School run - what a joy!

A couple of weeks ago I posted a video of 5 minutes cycling with my daughter.  It got quite a lot of views and comments. Even the nicest commenters admitted that they'd found it terrifying, and I'm sure more than a few privately concluded we were mad.

As I said at the time, that ride was not typical of our family cycling. And I've been hoping to get a more representative video.  And this morning, we had 5 minutes of joyful cycling.  

Only 3 moving cars visible in the entire video. And yes, one of them does make a rather close pass (at 2.48), but that was it. 

I've left the sound on. Please excuse my inane chatter, but you will catch me reminding her rather a lot about gears, and when to 'go'.  I'd like to think that that wouldn't be necessary in Holland, and it really shouldn't be necessary on a quite route to school (although we were running late). 

A couple of other things to note -- from 4.42 onwards you can see why the pavements are inadequate for pedestrians, much less kids on scooters or bikes. And at the end, at 5.20 you can see our pathetic school bike shed -- a sorry comparison to the next nearest kids school, with shiny new racks all arrayed in front of the main door, and 10 times as many bikes on them. 

not our school

I think it does show that a cycle to school is not impossible for a sensible 7 year old. But it also shows how easy it would be to make this route - and other kids routes - easier, safer and more attractive. 

Not an April Fool's Day Joke

We've been running a bit late this week, owing to the time change. Which meant that my 7yo has been riding her bike to school, and arriving around 8.40. 

The school is on a cul de sac, with two gates, and three pedestrian crossings (in green) forming three sides of a rectangle between them.  You can see the range of possible movements here in red: 

Today I stayed around to watch what the cars actually do. Here's a selection of what I saw, starting with the left-most gate where older children are often dropped. 

It's hard to see because of the rain drop on the lens but I count 5 cars outside the gate to the playground where the bike shed is sited (the gate is to the left of the left-most green line in the image above).

It's not a taxi rank. It's the entrance to the bike racks. 

The green car is attempting a three point turn. Right across where parents and kids cycling from one end of the catchment would be turning in to the bike shed. 

 A lot of drivers that drop their kids between the two gates then use the space between the three crossings to attempt a U turn.  Unfortunately, this often means impinging on the crossings themselves, turning the space right in front of the school into an ersatz  turning circle - as you can see below.

this vehicle is reversing

this vehicle is reversing as well

 Clipping the crossing. All the drivers that I saw attempt this manoeuvre did this. 

Basically, these cars are avoiding the cul de sac, but instead driving over one crossing twice, and 'clipping' another one as they turned.  

REDACTED.

This illustrates very clearly how easily accidents can happen in a contricted space, with too many people in a hurry trying to go in different directions. 

These two cars are 'parked'. No drivers in them, while they walked their kids to the main gate and did other errands.

The vast majority of parents either walk their kids up, or park sensibly and considerately before walking the final few metres to the school.  The cars pictured here are a tiny minority. But the space is so constrained - and there are so many children and parents using it -  that even one poorly manoeuvred car can be a danger to all.  

6 y.o. on a bike V. angry mum

I've written before about the last 10 yards of the school run being the part that puts me (and others) off letting my kids cycle to school.  Today it was just the last yard.

We were nice and early, so it should have been quiet. Then, right in front of the school gate, as my 6 y.o. was about to turn in, a mum pulls up, on the wrong side of the road, so that she can drop her darling straight in front of the gate.  Car coming behind her stops, thinking we'll want to go around her, but of course we don't.  Nice of him though.  It did mean that for a few minutes traffic was at a total standstill in all directions.

I give her the 'universal shrug of bafflement' at which point I can see her shouting at me from inside the car. Then she gets out and shouts at me a bit more. Apparently, 'the road is for everyone'. And *I* wasn't sharing.

Considering that she was on the wrong side of the road, I find that hard to comprehend.  But at the same time, I can see why she felt she could do this -- there are no road markings at all suggesting that this might be an inappropriate thing to do. The gates in the picture above were open, so the 'no parking' signs were not obvious (and anyway, she wasn't parking, she was 'dropping').

Last year, after I complained, the school put some colourful banners encouraging parents to 'park somewhere else' but they're further along the railings. We really need to rethink our road markings and the messages we send parents.

But at the same time, how did we end up in a society where a parent thinks that it is appropriate to put her car, engine running straight in the path of a six y.o. on a bike about to pull into her school gate?

Why 'being nice' won't solve that outgroup thing

This morning, I was trying to explain to my six year old why I had put lights on her bike, even though it was fully light, if a bit murky.  We had an interesting discussion and checked out how many cars had lights on, and if they were easier to see than those without (interesting fact: in Canada all cars have riding lights that are on whenever the engines on, handy for spotting a car that might start pulling out).

'quiet route'

But, the real reason was of course that I wanted to send a signal to drivers that while I might be foolhardy enough to let my 6 year old cycle to school, I was otherwise being as careful as I could.  Which is a completely ridiculous thought pattern.  Why should I care what they think of us?

The night before, we'd cycled home from school by the 'quiet route' - at my daughter's request.  She's right,
it is a lovely calming ride.  But the one weakness - and why I tend not to take that route more often - is a slightly dodgy intersection at the end of our road.  The roads are slightly askew, the sightlines often blocked by parked cars, and in one direction cars are coming off a humped bridge, which makes their velocity difficult to determine.

dodgy intersection

We cross this all the time on foot. It is equally awkward, but drivers are usually very understanding, and  stop and wave us across.  Last night, we tried to get across without inconveniencing the cross-traffic, but in the end cars had to stop in both directions before we could get across.  One of them then followed us down the road and parked near us. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure there was a fair amount of resentment directed at us.

Which made me think - we can do everything 'right' - lights, helmets, bells and whistles - but if the drivers are annoyed at our presence on the road 'holding them up', they're not going to think 'well, at least they were in hiviz'.   It doesn't bloody well make any difference. As a pedestrian crossing that road, I'm treated with respect. As a cyclist, I'm seen as an inconvenience (at best), and my behaviour's not going to change that.

If drivers are going to be anti-cyclist, then us trying to make nicey-nicey just isn't going to change anything.

Why I can't see past the obstacles to being strategic

A local politician keeps telling me to 'think strategic' and 'not bother him (and others) with the little stuff'.  He means well, but day after day I see little stuff that drives me crazy.   

I can't help but think that if we didn't have to spend so much time on the little stuff, maybe we could actually find time to think strategically? But that means getting stuff right the first time, and joining up the various policies. 

A few weeks ago, the administrator of CCE and I had a meeting with a council official about some inadequate bike infrastructure near my kids school (more about that later).  He also pointed out that the sightlines on one of the crossings in front of the school are obstructed by recycling bins - as you can see in the picture.  

We were assured it would be looked at and dealt with. But a few weeks later, it looked like this:

And then like this:

And then today like this: 

Each time I've noticed this and taken pictures, I've tweeted the relevant authorities and been assured it is being dealt with.  

Reporting faults by twitter is pretty easy, and not that time-consuming.  But as long as very simple policies like 'not obstructing pedestrians sightlines' at crossings can't be managed, how exactly are we supposed to think strategically and focus on the big picture? 

I'm not posting this to beat up on the folks who have been responding to my tweets, but to make the point that the best policies -- whether tenement recycling schemes or safer travel for schoolkids -- are only as good as their implementation and maintenance.   

Parent solidarity needed?

On Friday, I wrote two posts about cars/driving/traffic near my daughter's primary school.  Well worn territory for me, unfortunately (see 'school run' labels). That same day, the Guardian ran a piece about getting kids to school on bikes.

Nursery run!

All this fed into a couple of discussions on CityCyclingEdinburgh - one about a school which had 'banned' kids from riding to school  and another one where a lot of money has gone into building a turning circle in front of the school, apparently to facilitate car-based drop-offs.  But we also know of schools in the vicinity with really enthusiastic programmes supporting cycling and walking to school.    And in other places, the police and traffic wardens are supporting various initiatives - like adding double yellows to zigzags and banning cars from 300m from school entrances. 

This unevenness leads to the ridiculousness of kids being told in writing that they have to push their bikes to school, while just down the road, the Head Teacher at my school - despite being personally supportive - says that she can't do anything 'beyond her gate' i.e. all the parents who stop on the zig-zags and 'keep clears' and double-park in the road to drop off their kids.

But it's not just that these policies are random and  incoherent, and that enforcement varies greatly, but also that groups of parents feel isolated and  uncertain of what their rights are, or what other schools are doing to change things.

There seems to be some momentum for a city-wide meeting of parents to discuss how different schools deal with such issues and what lessons can be garnered.  I'd also like to have some representation from Council, either from the road safety or active travel teams, as they have a lot of knowledge and experience.

There's a couple of different issues bundled in here - encouraging more kids/parents to use active travel to get to school where appropriate but also making the streets around schools safer in general.  We all know how quieter and safer the streets feel when the schools are on holiday, but it shouldn't be like that. I'd like to see them safer when the kids are on them, not when they're at home or in the park playing!

If you'd be interested in getting involved, or just attending a meeting to share ideas, please get in touch via comments, twitter, or email.

Why people stop cycling...

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This is a lovely intersection that I go through most mornings. There are at least 3 primary schools in the vicinity, and myriads of nurseries. It's also a main throughfare between two much used parts of the off-road network. So lots of bikes, and as you can see, a pretty decent layout for cyclists wanting to cross at the Toucan crossing.

But, earlier this year a neighbour of mine was knocked off here by a supermarket delivery van turning left. My friend was going straight on like the royal mail van.  (Oh, and he thought he was okay, but was later rushed into hospital for emergency surgery). Not nice.

And then this morning, as I coasted up the little ramp on the left, I saw a dad with a bright eyed toddler on the back nearly get left-hooked in exactly the same place by a blue Volkswagon that, just like the Tesco van, some how 'didn't see' the cyclist who had been coming straight down the hill for some distance.

This wasn't a cyclist who had just nipped into the car's near-side or anything else.  The dad had been cycling safely and carefully along. The kid had give me a big wide-eyed look as they went by, clearly enjoying the ride. And it came so close to tragedy.   Just because of inattention on the driver's part.

I really hope this dad doesn't stop cycling his wee boy to nursery, but I wouldn't blame him if he did.

Keep clear?

Yesterday and today I found myself stopping to take pictures of vehicles parked on the 'keep clear' area at the end of Montpelier, where there is a cycle-cut through to Viewforth (googlemap link here).  For those who don't know it, it is one of the main routes to Bruntsfield Primary school with hundreds of little kids coming through every morning, and also the route between the main Boroughmuir secondary school building and a smaller annexe.  So, well used by vulnerable road users.

Yesterday  there was a big scaffolding lorry completely blocking the space, stopped for an extended time, but with engine still running. Another mum on a bike came through just after me and commented that she was worried it was going to reverse into her.  But a look at the cab showed the drivers were stopped for a fag and tea break.  

Today it was 'merely' a white van, but knowing the difficulty that most of the cars that usually use that 'turning circle' have in making a 3 point turn, I'm inclined to think they're also causing an obstruction.

Ironically, both vehicles are most likely connected to the construction work on the school, so found a nice 'safe' spot to keep out of the way until the kids were safely inside.  But the keep clear being blocked means that all those parents who feel a compulsion to drive into the dead-end, so that they can drop their kids at the second gate then had to reverse back over the pedestrian crossing in front of the school.  And their doing that then lead to other parents reversing back over the other pedestrian crossing.  While hundreds of little kids were streaming across and into the school.

The thing is,  if the parents 'learned' that they couldn't expect to turn at the bottom of the road, maybe they would stop driving in there?  Because actually, they're much more of a menace to the kids and parents at the school than these vehicles are 'parked'.

And that's the real irony.  Police and traffic wardens would be happy to ticket these vehicles for being illegally stopped, but my efforts to get some back up which would discourage parents from driving in front of the school have simply led to platitudes in the school newsletter and some clever banners on the railings, with no discernible effect.

In praise of tandems...

Every busy mom needs a tandem. I'd say that it was the SUV of bikes but that wouldn't convey the freedom that a tandem gives. An SUV, or people carrier, as it is called in North America, implies that you spend all your time ferrying kids around.  But the tandem not only gets them used to contributing to that effort, but also encourages them to be more independent.

When we got our tandem, K. (now age 5) started off mostly wanting to ride with me on it.  And while I was thrilled that she wanted to, we were a little worried that she was 'deskilling' on her own bike. But, she has now started to want to ride her own bike more and more.  So, if we go off on a Sunday afternoon cycle, it can be a case of trying to convince her to ride the tandem with me!  And she chooses to ride to school on her own often as well.   I'm sure that it is her experience of being on the tandem that has given her the confidence to do this.

Our tandem  has the added benefit that both the adults in our family can ride it, despite a height differential of more than a foot between us, and we can take the baby along too.  And, as you can see in the header photo,  we sometimes add on a trailer - mainly for cargo, although in theory we could take kids in it. So, if I'm on my own I can take the kids with me on the Saturday morning  farmer's market   run (as we did last week before soccer/football) or do a 'big shop' by bike.

All of which means that I can do the school run in the morning, and still get to work at a decent hour.  And contribute to the weekend activities.  All without a car, or spending hours on a stuffy bus.  And get some exercise - which really helped me get back into shape after baby #2.  The only problem I've got now is that I invested in a nippy folder over the summer, so that I had an alternative bike for when K. wanted to ride her own bike, or when the rest of the family needed the tandem.  I love the feeling of freedom: a bike with no kids attached -- whee! And I love zooming up hills on it. But I'm definitely not burning as many calories....

At the risk of boring everyone to death...

I've got to write about the school run again. All easy-peasy today. Nice tandem run, not too late. Dropped girl off, toodled down to the end of the road, where there is a cycle exit, but a dead end for cars, only to encounter stupid posh car reversing at me again.  (I'm pretty sure this is the same guy who has twice reversed in the street before noticing us behind him on a bike).

I don't know who has priority in this instance. He is doing a U-turn, I am aiming for the red bit that gives me access to Viewforth. Maybe I should have stopped.  In the event, I did stop, but also went and asked the driver if he'd noticed me. He claimed he did.  I asked why he kept reversing if he'd seen me. Clearly we were not seeing eye to eye.

As I cycled off, muttering angrily to myself, I realised that what I really wanted to ask was why did he drive down there at all?  There is no need for him to make a U-turn there unless he is a resident or visiting someone there. Students should be being dropped back here somewhere, where there is a nice easy right turn out to the main road. The only reason he is driving down there at all is because he feels the need to drop his child exactly at the gate, so the primary aged child doesn't need to walk 10 extra steps.

How do I point this out?  Is there some way of engaging with this politely?  I've probably already blown my chances of this.  So, how do I raise this in a way that actually gets something done about it?

Hit and run

Friend/neighbour got hit and run by a Tesco's van today. By some amazing luck he is okay (and so was his bike). He found the van and called the cops. 'nothing they could do'.  and all this on streets i cycle every day with the kids (as does he). Do we all need to get helmet cameras? or just hide indoors?

Glad he's okay.  

The last 10 yards....

School restarted last week, and my 5 year old decided she wanted to ride her own bike, and not the tandem.  This was fine with me, as it gave me a chance to ride my 'mid-life crisis bike' (more about that soon).

But reflecting upon it (via twitter, as one does...), it occurred to me that although none of the ride is particularly enjoyable, the most dangerous section by far is the last 10 yards or so, in front of the school gates.    We ride down a busy bus route, with too many HGVs and commuters, we go through a potentially dodgy roundabout, and have to make a right-hand turn across traffic, uphill.  Not nice, considering the entire ride is only 0.4 of a mile.

But all of that is fairly easy.  The problem is when we turn in front of the school, and she has to pass behind the cars that are dropping kids.  That's when the fun starts - doors opening, cars reversing, total madness.  There's one particular driver who has twice now reversed at us without looking in his mirror (he's trying to make room for oncoming traffic, which is supposed to have priority, but that's no excuse for not looking).  And then, why do cars drive down a cul-de-sac in front of a school?  It sure doesn't save you any time!Why not drop the kids somewhere safe that doesn't require narrow turns?  Do they really need to be driven that last 10 yards too?

What's even more depressing is that I know the parents that drive and who I see dropping their kids every day, are the hardcore.  The vast majority of the kids walk, and quite a lot of the parents cycle.  The cycle racks are full of scooters.  There were maybe 10 bikes there today.  (I'm sure most parents prefer scooters because it keeps the kids on the pavement.)  But the point is, they use 'active travel' as a default option, with cars used to drop off once in a while.

But how do we get the hard core, set in their cars, group out?  Even if they just walked or cycled once in a while, it would surely improve their driving and awareness of the children and other pedestrians?  I'm thinking here of a particular van which last year reversed backwards over the crossing in front of the school gate, while kids were still running across....

Sometimes that 10 yards seems a long way to go....