Parents’ idling could be a killer – join Walk to School Week
Parents sitting with idling engines in their cars could be killing more children each year than road accidents.
A call is going out for parents to get out of their vehicles next week and join Walk to School Week in Warwickshire.
Today one in seven children suffer from asthma and incidents of asthma have more than doubled in less than a decade. Asthma has been directly linked to pollution and a recent report estimated that more children are being killed by pollution from rush hour fumes than by road accidents (*).
This summer the Canadian city of Vancouver has passed an anti-idling bylaw in a bid to cut air pollution and any parents on the school run spotted in an idling car for more than three minutes will receive a $50 on the spot fine.
From Monday, October 2 until Friday October 6, Warwickshire County Council will be supporting International Walk to School Week, which promotes alternative means of travelling to school such as walking or cycling instead of using the car.
Thousands of children and parents across Warwickshire will be putting their best foot forward in support of Walk to School Week.
One of the main objectives of the week is to highlight the benefits of having fewer vehicles on our roads. At 8.50am, one in four cars in urban areas during term time are on the school run, causing congestion, pollution and dangerous situations outside the school gates.
There are many benefits of walking or cycling to school including health, safety and environmental benefits that can be achieved through regularly walking to and from school. If more children and parents who regularly drive to school were to choose the more sustainable options either for all or part of the journey, on a few days, there would be a significant difference to the numbers of cars on our roads.
Hannah Collett, A Warwickshire County Council Sustainable Travel Officer, said: “Walk to School Week is all about trying to change the way children and parents travel to school. If more children were able to walk to school occasionally, then the area around the school gate would become a much safer place and we’d soon see the health benefits too!”
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “There are both health reasons and climate change incentives to leaving the car at home and walking children to school. You only have to note the change in traffic during the school holidays to realise the burden the `school run’ places on our roads.
“Obesity and asthma are on the increase, so I would urge as many people as possible to take advantage of Walk to School Week in Warwickshire.”
Walk to School Week is just one initiative that Warwickshire County Council is doing to encourage children to choose healthy, safe and more environmentally- friendly ways to travel.
Schools across Warwickshire are being asked to write a School Travel Plan outlining measures, which the school will take to encourage children, parents and staff to consider alternatives to using the car.
(*) Public health impact of outdoor and traffic-related pollution: A European Assessment, The Lancet.