The Institute for European Environmental Policy in the UK is looking into banning cars from school zones, not to protect students from being hit by a car, but instead to get kids to walk more. Like here in the US, British children are packing on the pounds, and a more sedentary lifestyle is a contributing factor. Parents are averaging an additional 27 miles per year carting their kids to school than they did back in 1982, and Brits of all ages average 20 less miles per year walking than in the 70s.
Perhaps the biggest single reason the British are walking less is that only 19% of all UK households are without a car, compared to 41% in the 70s. Automakers pay big bucks to replace heavier materials with aluminum or carbon fiber to lose less than two stones, but researchers at the IEEP say that walking an extra hour per week will save 28lbs of fat over the course of a decade. One would think the Brits wouldn't have an issue with obesity, what with the price of gasoline on the island, folks have to work their asses off just to afford fuel.
[Source: Channel 4]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mark @ Aug 15th 2007 10:41AM
while a nice idea, this will never work, mainly because in a lot of areas (like Devon, where i live) you're so far from school you have no choice but to get there by car, plus i pass 3 schools on my journey to work, am i going to have to find a different route to work just because some fat kid doesn't know when to put the ice cream down and go play in the mud?
Don @ Aug 15th 2007 3:52PM
How about we ban cars from freeways, highways, byways, backroads, and racetracks?
There. Problem solved.
BILL @ Aug 15th 2007 11:03AM
This is another shining example of a group of people with not enough to do. Regardless of the accuracy or lack of same of the information, it is no one's business how people choose to live their lives if they are not engaging in illegal behavior.
Mike @ Aug 15th 2007 11:22AM
That depends who is making the laws. If this law goes through, driving in school zones WILL be an illegal behaviour. Western civilisation is a balance between opression and anarchy. freedom is subjective.
Ben @ Aug 15th 2007 11:38AM
So instead of having a traffic jam in the school parking lot, they'd just have the traffic jam at the first school zone sign and make everybody else suffer too? How much gas you think all those extra idling cars would waste?
Who are these morons?! Screw Britain and their $50/day charge on SUV and banning cars in school zones. If aliens came to our planet they'd just point and laugh at the UK.
Rocket Punch @ Aug 15th 2007 1:11PM
Walking is for rich people with treadmills.
Eric @ Aug 15th 2007 1:15PM
Nanny state
jb @ Aug 15th 2007 1:42PM
Actually this is not the feat of lazy kids, but rather lazy parents who won't walk with their kids all the way to the school.
In the US they solved that issue with the school buses : now parents drive their kids at the end of the cul-de-sac where they live....
Dazza @ Aug 15th 2007 2:05PM
Ben - if aliens came to our planet they'd probably find that travelling car car to be an archaic mode of transportation. Clearly you have little idea of how bad traffic congestion is in Britain and the millions upon millions it costs British industry and the UK economy every year. There's more to life than cars and the congestion charge has been an unbridled success. Banning cars from school zones, particularly in urban areas with narrow streets, gets my vote for children's safety alone.
gordo @ Aug 15th 2007 4:06PM
The IEEP isn't a government body, so it's not accurate to say that the UK is considering banning cars in school zones, or that this is an example of the silly restrictions of a nanny state.
Keith @ Aug 15th 2007 6:04PM
What does PM Clarkson think about this rule?
Rose @ Aug 16th 2007 4:20PM
I personally think its great for them but I would die if this were my school because I live an hour and a half from my school. That would be a long walk.
jsl @ Sep 26th 2007 9:54PM
i am eight miles from my school and would have to run across two highways. i cannot even ride my bike to school because of the highways; in some cases this is not a practical solution at all.