Can Kids Safely Walk to School in NoVA, Rather Than Ride the Bus?

[terrence81]

Originally Posted by cdmurphy

My kids would love to ride the bus, but as an overweight person, I really feel that a short walk to and from school is a good thing. My kids are super-active anyway, but I think that walking to school gets your blood pumping and primes your brain for being alert and ready to learn. (I grew up in the 70s and 80s and moved around a lot, so the walking vs. bus vs. car varied by school, but there were definitely years when I walked, probably no more than half a mile each way.) What I would like to do, and I've been thinking a lot about this, is to start up a walking bus from my side of the neighborhood. If we could assemble a group and make traffic stop only once (I'm envisioning those crossing flags like I've seen on Connecticut Ave. in DC) then maybe we could get the school and/or HOA to support it. Brambleton is, after all, supposed to be a walkable community, and it is, unless you have to cross Belmont Ridge Road at Legacy Park Drive.

(Sorry for my extended essay. I'm in Hawaii this week and I haven't gotten used to the time difference so I wake up at 5:00 local time and rant online. )

Hawaii? I'm just as green as those palm trees. Enjoy!

I like this walking bus thing. So basically a chaperone comes and "picks up" the kids. This I can roll with. Sounds great. It takes a village as they say.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by terrence81

Are you kidding me? Not safe to walk to school in Arlington? These parents sound like chicken littles. I'd like to take them to a few neighborhoods that are much more dangerous than anything in Northern Virginia where kids walk all the time. Oh brother.

Well, the risk of getting hit by a car is real. I've had some near misses as a pedestrian several times.

As to crime, there have been some recent distrubing incidents near the Metro in Arlington (and one on the bike path), directed toward adult women.

[terrence81]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Well, the risk of getting hit by a car is real. I've had some near misses as a pedestrian several times.

As to crime, there have been some recent distrubing incidents near the Metro in Arlington (and one on the bike path), directed toward adult women.

I hear you. I grew up in a pretty rough neighborhood much rougher than anything Arlington has to offer and I'm fine. Crime happens everywhere but Arlington is not turning into the hood based on a few isolated incidents. Arlington is one of the safest cities I've ever seen. A few incidents does not a crime wave make.

I'm not saying that crime doesn't happen but I was taught to look both ways before crossing the street and not to talk to strangers. I turned out fine. Walking should be encouraged.

[Boo57]

I walked to grammer school in the Bronx in the 70's ...I rode 1 bus and 1 subway in the Bronx to HS for Freshman year...moved to Westchester and walked to HS for 3 years...no teen ager had their own car!

I walked my kids to school in Westchester in the 80's ....moved to Virginia ...my kids walked to grammer school every day from 1996-2005, ...with the exception of the sniper period I drove them ...then they took a bus to MS and HS

[Nancy in Nokomis]

Only takes a second to snatch a kid - and there are tons of perverts and molesters in this area - every time I pick up the paper I read about another one.