Anyone considering walking as main means of transportation?

[JohnB]

Back in the 70s, I used to walk to school alone or with a small group of friends, without needing adult supervision, and didn't have music in my ears, so I also could cross the road safely...

I always walked to school, apart from the first day at secondary school. I crossed the road outside my house, across the playing field (or through Macfisheries head office car park if wet), crossed a fairly busy road, and down the lane to the school. I did it four times a day too, usually on my own most of the way, as I went home for lunch. And I never got run over or molested by adults!

[PS_RalphW]

I started walking to school alone in about 1970. Aged about 8. About a mile cross town. I don't seem to remember traffic being an issue, and as my home was 300 feet higher up the hill than the school, nor was lack of exercise.


I even remember my parents discussing if it was safe for me to walk to school alone when I was 5, but they decided that the one road I had to cross made it too dangerous.

Instead I got beaten to a pulp by the school bully after I had been safely delivered

One of my kid's friends is six years old, but has passed on school clothes to us that no longer fit her, widthways, marked 'Age 10 -11'.

[emordnilap]

I even used to hitch lifts home from school till I was told why I shouldn't...

[Mean Mr Mustard]

So can we take it that when the economy crashes further and/or peak oil effects start, the absurd motorised 'school run' will be amongst the first discretionary things to go? Good.

Even if kids have to risk walking past the few remaining Chelsea Tractors, molesters, drug pushers and school bullies with flick knives outside the school gates. Maybe those walking convoys / herds aren't such a bad idea. They'll form naturally with or without official grownups taking control, as an instinctive safety in numbers thing if things get that desparate..

[Don't Forget to Dance]

The oldest is 20. She goes to a college where car transport is unnecessary.
She doesn't drive, and never has. Her future plans involve making choices that minimize the need to motorized transport.

Mind you, this isn't with a sense of sadness on her part, but rather a sense of freedom from the hassle of ownership.

[Mean Mr Mustard]

The oldest is 20. She goes to a college where car transport is unnecessary.
She doesn't drive, and never has. Her future plans involve making choices that minimize the need to motorized transport.

Mind you, this isn't with a sense of sadness on her part, but rather a sense of freedom from the hassle of ownership.

Do Portland pushy parents still pick up their kids from school in huge SUVs? The marked difference in traffic density during school holidays is quite noticable over here.

[emordnilap]

Her future plans involve making choices that minimize the need to motorized transport.

Mind you, this isn't with a sense of sadness on her part, but rather a sense of freedom from the hassle of ownership.

Sounds like a sensible sort. Cycling, I can vouch for the 'freedom' feeling thing, despite the constant menace of uncaring FF guzzlers. Not having to find parking spots, not being 'stuck in traffic', not being the cause of unnecessary noise or pollution, not having to lug around a ton of metal, it's all wonderfully 'free' of hassle, though I have to say we do have a car - stuck on the drive most of the time.

[Don't Forget to Dance]

Do Portland pushy parents still pick up their kids from school in huge SUVs? The marked difference in traffic density during school holidays is quite noticable over here.

Yes they do, and we are currently enjoying the same summer traffic lull.

[JohnB]

Hairy monster and I have just got back from the half mile walk down the main road with no pavement, to buy milk at the petrol station. It's most fun on the way back, as it's least dangerous walking with our backs to the oncoming traffic!

[emordnilap]

When walking I find a furled umbrella, casually held in such a way that drivers have to take care to avoid it, is a great help.

It says to me that people are more likely to avoid something if their vehicle might get scratched.

Blood, of course, simply washes off.

[JohnB]

When walking I find a furled umbrella, casually held in such a way that drivers have to take care to avoid it, is a great help.

It says to me that people are more likely to avoid something if their vehicle might get scratched.

Blood, of course, simply washes off.

I was holding a lead and bag of poo in one hand, and a carrier bag (reused ) in the other, so didn't have a free hand. Maybe I should make a shopping trolley with rotating knives on the wheels .

[RenewableCandy]

You need to label the bag of poo with a big friendly "BIOHAZARD" sign And wave it about a bit.