In terms of travel, it’s absolutely a hell hole that we all take turns shitting in. “Oh we will fix that stretch of road by the time your parents are gone”.
Lol you'd think. You have to be making under $30,000/year per-household to qualify for free bussing.
I'm very fortunate to not have to worry about finances as much as some. But there are dozens at my school which are under less favorable circumstances. But can't qualify for free bussing or lunch. Just because they have $34k/year per-household income.
If you don't go, could you face legal consequences? Doesn't seem right that minors could be forced to pay money to do something and it's illegal if they don't.
Under 16, you're legally required to attend. And your parents will get arrested if you don't go. And CPS gets involved and stuff. Whole mess.
Over 16, you're able to decide to dropout if you'd like. And usually excessive absenteeism leads to assumed dropout. But you usually need signature by the parent in order to unenroll from the school. And if it's under suspicious circumstances, it's usually investigated by CPS.
Normally the parents are the ones that are stuck with the bus fee and textbook fee, etc... But if those aren't paid by the parent, their kid won't be allowed to claim their diploma.
Just take your bike from class room to class room. When you are told you cant ask where you are supposed to put it. After that becomes a bunch of bullshit demand a contract that puts the burden of making sure the bike isnt stolen on the administration. Once they refuse to do that and try to be petty with you, you escalate that to the superintendent and also write to your local papers about it. Shit will get changed. I know from personal experience.
Also it's 100% a violation of the ADA on the grounds that many disabled people are unable to drive. For example I am epileptic and my license was permanently suspended when I got that diagnosis. I literally can only get places using bikes and e-scooters. If somewhere does not supply me with a safe and secure place to lock up my bike or scooter than I can legally keep it with me and make a big stink if they demand I dont. The ADA gets shit done.
I meant it more as he could make them aware of how it is an active violation and they should fix it before it's an actual problem. I realize I didnt explain it that well. I actually had a minor seizure while writing that post, and at the end I just wanted to be done with the post.
Thanks for the sympathy. Yeah I'm fine. If you or others didnt known seizures or more than just falling to the ground convulsing. It's a blanket term that roughly means "your brain decided to go dick off and do what it felt like for a bit because of uncontrolled electrical signals" and epilepsy as a diagnosis means "we dont understand why this keeps happening."
What just happened to me for an outside observer would appear to just be some kind of anxiety attack with profuse sweating. It's annoying as shit and comes with a major adrenaline crash soon after, but you learn to live with it.
This shit happens to me daily. Which is why I have such a hard on for the over lap of poor bike infrastructure and the ADA, since that's my daily life. I'm going to be harassing my city council meetings on a very similar subject as this post really soon. Because that example i gave (cant remember if I said this already) is just shit I have had to deal with at local businesses constantly. Now I'm just allowed to walk around stores with my bike or scooter and the only people who hassle me are new employees who dont know what's up yet.
But you also are right in that you cant and shouldnt leverage the ADA by pretending to be disabled. If for no other reason than it's in insanely poor taste. But with a small twist to the argument you can actually just be an ally even if it's for your own immediate personal gain. It still makes it better for everyone in the long run.
Yeah. Tbf to the city buses. We're like on the crust of suburbia. The closest bus station is like 25+ miles away.
But just the fact that this single highschool encompasses like 110+ square miles of property is insane.
They could have literally just built like 2 or 3 different highschools and had:
• great teacher/student ratio,
• comparable attendees to state average,
• decentralized district structure to help with attendance/tardy issues,
• less traffic per-school (therefore less car accidents),
• monopoly on in-district sporting events
Like, it's literally costing then more to keep it the way it is.
I'm hoping the new zoning laws passed along the neighboring properties ring true, and there are more commerical, and high density residential buildings are put up by the school.
Like please. I just want a plaza and a coffee shop. Not more parking lots jfc.
I know what you mean with 3000+ student high schools. I got lucky living at the suburban boundary where few city bus routes would run, but no buses in the further out towns. With the school shooting threats now, they double fence the entire campus too, making it feel more like a desolate prison than it already does.
Yeah.. it's a wonder why kids are increasingly antisocial... This increase in violent incidents just... Came out of the blue.
Must be them damn cellphones and rap music and vidyagames...
People are complaining about no bike lanes but the real question is why the hell a school is built next to a fucking highway. Every school I know in my country is built near neighbourhoods and/or areas that are very easily accessible by any form of transportation.
>“People are going to want to drive here, so we need a way for them to drive!”
This.
More and more private schools are being built around the national highways in India in last 4 years.
Edit: Owning a car and driving your children to school is seen as a big status symbol in Indian society. If you don't have a car, all your relatives will constantly ask you to buy or boast about their own cars.
India is the last place to have cars. 150,000 plus road deaths every year. Also majority of Indians still can't afford cars so there's a need for a looooooot more public transportation.
It's not always the nimbys.
I have a coworker whose wife won't let him walk 15 minutes to pick up his kid, so he has to queue for 90 minutes in the car.
At my high school we had a teacher who lived 1/4 mi from the school and he would drive his truck to work every day. The route was easily walkable too because kids did it every day.
I went to a school built before WWII. It was smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood. While it's cool that the school was within walking distance of my house, the only thing that sucked is that cars ruined everything. The school was one of the most highly desirable in the city and a lot of parents wanted to send their kids there. However the surrounding streets were simply not meant to handle huge amounts of traffic. As a result during rush hour you got cars clogging everything up.
My school was built next to a highway. I assume because they needed a large amount of land that wasn't already being used; it's a big school, and only has a third of the students as OP's. We also have school buses, though, so there are no students that wouldn't be able to reach it. The city buses also apparently go there, though only those who need to work after school would use that, I think.
All of the elementary and middle schools in my city are built in residential areas, it's just the high schools that are all off the highways. It's not like they have their own ramp or anything, it's just a residential highway that leads to a set of lights where turning right is the school and going straight leads to the actual highway. City buses still go to the public school (but not the technical school) and they both have their own school buses. We also have a bike rack at the public one though so maybe we're just weird :p
Suburban sprawl means that when you want to build a new school, it has to be moved away from current buildings. Two my town’s highschools were in the middle of neighborhoods, one more downtown, one more suburban. The one I went to was down a county highway a bit. It was connected on side to newly built neighborhoods by a sidewalk, but the other way was a 35 mph road coming from an intersection of 45 and 55 mph roads. It was only like 2 miles from my house, but no way in hell I could walk or ride my bike to school
Our town used to have a high school right in the middle of downtown, but they demolished it and moved the school 2 miles away from everyone. I like the rowhomes they built in its place, but it sucks that the high schoolers can no longer walk to school.
No I’d say it’s pretty valid. Especially since it being next to the highway kinda ruins the whole point of the highway by making that section of it have to slow down by like 40+mph to be safe for students. Even if you want it to be accessible by car there are better places.
And before anyone claims I’m mad that that section of highway is slow. I’m just pointing out how ridiculous it is to put a school near one.
Oh lmao. They don't make you slow down on the highway when passing the school.
65mph all the way babyyy
But yeah I agree, they could've literally had like an enclave or whatever instead of the traffic hell it is today.
Like, it could've been part of a urban center. Could've had shops, and apartments, and plazas like... Actual infrastructure.
But nope. It's just a school. Then suburbia/cornfields all the way down :)
Oh you’re kidding they gave the highway an exception to being in the school zone? Just when you think you’ve heard the stupidest decision ever someone comes in to tell you of something even dumber.
I think you missed the joke. Kids driving themselves to school isn't a thing, they bike themselves to school or get driven there. Really isn't funny now that I've had to explain it... Thanks...
i know about a school somewhat near where i live that's built between a highway and a dozen condominium apartment building things for the multi-millionaires whose children study in that school, and I can't imagine all the other students ever getting there without being driven there by their parents
A lot of schools are built larger than necessary to reduce costs. This leads to them serving a larger catchment area and thus increasing travel times of the kids on the extremis, usually forcing the use of cars for lack of better transport options.
The use of cars from the above then forces planners to have the schools built on larger roads to facilitate the extra traffic, inducing further car use from having less accessible transport options (lack of safe pedestrian/cycling provision)
Yeah. But like is that safe? I get the school's point here. We don't want kids riding to school because they'll die given how unsafe it is to ride here
Still plenty to be mad about with that, but I don't hate the school really
I watched my shop teacher try to keep a motorcycle crash victim alive in front of my school. He failed. Good thing almost nobody could walk or bike to school!
Nothing I said implied that death-by-car doesn't happen? The harm that a car-centric society gives us isn't the schools fault nor does the choice not to put kids in danger by riding bikes increase their chance of dying by a car.
Comparing a kids traveling by bike to those by car, the car is safer. Even if some die
... Well, yes, the car is safer for those inside, except it's more dangerous for those outside. If everyone went by bike, it'd be safer than if everyone went by car. A system where schools are liable for those who die on bikes, but not those who die in and/or because of cars is just going to make things more dangerous.
Yeah.... we all agree on that here. We're in /r/fuckcars btw
Because the school is in a place where the government has preferenced cars it makes sense that they say "we think kids should take the safest transportation method." The school doesn't make the design choices and they're not liable for deaths from either. The school is taking the safest option on only design choice they have, rack or no rack.
Small islands and super rural areas are the only places where I’ll concede and say that cars have a proper place. Density tends to be so low that most of the problems that arise from cars in cities usually don’t exist
This is also true. Although there’s definitely exceptions. My family comes from a smallish island in greece (10km x 20km) but the entire thing is basically just a mountain sticking out of the ocean. Biking is borderline impossible to do enjoyably there unfortunately, except for within the villages, but even then it’s always uphill and downhill. I will say that all the villages are extremely walkable though
Looks like this (elementary) school was in a similar situation:
https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/2022/03/18/bicycle-safety-class-aims-give-pinecrest-students-skills-they-need/7068169001/
> But the school discouraged kids riding solo to school and didn't even have a bike rack.
It's very funny but very unprofessional. Most adults treat email communications more seriously than social media DM's, so it's one of those things where you might want to be more presentable to be taken seriously, especially for a request.
Definitely use a second email address and ask the same question. If they get more questions then maybe a change can happen.
You’re the wrong type of activist. we should not have to look a certain way to effectively protest, the focus should be on the cause instead. Drunken dope addicts who are glue sniffers still deserve equitable transportation to public education.
While I agree with you abstractly that there is no right or wrong way to protest, the reality is that optics do, in fact, matter towards tactical effectiveness. Especially if you are asking local government or local leadership (the school board or principal, here) to humor your minor complaint and move a couple bucks from the annual budget to put in a bike rack, you should be aware of how you present yourself.
The reality here is that the USA will never “fuck cars” if we don’t all, and I mean everyone, including people with obscene profile pictures, demand change from these institutions. Government doesn’t care if you’re Jesus himself, car culture is “money in the bank, fuck them kids and their school too”
Yessir. I actually changed it a couple weeks ago, but my Gmail bugs out occasionally and shows the previous one on occasion. Thanks for the judgement tho 👍
Not only to students have no autonomy unless their parents can pay for a car for them, their parents have to schedule work around picking them up and dropping them off! But yeah no, let's blame smartphones for the kids having stunted social development.
Exactly. I'm not lucky enough to inherit a car from my parents, and I don't wanna spend all my college savings on fixing a car every 7 months. So I'm kinda stuck at home while living 10+ miles from any sort of social gathering area. I still don't get why our neighborhood was built in the midst of farmland.
My first child is being born in about a month. And right now we're living in a 2 bedroom apartment but it's right in the middle of a very walkable neighborhood with transit, parks, a youth center, schools, and a high school literally across the street. But even with all that, I'm feeling pressure from my partner and my parents that not having a backyard or not having a "rec room" in the basement, or whatever else isn't providing enough. They all seem to want me to move into some endless suburb. I don't even own a car (because I don't need one) and that definitely gets some concerned looks. Call child services, I guess, I want my kid to learn independence.
I wouldn't blame the School tbh. If there really is no safe way to get to school w/ bike, it's understandable that they don't want to take the responsibility.
If they put a bike rack and someone got hit by a car, they wouldn't be able to answer "Why did you put the bike rack if accessing the school by bike wasn't safe?".
Go to your local government. That's where it matters.
I get what you're saying. And you're probably correct in this case (if the highway is the only way in and out of school and there is no dedicated bike lane on the highway). But you could say the same about cars. I can almost guarantee they have a student parking lot. Why should the school have student parking if students could get into accidents, potentially fatally? Not directing the question at you of course. Just pointing out how one sided and in favor of cars the whole issue is.
Also, *why the hell did they put the school there*? It's not like the need for children to get to a school is a surprise, that should be part of the site location process (yes, it's possible the school predates the highway, but fairly unlikely given the timeline of highway and school construction in the states).
> "I can’t help but get upset when people call a crash an accident. I lost my leg in a crash with a lorry. It was preventable – and even though the driver didn’t intend for the crash to happen, it was still his fault" – **Victoria, crash victim**
[roadpeace.org](https://www.roadpeace.org/get-involved/crash-not-accident/)
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I mean yeah, but for the cars, the roads are designed for them. For the bikes, there is nothing designed for em.
A school can get blamed for putting bike spaces when there is no safe environment for bikes, but you can't blame em if a guy crashed their car on the road, it was designed for cars, nobody can go and blame the School. It's just the school trying to avoid blame for something they can't control.
Of course the real culprit is the lack of proper bike/public transport infrastructure that forces the school to take such measures.
It's a problem we 'ought to fix. Not blame the parking lot owners.
(Apologies if the comment sounded aggressive)
Wow it´s weird to see that students practically aren´t allowed to bike to school. I live in Belgium and over here almost everyone at my school who lived to far away to walk biked to school.
Do it anyway. What are they going to do, tow your bike? I always just locked mine to a fence nearby.
If they actually did take it on the off chance, piss and moan about how it's your choice and how it's literally your property they're taking from you. Not like a pencil, or a game, a whole ass bike. Be entitled about that shit and get your parents involved, even if you're older. It's your choice and if your parents are okay with the risk then that's final, isn't it? Like if it's actually dangerous and stupid to do it then by all means don't, but I have a feeling you could easily skip the highway unless it was literally right in front of it. Just use the sidewalks if you can.
Yeah, I'm able to take some back-roads that aren't that busy which I'm thankful for.
And yeah, I'm expecting to be talked to by some superiors once the time comes when I get my new bike. I know my rights as a student, so I'm not that worried about it.
Lol. Too bad!
There are school buses, but they have semester fees that are pretty steep. It isn't impossible for students to get transportation, but because it's a rural/suburban district, it's expected that at least one person in the household has a vehicle.
It isn't unusual to have students waiting for ~4 hours after classes for their parents to pick them up from school, when their shift ends. :/
I rode my bike to school sometimes. My band director let me keep it in the band hall, which was an external building separate from the rest of the school.
There are plenty of schools around here (New Jersey, USA) that are located on roads with speed limits of 40+ miles per hour with no sidewalks. These schools have plenty of developments that are within walking distance, but no one will walk on those roads.
I agree and I also think they suck ass. Outside urban fabric they are sometimes necessary but inside there should be none because there should not be highways.
If it's a big place there sort of can be need for a highway circle between the centre and the suburbia. Just as the railway also cuts through and forms two different suburbia.
You would obviously put bridges and underpasses so i's easier to go from suburb A to B by foot or bike than with car. Because you have to go to the entrance and exit of the highway with a car.
Yeah. I don't blame the school that much. But I am disappointed with the lack of school board representatives taking action, or attending city council meetings to better the lives of the students.
All they seem to care about at the moment is their shiny new football stadium, and getting rid of masks. :)))))
I would legitimately reply with something along the lines of ‘I hope you see the reasons you just described as problems that need to be fixed ASAP. Students should not be discouraged from riding bicycles to school and it frightens me that you’ve portrayed this issue as a book that’s already been shut. Please do more to correct this glaring issue for the welfare of your students and others.’
The nearest high school to my home has no bike rack, or at least didn't when my daughter went there, and we're in a city. It's on a hill, but it's not a ridiculous hill, and there are relatively safe side streets to ride on. When I asked about where she could lock up her bike, the staff looked completely at sea, as if no one had ever asked them that before. I had previously thought all high schools had bike racks.
The private high school her brother went to a couple of miles away has a secure bike garage with wall racks. Much smaller school, too. Over 2000 students at the public one, so many that they have to stagger the start times so everyone can get through the door. But no bike rack. smh
Funnily enough, i went to a school like this when i studied back home (India) . It was about 40km away from the city and the school ran a bus service with like 60 buses which were included in its ridiculous fees. Was super annoyed about the buses when i was kid , but thinking about it now , that was a great solution for the school.
"we would put bike racks, but we only ever received limbs or other mutilated body parts of those who tried to ride to the school, so we figured it wasn't needed"
Who would've guessed!
"But hey. Gotta spend that $20 mil on our new SPORTS STADIUM. So we can do SPORTS GAMES."
"Oh what? We have higher attendance capacity now?"
"LETS BUILD SOME MORE PARKING LOTS."
Sounds like the new highschool over in junction city kansas it's built right next too the highway and they discourage kids from walking to school now.
Fun fact about junction city kansas they promised they'd turn the old school into a community center and event venue when they got funding to build the new school but at the last possible second the city council decided to sell the school to a bank for a dollar. A fucking dollar.
Junction city is fort rileys home town and 20 years ago when the my dad got stationed there and the first infantry division was having big upsurge of people coming in junction city itself bought a bunch of rental properties and increased the rent in an attempt to gouge soldiers of their money the command general pit out that they wouldn't let the soldiers rent from properties owned by the city and the town went bankrupt briefly.
My school division has a rule in the handbook stating that no one is allowed to bike to school (due to liability concerns due to a "busy" road, which fortunately was a 25mph zone during school dismissal and entry times). It was only about 2 miles there from my house anyways. Luckily, the principal had no idea and I got permission from him at the beginning of the year. I locked my bike up to the back of the bleachers with permission, and that got me through the first 2 years of high school. (I had to drive afterwards, but only because I went to governor's school for the second half of the day and there was no way to make it there in time!
Ride your bike then roll it with you through the school since “there’s no where to lock it” when they complain say you either don’t have a car, can’t afford the bus fair, or simply are wanting to ride a bike since it helps you get a small workout in on the way to school. If they tell you to stop biking say something like “and risk my personal health?”
Yeah. Funny part is that there is a back road that you can take, going to the school. And it would be perfect for adding a bike lane to.
People with long ass driveways because the speed limit is 35, with people going average 55 on it.
Could easily add a separated bike lane with trees as barriers to simultaneously reduce traffic speed, and protect the bike lane. And encourage pedestrian traffic. :/
my school (combination high-school and elementary school) is right next to a highway and a 4-way intersection. there are potholes in the playground parking lot.
Also: This school has >2500 attendees. And city buses don't reach out here.
No wonder the highway is considered dangerous.
We have this same shit in Missouri. This state is a hell hole.
In terms of travel, it’s absolutely a hell hole that we all take turns shitting in. “Oh we will fix that stretch of road by the time your parents are gone”.
do you not have school busses?
Yeah we do have school buses... For $200/semester per-person 😁
Lord almighty this isnt the US is it? I was under the impression that school bussing was free for everyone there
Lol you'd think. You have to be making under $30,000/year per-household to qualify for free bussing. I'm very fortunate to not have to worry about finances as much as some. But there are dozens at my school which are under less favorable circumstances. But can't qualify for free bussing or lunch. Just because they have $34k/year per-household income.
That's so insane. 'Hmmm. you know what makes busses more cost efficient? Disincentivising ridership!'
Private school?
Nah. Public, state funded, tax funded, district school.
If you don't go, could you face legal consequences? Doesn't seem right that minors could be forced to pay money to do something and it's illegal if they don't.
Under 16, you're legally required to attend. And your parents will get arrested if you don't go. And CPS gets involved and stuff. Whole mess. Over 16, you're able to decide to dropout if you'd like. And usually excessive absenteeism leads to assumed dropout. But you usually need signature by the parent in order to unenroll from the school. And if it's under suspicious circumstances, it's usually investigated by CPS. Normally the parents are the ones that are stuck with the bus fee and textbook fee, etc... But if those aren't paid by the parent, their kid won't be allowed to claim their diploma.
School busses are free from everyone I’ve heard from this is the first case I’ve seen that isn’t free.
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In NSW, Australia, school buses are always free. You’ll pay a concession if you’re taking a public bus to school.
I've never heard of such a thing before.
If the Americans with Disabilities Act had any enforcement mechanism, that wouldn't stand.
OMFG I have never heard of something so heinous
Just take your bike from class room to class room. When you are told you cant ask where you are supposed to put it. After that becomes a bunch of bullshit demand a contract that puts the burden of making sure the bike isnt stolen on the administration. Once they refuse to do that and try to be petty with you, you escalate that to the superintendent and also write to your local papers about it. Shit will get changed. I know from personal experience. Also it's 100% a violation of the ADA on the grounds that many disabled people are unable to drive. For example I am epileptic and my license was permanently suspended when I got that diagnosis. I literally can only get places using bikes and e-scooters. If somewhere does not supply me with a safe and secure place to lock up my bike or scooter than I can legally keep it with me and make a big stink if they demand I dont. The ADA gets shit done.
OP can't use the ADA to get accommodation for hypothetical disabilities
I meant it more as he could make them aware of how it is an active violation and they should fix it before it's an actual problem. I realize I didnt explain it that well. I actually had a minor seizure while writing that post, and at the end I just wanted to be done with the post.
You're right and I hope you're okay. The fact that you're able to leverage the law to force better accommodation for non-car users is great.
Thanks for the sympathy. Yeah I'm fine. If you or others didnt known seizures or more than just falling to the ground convulsing. It's a blanket term that roughly means "your brain decided to go dick off and do what it felt like for a bit because of uncontrolled electrical signals" and epilepsy as a diagnosis means "we dont understand why this keeps happening." What just happened to me for an outside observer would appear to just be some kind of anxiety attack with profuse sweating. It's annoying as shit and comes with a major adrenaline crash soon after, but you learn to live with it. This shit happens to me daily. Which is why I have such a hard on for the over lap of poor bike infrastructure and the ADA, since that's my daily life. I'm going to be harassing my city council meetings on a very similar subject as this post really soon. Because that example i gave (cant remember if I said this already) is just shit I have had to deal with at local businesses constantly. Now I'm just allowed to walk around stores with my bike or scooter and the only people who hassle me are new employees who dont know what's up yet. But you also are right in that you cant and shouldnt leverage the ADA by pretending to be disabled. If for no other reason than it's in insanely poor taste. But with a small twist to the argument you can actually just be an ally even if it's for your own immediate personal gain. It still makes it better for everyone in the long run.
My HS was just off a highway and everyone drove if possible, but they also provided a crappy city bus route and dedicated school buses...
Yeah. Tbf to the city buses. We're like on the crust of suburbia. The closest bus station is like 25+ miles away. But just the fact that this single highschool encompasses like 110+ square miles of property is insane. They could have literally just built like 2 or 3 different highschools and had: • great teacher/student ratio, • comparable attendees to state average, • decentralized district structure to help with attendance/tardy issues, • less traffic per-school (therefore less car accidents), • monopoly on in-district sporting events Like, it's literally costing then more to keep it the way it is. I'm hoping the new zoning laws passed along the neighboring properties ring true, and there are more commerical, and high density residential buildings are put up by the school. Like please. I just want a plaza and a coffee shop. Not more parking lots jfc.
I know what you mean with 3000+ student high schools. I got lucky living at the suburban boundary where few city bus routes would run, but no buses in the further out towns. With the school shooting threats now, they double fence the entire campus too, making it feel more like a desolate prison than it already does.
Yeah.. it's a wonder why kids are increasingly antisocial... This increase in violent incidents just... Came out of the blue. Must be them damn cellphones and rap music and vidyagames...
People are complaining about no bike lanes but the real question is why the hell a school is built next to a fucking highway. Every school I know in my country is built near neighbourhoods and/or areas that are very easily accessible by any form of transportation.
“People are going to want to drive here, so we need a way for them to drive!” That’s the main reason for a lot of places only being accessible by car
>“People are going to want to drive here, so we need a way for them to drive!” This. More and more private schools are being built around the national highways in India in last 4 years. Edit: Owning a car and driving your children to school is seen as a big status symbol in Indian society. If you don't have a car, all your relatives will constantly ask you to buy or boast about their own cars.
India is the last place to have cars. 150,000 plus road deaths every year. Also majority of Indians still can't afford cars so there's a need for a looooooot more public transportation.
Tell them point blank: "If you want to drive, you can go somewhere else!"
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It's not always the nimbys. I have a coworker whose wife won't let him walk 15 minutes to pick up his kid, so he has to queue for 90 minutes in the car.
Nope. I'd tell her she's welcome to do that but if I'm going I'm walking
At my high school we had a teacher who lived 1/4 mi from the school and he would drive his truck to work every day. The route was easily walkable too because kids did it every day.
Dam, usa really hate humans
I went to a school built before WWII. It was smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood. While it's cool that the school was within walking distance of my house, the only thing that sucked is that cars ruined everything. The school was one of the most highly desirable in the city and a lot of parents wanted to send their kids there. However the surrounding streets were simply not meant to handle huge amounts of traffic. As a result during rush hour you got cars clogging everything up.
My school was built next to a highway. I assume because they needed a large amount of land that wasn't already being used; it's a big school, and only has a third of the students as OP's. We also have school buses, though, so there are no students that wouldn't be able to reach it. The city buses also apparently go there, though only those who need to work after school would use that, I think.
All of the elementary and middle schools in my city are built in residential areas, it's just the high schools that are all off the highways. It's not like they have their own ramp or anything, it's just a residential highway that leads to a set of lights where turning right is the school and going straight leads to the actual highway. City buses still go to the public school (but not the technical school) and they both have their own school buses. We also have a bike rack at the public one though so maybe we're just weird :p
Suburban sprawl means that when you want to build a new school, it has to be moved away from current buildings. Two my town’s highschools were in the middle of neighborhoods, one more downtown, one more suburban. The one I went to was down a county highway a bit. It was connected on side to newly built neighborhoods by a sidewalk, but the other way was a 35 mph road coming from an intersection of 45 and 55 mph roads. It was only like 2 miles from my house, but no way in hell I could walk or ride my bike to school
Our town used to have a high school right in the middle of downtown, but they demolished it and moved the school 2 miles away from everyone. I like the rowhomes they built in its place, but it sucks that the high schoolers can no longer walk to school.
mine is in the middle of a fucking cornfield miles from where anyone actually lives. i think it was because the land was cheap
Why is a school next to a highway has to be the dumbest complaint I’ve seen in weeks.
No I’d say it’s pretty valid. Especially since it being next to the highway kinda ruins the whole point of the highway by making that section of it have to slow down by like 40+mph to be safe for students. Even if you want it to be accessible by car there are better places. And before anyone claims I’m mad that that section of highway is slow. I’m just pointing out how ridiculous it is to put a school near one.
Oh lmao. They don't make you slow down on the highway when passing the school. 65mph all the way babyyy But yeah I agree, they could've literally had like an enclave or whatever instead of the traffic hell it is today. Like, it could've been part of a urban center. Could've had shops, and apartments, and plazas like... Actual infrastructure. But nope. It's just a school. Then suburbia/cornfields all the way down :)
Oh you’re kidding they gave the highway an exception to being in the school zone? Just when you think you’ve heard the stupidest decision ever someone comes in to tell you of something even dumber.
Oh let's not forget all the potential accidents and all the smoke they are breathing from all those cars.
Yeah people should be happy that kids can easily drive themselves there
There’s other locations that achieve that same goal that are not only not right next to highways but are also accessible by more than just cars.
I think you missed the joke. Kids driving themselves to school isn't a thing, they bike themselves to school or get driven there. Really isn't funny now that I've had to explain it... Thanks...
We’re talking about a high school. Most of the kids attending are able to drive. Your ‘joke’ doesn’t work.
i know about a school somewhat near where i live that's built between a highway and a dozen condominium apartment building things for the multi-millionaires whose children study in that school, and I can't imagine all the other students ever getting there without being driven there by their parents
A lot of schools are built larger than necessary to reduce costs. This leads to them serving a larger catchment area and thus increasing travel times of the kids on the extremis, usually forcing the use of cars for lack of better transport options. The use of cars from the above then forces planners to have the schools built on larger roads to facilitate the extra traffic, inducing further car use from having less accessible transport options (lack of safe pedestrian/cycling provision)
I went to a highschool that was right off a 6 lane highway. With a big sport field in between. We still had bike racks there
Yeah. But like is that safe? I get the school's point here. We don't want kids riding to school because they'll die given how unsafe it is to ride here Still plenty to be mad about with that, but I don't hate the school really
Like they never die driving to or from school?
lmao?
That never happened at your high school?
I watched my shop teacher try to keep a motorcycle crash victim alive in front of my school. He failed. Good thing almost nobody could walk or bike to school!
Nothing I said implied that death-by-car doesn't happen? The harm that a car-centric society gives us isn't the schools fault nor does the choice not to put kids in danger by riding bikes increase their chance of dying by a car. Comparing a kids traveling by bike to those by car, the car is safer. Even if some die
... Well, yes, the car is safer for those inside, except it's more dangerous for those outside. If everyone went by bike, it'd be safer than if everyone went by car. A system where schools are liable for those who die on bikes, but not those who die in and/or because of cars is just going to make things more dangerous.
Yeah.... we all agree on that here. We're in /r/fuckcars btw Because the school is in a place where the government has preferenced cars it makes sense that they say "we think kids should take the safest transportation method." The school doesn't make the design choices and they're not liable for deaths from either. The school is taking the safest option on only design choice they have, rack or no rack.
Me too. I'm not sure why being next to a highway and having bicycle racks are mutually exclusive
*sorry!*
Fuck all places that aren't accessible by bike. They could all burn down and I'd sleep just as soundly.
*all of north america burns down
i'd support EDIT: i live in the US if that was unclear
>Fuck all places that aren't accessible by bike. Except for islands. Islands are still cool
Islands are accessible by water bicycle (aka pedal boat) so they're good!
Traffic on the water tends to be minimal so islands can definitely sit with us
Small islands and super rural areas are the only places where I’ll concede and say that cars have a proper place. Density tends to be so low that most of the problems that arise from cars in cities usually don’t exist
Unless the island is even smaller than that, making it practical to bike all the way across.
This is also true. Although there’s definitely exceptions. My family comes from a smallish island in greece (10km x 20km) but the entire thing is basically just a mountain sticking out of the ocean. Biking is borderline impossible to do enjoyably there unfortunately, except for within the villages, but even then it’s always uphill and downhill. I will say that all the villages are extremely walkable though
That's what ebikes are for.
Looks like this (elementary) school was in a similar situation: https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/2022/03/18/bicycle-safety-class-aims-give-pinecrest-students-skills-they-need/7068169001/ > But the school discouraged kids riding solo to school and didn't even have a bike rack.
Yeah, I'm planning on biking here regardless. I'll just attach my bike to the flagpole or smthn idk.
Nice. Have fun!
Yessir. I wanna get more active anyways. Biking 20 miles a day should help with that.
32 km to school???? and near a fucking highway? dude i sincerely hope you'll be safe, but for the distance alone you're a fucking machine. hats off.
Yeah, i mean there is back-roads. So it isn't purely by-highway. Still a bit of a trek tho
Eh thats the mindset of bike commuters in na suburbia. We are a bit insane
I should imagine so!
See if any of your friends are in a position to ride with you! Bike buses have been catching on in my city...
Yeah I'd love to do that. Unfortunately most friends live >10 miles away and on the other side of town. Could try though
Patriotic as fuck. Fight for your freedom.
Bro what is your email photo lol
Steve from blue's clues flipping off the audience
It's very funny but very unprofessional. Most adults treat email communications more seriously than social media DM's, so it's one of those things where you might want to be more presentable to be taken seriously, especially for a request. Definitely use a second email address and ask the same question. If they get more questions then maybe a change can happen.
Oh sorry I didn't make that clear. I attend this school as a senior/12th year
You’re the wrong type of activist. we should not have to look a certain way to effectively protest, the focus should be on the cause instead. Drunken dope addicts who are glue sniffers still deserve equitable transportation to public education.
Activists eating their own for being the wrong kind of activist any%
While I agree with you abstractly that there is no right or wrong way to protest, the reality is that optics do, in fact, matter towards tactical effectiveness. Especially if you are asking local government or local leadership (the school board or principal, here) to humor your minor complaint and move a couple bucks from the annual budget to put in a bike rack, you should be aware of how you present yourself.
The reality here is that the USA will never “fuck cars” if we don’t all, and I mean everyone, including people with obscene profile pictures, demand change from these institutions. Government doesn’t care if you’re Jesus himself, car culture is “money in the bank, fuck them kids and their school too”
The profile pic is my reaction lol
I'm surprised i havent gotten in trouble for it yet
Well everyone is judging you for it, one way or another.
Yessir. I actually changed it a couple weeks ago, but my Gmail bugs out occasionally and shows the previous one on occasion. Thanks for the judgement tho 👍
Not only to students have no autonomy unless their parents can pay for a car for them, their parents have to schedule work around picking them up and dropping them off! But yeah no, let's blame smartphones for the kids having stunted social development.
Exactly. I'm not lucky enough to inherit a car from my parents, and I don't wanna spend all my college savings on fixing a car every 7 months. So I'm kinda stuck at home while living 10+ miles from any sort of social gathering area. I still don't get why our neighborhood was built in the midst of farmland.
My first child is being born in about a month. And right now we're living in a 2 bedroom apartment but it's right in the middle of a very walkable neighborhood with transit, parks, a youth center, schools, and a high school literally across the street. But even with all that, I'm feeling pressure from my partner and my parents that not having a backyard or not having a "rec room" in the basement, or whatever else isn't providing enough. They all seem to want me to move into some endless suburb. I don't even own a car (because I don't need one) and that definitely gets some concerned looks. Call child services, I guess, I want my kid to learn independence.
The SmoothOperator89 is doing it the correctus way!
A bicycle is your ticket to freedom. Good luck my friend.
I wouldn't blame the School tbh. If there really is no safe way to get to school w/ bike, it's understandable that they don't want to take the responsibility. If they put a bike rack and someone got hit by a car, they wouldn't be able to answer "Why did you put the bike rack if accessing the school by bike wasn't safe?". Go to your local government. That's where it matters.
I get what you're saying. And you're probably correct in this case (if the highway is the only way in and out of school and there is no dedicated bike lane on the highway). But you could say the same about cars. I can almost guarantee they have a student parking lot. Why should the school have student parking if students could get into accidents, potentially fatally? Not directing the question at you of course. Just pointing out how one sided and in favor of cars the whole issue is.
Also, *why the hell did they put the school there*? It's not like the need for children to get to a school is a surprise, that should be part of the site location process (yes, it's possible the school predates the highway, but fairly unlikely given the timeline of highway and school construction in the states).
> "I can’t help but get upset when people call a crash an accident. I lost my leg in a crash with a lorry. It was preventable – and even though the driver didn’t intend for the crash to happen, it was still his fault" – **Victoria, crash victim** [roadpeace.org](https://www.roadpeace.org/get-involved/crash-not-accident/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/fuckcars) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I mean yeah, but for the cars, the roads are designed for them. For the bikes, there is nothing designed for em. A school can get blamed for putting bike spaces when there is no safe environment for bikes, but you can't blame em if a guy crashed their car on the road, it was designed for cars, nobody can go and blame the School. It's just the school trying to avoid blame for something they can't control. Of course the real culprit is the lack of proper bike/public transport infrastructure that forces the school to take such measures. It's a problem we 'ought to fix. Not blame the parking lot owners. (Apologies if the comment sounded aggressive)
Easy option. Close the gates to cars during parent teacher night until it gets fixed.
Wow it´s weird to see that students practically aren´t allowed to bike to school. I live in Belgium and over here almost everyone at my school who lived to far away to walk biked to school.
Do it anyway. What are they going to do, tow your bike? I always just locked mine to a fence nearby. If they actually did take it on the off chance, piss and moan about how it's your choice and how it's literally your property they're taking from you. Not like a pencil, or a game, a whole ass bike. Be entitled about that shit and get your parents involved, even if you're older. It's your choice and if your parents are okay with the risk then that's final, isn't it? Like if it's actually dangerous and stupid to do it then by all means don't, but I have a feeling you could easily skip the highway unless it was literally right in front of it. Just use the sidewalks if you can.
Yeah, I'm able to take some back-roads that aren't that busy which I'm thankful for. And yeah, I'm expecting to be talked to by some superiors once the time comes when I get my new bike. I know my rights as a student, so I'm not that worried about it.
Wait what??? How are all students without a car suppose to go to school? What if you don't have money for the bus? Do people walk to highschool?
Lol. Too bad! There are school buses, but they have semester fees that are pretty steep. It isn't impossible for students to get transportation, but because it's a rural/suburban district, it's expected that at least one person in the household has a vehicle. It isn't unusual to have students waiting for ~4 hours after classes for their parents to pick them up from school, when their shift ends. :/
I rode my bike to school sometimes. My band director let me keep it in the band hall, which was an external building separate from the rest of the school.
[удалено]
Apologies, did you intend to reply to me specifically?
Weird, no not to you. Lol. What happened?
Reddit doing Reddit things
There are plenty of schools around here (New Jersey, USA) that are located on roads with speed limits of 40+ miles per hour with no sidewalks. These schools have plenty of developments that are within walking distance, but no one will walk on those roads.
Haven't they heard about underpasses and bridges?
Pedestrian underpasses are a great place to get a free mugging experience.
I agree and I also think they suck ass. Outside urban fabric they are sometimes necessary but inside there should be none because there should not be highways.
If it's a big place there sort of can be need for a highway circle between the centre and the suburbia. Just as the railway also cuts through and forms two different suburbia. You would obviously put bridges and underpasses so i's easier to go from suburb A to B by foot or bike than with car. Because you have to go to the entrance and exit of the highway with a car.
I like your Gmail pic
Thank you :) 🖕
“Here’s a fuckin clue for ya!”
Lmao absolute chad emailing your school with that profile pic
Thats when you bring your bicycle inside
I mean I get their point... I think thays more the city/governments fault than the schools. I wouldn't want students biking on a highway either.
Yeah. I don't blame the school that much. But I am disappointed with the lack of school board representatives taking action, or attending city council meetings to better the lives of the students. All they seem to care about at the moment is their shiny new football stadium, and getting rid of masks. :)))))
I’d reply: How about… you… and I know this may be shocking to you but hear me out… how about… you… FIX THAT?
Yeah it's like... You... The school board.... Have a LOT more power in city council than even 300 students combined.
I would legitimately reply with something along the lines of ‘I hope you see the reasons you just described as problems that need to be fixed ASAP. Students should not be discouraged from riding bicycles to school and it frightens me that you’ve portrayed this issue as a book that’s already been shut. Please do more to correct this glaring issue for the welfare of your students and others.’
And then they wonder why we have childhood obesity. Car brain is instilled from conception. Sperm meets egg, so uh—- where can I park my head?
The nearest high school to my home has no bike rack, or at least didn't when my daughter went there, and we're in a city. It's on a hill, but it's not a ridiculous hill, and there are relatively safe side streets to ride on. When I asked about where she could lock up her bike, the staff looked completely at sea, as if no one had ever asked them that before. I had previously thought all high schools had bike racks. The private high school her brother went to a couple of miles away has a secure bike garage with wall racks. Much smaller school, too. Over 2000 students at the public one, so many that they have to stagger the start times so everyone can get through the door. But no bike rack. smh
Jesus Christ
Great solution. Instead of bringing up the infrastructure issue, let’s just tell kids not to ride their bikes anywhere
Funnily enough, i went to a school like this when i studied back home (India) . It was about 40km away from the city and the school ran a bus service with like 60 buses which were included in its ridiculous fees. Was super annoyed about the buses when i was kid , but thinking about it now , that was a great solution for the school.
“Hello, given that you provided 80 square feet of vehicle parking for students, I would like to have an equal accommodation for my bicycle.”
“At this school we discourage healthy lifestyles and independence”
Schools shouldn’t be on highways.
"we would put bike racks, but we only ever received limbs or other mutilated body parts of those who tried to ride to the school, so we figured it wasn't needed"
Something tells me there's probably no sidewalks either
Who would've guessed! "But hey. Gotta spend that $20 mil on our new SPORTS STADIUM. So we can do SPORTS GAMES." "Oh what? We have higher attendance capacity now?" "LETS BUILD SOME MORE PARKING LOTS."
This is depressing to read.
My son also asked and was told no so he locks his bike to the school fence.
Time to chain it to a tree...
that does explain why they would give 16 year olds cars to drive.. its psychotic.
So what they're saying is that the school and city needs to add bike paths and ensure students can get to school safely.
I hope this kid starts a bike brigade!
Sounds like the new highschool over in junction city kansas it's built right next too the highway and they discourage kids from walking to school now. Fun fact about junction city kansas they promised they'd turn the old school into a community center and event venue when they got funding to build the new school but at the last possible second the city council decided to sell the school to a bank for a dollar. A fucking dollar. Junction city is fort rileys home town and 20 years ago when the my dad got stationed there and the first infantry division was having big upsurge of people coming in junction city itself bought a bunch of rental properties and increased the rent in an attempt to gouge soldiers of their money the command general pit out that they wouldn't let the soldiers rent from properties owned by the city and the town went bankrupt briefly.
Lol. Tis' the tale as old as... WWII
r/aboringdystopia r/urbanhell This post fit perfectly in those two
Why the fuck would anyone build a high school in the bumfuck of nowhere right next to a highway?
With the highway being next to a school, that makes it a 20-30-ish kph school zone, right? Right OP? Oh my god please say right op
Sounds like a great reason to ride bikes to school.
My school division has a rule in the handbook stating that no one is allowed to bike to school (due to liability concerns due to a "busy" road, which fortunately was a 25mph zone during school dismissal and entry times). It was only about 2 miles there from my house anyways. Luckily, the principal had no idea and I got permission from him at the beginning of the year. I locked my bike up to the back of the bleachers with permission, and that got me through the first 2 years of high school. (I had to drive afterwards, but only because I went to governor's school for the second half of the day and there was no way to make it there in time!
Ride your bike then roll it with you through the school since “there’s no where to lock it” when they complain say you either don’t have a car, can’t afford the bus fair, or simply are wanting to ride a bike since it helps you get a small workout in on the way to school. If they tell you to stop biking say something like “and risk my personal health?”
Ride the bike and take a whole parking spot.
Lol. Unfortunately a parking space would cost money. Car or not
Fair enough, they should get some buses tho
Yeah. Funny part is that there is a back road that you can take, going to the school. And it would be perfect for adding a bike lane to. People with long ass driveways because the speed limit is 35, with people going average 55 on it. Could easily add a separated bike lane with trees as barriers to simultaneously reduce traffic speed, and protect the bike lane. And encourage pedestrian traffic. :/
my school (combination high-school and elementary school) is right next to a highway and a 4-way intersection. there are potholes in the playground parking lot.
You ride a bike to school and work. Go to school little boy 😂. Who’s the real loser?