Letter:Walking to school is safer

Charlie Trousdell
Saturday 14 September 1996 23:02 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Your report "To hell and back on the school run" (8 September) highlights the madness of our lack of a coherent transport policy. It is generally safer and certainly healthier for children to walk to school. Research shows that pollution levels are likely to be higher inside a car than outside. My children walk just over a mile to school and enjoy it. They meet friends and wake up properly before school and can wind down afterwards.

I agree that many roads around schools are dangerous, but if more children walked there would be less traffic. To encourage this, more local authorities should support projects such as "Safe Routes to School" and "Feet First". These help children work out what would make them feel safer when walking to school or whether cycling is possible. For the car-conditioned, help can be given to demonstrate that walking is possible and that, provided basic road safety is instilled in the child, walking is as safe as anything can be.

Charlie Trousdell

Brighton, East Sussex

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in