-on-bikers-Did-I-overreact-Of-course-I-did

[Nick_Burman]

I guess that if every kid who lived within cycling distance of his/her school were to actually cycle to/from school, the rate of childhood obesity in US would drop sharply very quickly indeed.

 

Cheers NB

[hectorton]

    Interestingly, a few days ago I mentioned to the wife that riding her bicycle to school while growing up in Japan must of been fun.  Surprisingly she replies that as far as she knew no school in Japan permits students to ride their bicycles to school.  I was surprised by the response given that there are bicycles everywhere in Japan, Asia, Europe and just about everywhere else in the world with the exception of the U.S.  She Explained that the majority of schools in Japan are very large (2,000-5000 students) and could I just imagine what the streets in the vicinity of the schools would look like in the mornings and in the afternoons.  Additionally, where would 3,000 bicycles be stored during the school day.  After the discussion I've been paying attention to schools that I walk past in Tokyo and indeed there are no bicycle in sight.  Thinking back to my youth (I grew up in New York City), bicycles were also prohibited.  Probably for the very same reasons they are prohibited in Japan (Safety, congestion, storage).  My two cents worth.

[Mr Frosty]

I remember cycling to school. It was infinitely better than walking.

Almost no one got driven in by their parents back then.

[bikkuri bahn]

Surprisingly she replies that as far as she knew no school in Japan permits students to ride their bicycles to school.

 

I don't know about where your wife went to school, but students above elementary school age are very much allowed to ride bicycles to most schools in Japan.  They are required to register their bicycles with the school, and receive a sticker which must be applied to their bicycle, but otherwise they are free to use it to get to/from their home (some junior HS require students to wear helmets).  I work at a high school ,and in the non-winter months, perhaps 10~20 percent of students bicycle to school (my school draws students from citywide and nearby suburban cities, so more come by subway or JR- other schools with a narrower student catchment area will have more students come by bicycle).  Also, on average schools are no where as large as you mentioned, unless they are private schools with combined junior/senior high school campuses- an average public high school will have 1200 students, based on 40 student classes with 10 classes/grade, which is a standard specified by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, and Technology, or Monkasho, as most people call it.

[marknewton]

Obviously I don't know how far the school's authority extends in the US, but how is it any of their business if the kids ride to school? Do they actually have any jurisdiction in the matter? If anyone from a school were to try to tell me my son couldn't ride a bike there, they'd have a fight on their hands.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[bikkuri bahn]

mark, the problem is not really the schools, but the communities these schools serve (the schools are controlled by the municipalities).  The auto-centric culture has been carried so far, it is considered too dangerous for children to walk (!) or ride bicycles to school, or even around their neighborhood.  Where my parents live in a wealthy No. California suburb, it seems most of the children at a nearby middle school are driven to school by their parents, which results in traffic jams of expensive SUV's and BMW's on the residential streets in the mornings and afternoons when school starts and ends.  It's a surreal scene to someone like me, who grew up in the America of the 70's and 80's, when the majority of children still walked or rode bikes to school, and parents didn't obsess over the safety of their children. Heck, me and my friends would be embarrassed to be seen being driven to school by mommy or daddy. I guess children nowadays see their parents as their "buddies" rather than as the occasionally scary and most of the time "uncool" adults of my generation.

[bill937ca]

mark, the problem is not really the schools, but the communities these schools serve (the schools are controlled by the municipalities).  The auto-centric culture has been carried so far, it is considered too dangerous for children to walk (!) or ride bicycles to school, or even around their neighborhood.  Where my parents live in a wealthy No. California suburb, it seems most of the children at a nearby middle school are driven to school by their parents, which results in traffic jams of expensive SUV's and BMW's on the residential streets in the mornings and afternoons when school starts and ends.  It's a surreal scene to someone like me, who grew up in the America of the 70's and 80's, when the majority of children still walked or rode bikes to school, and parents didn't obsess over the safety of their children. Heck, me and my friends would be embarrassed to be seen being driven to school by mommy or daddy. I guess children nowadays see their parents as their "buddies" rather than as the occasionally scary and most of the time "uncool" adults of my generation.

 

I think there also is a fear of parental kidnapping in custody disputes or sexual predators that drives the drive to school at least in Noeth America.  A lot of these parents would be horrified at children going to school on their own. Whether the fears are truly justified could be up for debate.

[bikkuri bahn]

I think there also is a fear of parental kidnapping in custody disputes or sexual predators that drives the drive to school at least in Noeth America.

 

In Japan, they have the children walk in groups, and have people from the community volunteer (usually older folks) to chaperone or monitor crosswalks.  Of course, if you live in a sprawlburb where everything is at least three miles away and there are no sidewalks, well...

[Guest ___]

Well, where I currently live both the Elementary school and the high school are only accessible via route 194 which has a posted speed limit of 55mph. The schools were built in the late 70's on farm land which was acquired cheaply. Both the HS and ES have no bike policies due to the speed traffic moves. Route 194 is a major artery and the schools themselves sit about 1000' of the main road, so the state will not grant the county a reduced speed limit though the area. We do have a lot of kids who attempt to walk home this way and at least have one or two killed a year. The road is posted no pedestrian traffic, however a designated bike lane went in when the road was declared a scenic bikeway. The school district however maintains a no-bike ban because schools hours coincide with the morning rush hour.

 

The other issue with bike-to-school or at least in my state is that students are legally considered the responsibility of the school district the moment said student steps foot off the residence. So as my neighbor would say, once "Little Bobby SOB" leaves the yard, he's the country's problem. Historically, once a year year when "Little Bobby" gets splattered all over the highway while walking/biking in the should of the highway, the first thing the parents do is go after the driver of the car, the school-board, and the county. And every year, the courts find in favor of the county, because all students are provided with school buses for transport.

 

In recent years, the main street in town that parallels the highway has been extended to the school, but strangely enough has no side walk from the end of town to the school itself which places students walking in a narrow road which leads as the new entrance to the student parking lot. Sadly a good number of students need to go the other direction as half the population of the school lives in a 1200 unit subdivision two miles away in the middle of a cornfield.

 

I can also think of a HS in Montgomery Co. that has 2200 students, and was built in farm land along Muncaster mill Rd, a narrow two lane road with lots of horizontal and vertical curves. The road is rated for 40mph, but drops down to 25 during school hours. the road has no shoulders, but school lets out (and starts) during rush hour. While speed is not an issue, the sheer volume of this road is. The road is famous for accidents by commuters and high school drivers alike. I sure in hell would not walk to walk it yet alone bike it.

 

The place in the article sounds like Suburbia. Before passing judgement, I'd like to know, is the location isolated, or is in in the intercity? Are they biking on a two-lane road with a 40mph speed limit, blind curves, and hills? So, I can see the bike ban as a liability issue depending on where the school physically located. I think before quickly judging the administrator, I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt that his concern was for the safety of the students. If parents would spend half as much time parenting as they expecting the schools to do it for them, then bitching about a decision they don't agree with, maybe kids today wouldn't be so damn entitled.

[KenS]

I've never actually seen anyone bicycling to school where I live (in the US), but the schools are located in residential areas and there are lots of pedestrians even at the elemetary school level.  A bit of googling turned up that the state DOT actually promotes bicycle use: "MassDOT's Safe Routes to School program works with students, parents, school staff and local police departments across the Commonwealth to promote walking and bicycling to school." (state page).

 

There's an interesting statistic there: "In 1969, roughly 48% of students bicycled or walked to school. Today only 13% of children do so. "

Edit: oops, that's the same statistic that the original article had.

 

In 1969 I lived about 5 miles from my elementary school, and took a bus. But one of my friends lived about a mile away, and walked (there was no bus service for families within a mile of the school, as I recall). I don't remember anyone riding to school though. I did ride my bike to his house a couple of times, but that wasn't on a school day (and I think I was older then).

[CaptOblivious]

Wow, I always walked or biked to school growing up, and we specifically chose the house we just bought in large part because of its close vicinity to our daughter's school: We plan on taking her over on bicycle (she's too young to go by herself) (and, I might add, she'll be riding in our Japanese bicycle seat, very cool.), and when she's old enough it's close enough that she could walk (if there are friends to walk with, anyway). That was a really important factor for us! To think there are communities in the US that actively shun this kind of thing gives me shivers.

[KenS]

A lot of communities or parts of communities (in the U.S. anyway) built after the auto came to dominate transportation didn't design roads to support pedestrians. Sidewalks can be non-existant, and crossings not well planned for pedestrian safety (or just missing).  All likely as a way to limit construction costs. And roads can be straight and not broken up by lights or stop signs, promoting higher speed use. If you live in a place like that, you're not likely to want your kids walking or biking to school on a busy road.

 

The only road between my house and the school (without adding several miles of detour) was a state highway, which meant it had a 40 mph speed limit, and no stop signs. And most of it had been "rural" back before cars came along, and although it was dense suburbia by my time, there were few stretches with sidewalks.

[inobu]

It appears that many have forgotten their younger years. Remember laughing amongst your friends about how your parents don't have a clue. Well today many of you have grown into parenthood and have lost touch and entered into the world of a clueless parents.

 

One could reason that this event was more more so a prank disguised as something innocent. If you think these children motives were based on health or even being green you are a certified clueless parent. The so called "police escort" was more so a deterrent than an escort and served its purpose.

 

In the era of Flash mobs, text blasting these children can organize a semi riot/green event in a matter of days or hours. Just because they called it a "green event does not means that is its true intent. Law enforcement monitors these mass texting out burst to keep abreast of your children and their "innocent activities".

 

So before you start attacking the principle stop and think of your senior high activities and gauge your children, Are they in a world that more advance in mischief than mine? Reality shows that elementary children are doing what Jr high kids were doing in our day. The JRHS doing what HS did and HS are getting to College level mischief.

 

Some Principles are dealing with guns on campus and that's JHS.........gotta think about it.

 

Inobu

[Martijn Meerts]

I ride my bike almost daily, and I do have to say, it's starting to feel more and more like suicide ...

 

The problem isn't just the cars that seem to care very little about cyclists, but also the scooters (that in the Netherlands have to drive on the bike paths), the wannabe cool kids refusing to get out of the way, pedestrians that seem to think bike paths belong to them, the constant replacement of traffic lights for roundabouts, etc. etc. etc.

 

These days, people (including 80 year old ladies) look weird at me when I'm walking to/from work and wait for a red light.. I'm usually the only one actually waiting...

[cteno4]

I gave up riding the bike after college. i went to UC davis which is a really large campus that can be 0.5-1 mile between classrooms so everyone had to bike and no cars were on campus, only bikes. town had bike lanes everywhere. always easy to get around on a bike and very safe, bikes ruled. ever see a roundy roundy with 12 bikes abreast going around it?! we use to laugh as the freshmen would come in and hit one of these for the first time and get stuck in the inside for a few dozen revolutions trying to get out or create huge pileups!

 

anyhow at berkley even with a fairly bike friendly city i just had too many close calls that were not my fault and barely had time to avoid that i decided it was too much russian roulette... just not worth it.

 

i give bikes a big wide berth when i pass them and only pass if i can give them lots of room. but i do want to slap the guys who think that stop signs and lights dont apply to bikes and they can cross traffic by weaving thru it. you can see how this can make others loose respect for the bikers, but i try not to make it degrade mine.

 

martijn, i too end up standing waiting for the light as others try to race the traffic, maybe we are adding a few months onto our life expectancy by having a tad of patience and consideration.

 

i agree inobu i think these kids were having it all, making a green statement (hey thats cool) but at the hand knowing it was going to cause a rukus and thus a great backhanded prank. what kid doesnt love to be able to stand there with some good backup to say "who? what? me?" all the while grinning like the cheshire cat!

 

jeff

[Densha]

@Martijn

That's all so true, especially the fact that even old people ignore the traffic lights, I was truly amazed for the past few years when I saw that increasing with my own eyes. But it's not only old people who are doing it more and more, it often happens to me too that I'm the only one waiting at a traffic sign, being it pedestrian or bike. What the heck is up with those pedestrians using bike paths is a big question for me too, and it always happens while there's a pedestrian path half a meter away from them! Where I live they have banned scooters to the car lane, but half of the drivers still don't know about this rule, just ignore it, or the signs are placed wrong on the roads.

I heard that in Germany cars are always at fault when having an accident with a cyclist, and I experienced myself that they are much more cautious.

[Guest ___]

Today's a great example, running down Rte 26, a six lane highway 50mph speed limit, and no shoulder, no sidewalk, I nearly struck a father on a mountain bike, and his wife behind him with one of those toddle trailers. They were riding in the right lane, in rush hour. I didn't hit them, but who knows who behind me might have. I got home and herd over the police scanner they dispatched a medivac for a multiple vehicle accident involving a bicycle on the same road a few miles further up from where I passed them.

[Martijn Meerts]

Jeff, when I was at school back when I was 12-13 years old, we actually got taught all the traffic rules. I'm not sure they still do that these days, but if they do, no one is paying attention :)

 

Densha, in the Netherlands, cyclists and pedestrians are never at fault either, and while it makes those driving cars somewhat more cautious, it also makes most cyclists and pedestrians care even less about the rules.

 

 

I've been hit by a car 3 times while out cycling, 1 being rather serious (bruised all my ribs in my left side, bike was a total mess.. Not my fault, but still very painful :)) and the other 2 being minor collisions. While I still like to ride pretty fast, I'm very aware of my surroundings, and always slow down at crossings/roundabouts/etc. I also never use headphones while riding a bike.

[disturbman]

German drivers... well it really depends some are very cautious but some others (a lot) just think about themselves. I can't recall the number of time some motorist tried to race me at the green light only to cut the road in front of me and park 10 meters away as if I was not there. I really don't see the point of being that selfish as it actually endangers the life of others.

 

I also had some near accidents here. Worst was when a car passed another one at great speed on the right (!), it came so close to me that I felt its side view mirror braze my sweatshirt. Or that other time when I was trying to turn left, I indicated my intention in advance, started to proceed when I hear some one brake and honk behind me. They (the guys in that car and their friends in the one after) started to insult me, I answered them angrily and as a result they try to throw a bottle of water at my face. Yeah, right, they are at fault, I almost got rear-ended by they are not paying attention and I'm the asshole...

 

Biking in Berlin can really be a pain in the ass, I long for Copenhagen style bike paths. Thought it's incredibly better than Paris and I don't know how my girlfriend is able to ride her bike every day in London. That gives me the creeps.

 

As for crossing at red lights. I'm French and I've always been taught that it's ok as long as there is no car in sight. I still apply that as long as it is safe or don't interfere with anything. I'm not trying to piss off anyone. If I have made a mistake, I'll be the one suffering injuries and possible death.

 

Oh yeah... and a really not fun reading: http://www.everybicyclistcounts.org/ It's a website that inventories daily bicyclists death in the US. The stories can be frightening (I read a couple), in most of the cases drivers are responsible.

[Densha]

Jeff, when I was at school back when I was 12-13 years old, we actually got taught all the traffic rules. I'm not sure they still do that these days, but if they do, no one is paying attention :)

They still do so, my younger brother was taught so a few years ago.

 

Densha, in the Netherlands, cyclists and pedestrians are never at fault either, and while it makes those driving cars somewhat more cautious, it also makes most cyclists and pedestrians care even less about the rules.

Didn't know that, but it doesn't matter anyway, since people just do whatever they want. Cars ignoring lights are becoming more common too.

 

I've been hit by a car 3 times while out cycling, 1 being rather serious (bruised all my ribs in my left side, bike was a total mess.. Not my fault, but still very painful :)) and the other 2 being minor collisions. While I still like to ride pretty fast, I'm very aware of my surroundings, and always slow down at crossings/roundabouts/etc. I also never use headphones while riding a bike.

A smiley is not appropriate when you got hit by a car. I've never been hit luckily, and have seen only one or two times it happening, but nobody was hurt since it only touched the wheels slightly. There are some traffic lights out here which work not good so that other traffic can still hit them even if they wait for the traffic light, changing the sequence is sufficient, but nobody ever thought of that even after they replaced them.

[cteno4]

dont know if kids are taught the rules of the road here when young anymore. i was taught in school many years ago. schools here are a very local affair so even w/in a state you can have different things taught/not taught, but most cirriculum things like this would probably be at a state level, but thats actually good as some of our traffic rules change state to state. in some states here the pedestrian has the total right of way other not! makes you more careful when traveling!

 

i grew up in california which was famous for being the pedestrian has the row and also being a very big car state. turns out most californians dont abuse the row like everyone assumes. you learn you have the row, but you dont abuse it as when you are driving you dont want folks stepping out in front of your speeding car. i think that ends up giving it some balance. once behind the wheel too many feel way to empowered and as its been mentioned become very selfish and seem to think the rest of the world should get out of the way. dc is famous for this and i think its because folks here tend to be in the power game of some sort or another so the culture of who is more important is very strong (most think its them!). its wild as i let folks in all the time in traffic, doesnt hold up the traffic flow, but really pissess off a lot of folks around you. just amazes and depresses me at the same time. you cant signal to change lanes as folks will rush into your intended slot so you can get in front of them.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Mudkip Orange]

You can do a shared use path on the side of a high-speed facility. Tucson and Phoenix put bike paths next to 70mph freeways.

 

Never really liked the whole "we failed every geometric design and site selection parameter for the last 40 years... let's compound that with an unreasonably low speed limit so EVERYBODY gets screwed."

 

The flipside to this is that it really is a cultural thing. Some researchers out of Iowa had a very comprehensive study on school pick-up/drop-off queues and countermeasures for dealing with them. One of the interesting findings is that if you group together the schools that are in neighborhoods (where kids can presumably walk/bike) versus schools that are off arterials, there isn't a statistically significant difference in the percentage of kids being dropped off. It really is just a neurosis we have that sort of arises out of the dominance of attachment parenting coupled with the lingering aftereffect of the "satanic panic" of the late 70's and early 80's. Widespread occultic human sacrifice no longer captures the popular imagination the way it once did, but the news media figured out in the interim that there was lots of money to be made hyping YOUR CHILDREN ARE NEVER SAFE type bullshit.

[CaptOblivious]

Having driven a couple of time to Denver International now, it's interesting that Peña Blvd, the main road to the airport, is a 65MPH limited access highway with a bicycle lane!