Safe Routes to School Question - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

10-03-2003, 04:51 PM

Like many of you who are LAB (League of American Bicyclists) members,
I recently got a solicitation to donate money for the "Safe Routes to
School" campaign.

My first reaction was "yeah, that's a good cause, I approve of it, and
I'll contribute".

But I wonder: where does this money go? Does it do any good? The
information supplied with the appeal for donations was, as usual, a
bit less than specific.

Where I live (a very safe and crime-free suburban Californian city)
the idea that kids might ride their bikes to school, or even walk,
seems to be something out of the past. All kids now are chauffered by
their moms (or very occasionally, pops), usually in large SUVs.

Is "Safe Routes to School" fighting this trend? If so, how?

10-03-2003, 05:21 PM

I know "Safe Routes to School" is an grant program that gives money to
communities for planning and implementing safe
routes to schools. If you need bike path cut-thrus repaved or sidewalks
added around schools this is whom you apply to.
I've also seen local folks apply for these grants for traffic
calming, which for some reason figures if they curve the bike lanes into
traffic it will slow the cars down. That's more anti
Safe Routes to School, but they try for the money anyway.
Our "Safe Routes to School" PTA committee was trying to
make it safer for cars. So watch out.

"Tim Smith" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> Like many of you who are LAB (League of American Bicyclists) members,
> I recently got a solicitation to donate money for the "Safe Routes to
> School" campaign.
>
> My first reaction was "yeah, that's a good cause, I approve of it, and
> I'll contribute".
>
> But I wonder: where does this money go? Does it do any good? The
> information supplied with the appeal for donations was, as usual, a
> bit less than specific.
>
> Where I live (a very safe and crime-free suburban Californian city)
> the idea that kids might ride their bikes to school, or even walk,
> seems to be something out of the past. All kids now are chauffered by
> their moms (or very occasionally, pops), usually in large SUVs.
>
> Is "Safe Routes to School" fighting this trend? If so, how?
>

10-03-2003, 06:57 PM

>Is "Safe Routes to School" fighting this trend? If so, how?

I have some basic disagreements with organized cycling, the main
one being that I'm a disorganized cyclist.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________
------------------"Buddy Holly, the Texas Elvis"------------------
__________306.350.357.38>>cwhitman@texastwr.utaust in.edu__________

10-04-2003, 02:50 AM

Why should you 'donate' to buy what your taxes shouldn't buy?

The physical and legal infrastructure for safe cycling exist. What is
needed now is effective principled leadership to allow their use.

LAB ain't cuttin' it.

"Tim Smith" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> Like many of you who are LAB (League of American Bicyclists) members,
> I recently got a solicitation to donate money for the "Safe Routes to
> School" campaign.
>

> Is "Safe Routes to School" fighting this trend? If so, how?
>

10-04-2003, 08:47 AM

"Doug Huffman" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:

>Why should you 'donate' to buy what your taxes shouldn't buy?
>
>The physical and legal infrastructure for safe cycling exist. What is
>needed now is effective principled leadership to allow their use.

What's really needed is a shift in cultural values, and I suspect that
LAB cannot do that. $6 per gallon gasoline would, but that's not going
to happen any time soon.

10-04-2003, 07:32 PM

"Doug Huffman" <2huffman@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news

Axfb.12662$wC1.7724@bignews3.bellsouth.net.. .

> The physical and legal infrastructure for safe cycling exist. What is
> needed now is effective principled leadership to allow their use.

I disagree. I just got back from that Reston/Herndon/Tyson's mess near
Wasington DC. I can't think of a more cyclist-hostile environment. The layout
of the area and the kind of development they have is very similar to southern
CA, but the latter is much better for cyclists. Great, in fact. Why? CA roads
are much better designed.

> LAB ain't cuttin' it.

I'm not sure what they accomplish either. I'm sure someone will enlighten me
though. :-)

Anyway, Safe Routes to School is a great program, but you're better off getting
involved locally, rather than throwing money at it. I'd much rather see
activism begetting more activism, rather than a bunch of managers being paid to
create bureaucracy for themselves to preside over.

Matt O.

10-05-2003, 09:16 AM

Tim Smith <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message news:<[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>. ..
> "Doug Huffman" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>
> >Why should you 'donate' to buy what your taxes shouldn't buy?
> >
> >The physical and legal infrastructure for safe cycling exist. What is
> >needed now is effective principled leadership to allow their use.
>
> What's really needed is a shift in cultural values, and I suspect that
> LAB cannot do that. $6 per gallon gasoline would, but that's not going
> to happen any time soon.

On the contrary . . .

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

"World oil and gas supplies are heading for a 'production crunch'
sometime between 2010 and 2020 when they cannot meet supply, because
global reserves are 80 per cent smaller than had been thought, new
forecasts suggest."

Their argument is NOT that we are going to run out of oil & gas that
soon. But demand will exceed supply that soon. And when that
happens, prices are going to go through the roof . . .

--Brent
bhugh [at] mwsc.edu

10-05-2003, 10:33 AM

Tim Smith <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message news:<[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>. ..
> Where I live (a very safe and crime-free suburban Californian city)
> the idea that kids might ride their bikes to school, or even walk,
> seems to be something out of the past. All kids now are chauffered by
> their moms (or very occasionally, pops), usually in large SUVs.
>
> Is "Safe Routes to School" fighting this trend? If so, how?

See [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

As some others have mentioned on this thread, your best contribution
might be to go down and get your local PTA and local school(s) on
board with this. It's really designed to be run as a local,
grass-roots effort that starts with asking students the question,
"What is keeping you from walking or riding your bike to school?"
But, on the other hand, the national organization does have some good
ideas . . . the free book you can order or download has a lot of very
good ideas.

The name might suggest that building facilities (sidewalks,
crosswalks, etc.) might be their main emphasis, but actually changing
attitudes is equally important. SR2S has quite a lot of inexpensive,
simple ideas to get things jump-started.

--Brent
bhugh [at] mwsc.edu

10-05-2003, 10:38 AM

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Brent Hugh) wrote:

>Tim Smith <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message news:<[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>. ..
>> "Doug Huffman" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>>
>> >Why should you 'donate' to buy what your taxes shouldn't buy?
>> >
>> >The physical and legal infrastructure for safe cycling exist. What is
>> >needed now is effective principled leadership to allow their use.
>>
>> What's really needed is a shift in cultural values, and I suspect that
>> LAB cannot do that. $6 per gallon gasoline would, but that's not going
>> to happen any time soon.
>
>On the contrary . . .
>
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
>
>"World oil and gas supplies are heading for a 'production crunch'
>sometime between 2010 and 2020 when they cannot meet supply, because
>global reserves are 80 per cent smaller than had been thought, new
>forecasts suggest."

Yes, I'm aware of the doomsday predictions about a forthcoming oil and
gas crunch. See also

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

At least these reports are done by geologists, not economists, which
lends them more credibility.

If an energy crunch comes in 2010 (the earlist projected date), it's
very hard to imagine all that will ensue. As a cyclist, I would
rejoice to see fewer cars, and more pedestrians and cyclists, on the
roads. But I would not be so happy to discover that a round-trip
tourist-class air ticket to Europe now costs about $6500, or that it
will cost $7000 to heat my home for the winter (and I live in
California).

I'd split the difference between the geologists and the economists,
and will guess that the energy crunch will occur about 2025-2030.
That's what I meant by "not any time soon".

10-05-2003, 11:00 AM

"Tim Smith" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...

> Where I live (a very safe and crime-free suburban Californian city)
> the idea that kids might ride their bikes to school, or even walk,
> seems to be something out of the past. All kids now are chauffered by
> their moms (or very occasionally, pops), usually in large SUVs.

I live in a similar type of city.

I walk my kids to school every day. They actually would rather that
I drive them, because crossing the two, non-major, streets on the way
is scary. It's like we're invisible, the crosswalks are ignored and the
stop signs are ignored. Screaming at the drivers is fruitless. Oh, and
most of these cars are driven by parents driving their cars to school.
The police come out occasionally to do enforcement, but it's not
enough.

I was determined to not lose this battle. It cost me $15, but now
the cars all stop. My kids call me their "personal crossing guard."

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

While driver's may not stop for pedestrians, it is EXTREMELY
rare that they won't stop for what they percieve to be a crossing
guard.

I wish I could let them walk to school by themselves, but I just
don't have the stomach for it.