Blackburn pupils urged to walk to school for the sake of their health (From Lancashire Telegraph)

My observations whilst traversing Pleckgate road at School times is that children attending this School have no idea on how to cross a road safely and as far as their parents are concerned who drop them off they should be prosecuted for the total stupid manoeuvres they attempt to carry out bringing at times Pleckgate Road to a standstill, IDIOTS.

My observations whilst traversing Pleckgate road at School times is that children attending this School have no idea on how to cross a road safely and as far as their parents are concerned who drop them off they should be prosecuted for the total stupid manoeuvres they attempt to carry out bringing at times Pleckgate Road to a standstill, IDIOTS.

When you build huge schools and factories and disperse Royal Mail Parcels and main Police Station etc to the edge of town without a decent bus service you can only expect an increase in traffic. Is there a bus service from Whalley Range area to Plekgate for the children to use? Of course many could walk to/from school as could many people who work in the Town Hall, town centre shops and other locations but modern day life and habits dictate the use of a car for all journeys and is part of the reason we have an epidemic of obesity. The average person finds walking three miles an onerous challenge these days but was commonplace a generation or two ago. Even a trip on foot a couple of hundred metres to the local shop is beyond many.

Well said, Noticer. Parents used to send their kids to the nearest school and now they all clamour for choice.

happycyclist wrote:
Well said, Noticer. Parents used to send their kids to the nearest school and now they all clamour for choice.

Very good observation from "Happycyclist" if parents reverted back to having to send their children to the nearest school, Bingo! little or no congestion outside of schools.

I was brought up on Whalley range when it used to be a half decent area near the Handy shop and walked each day to Cedar street school and back maybe a two mile round trip there and back and then later to St peters sec/modern on Byrom st now no longer there,which must have been a mile and half too two mile each way walk in all weathers and thought nothing of it,I just wanted to get there early to join in the play ground football games,I can't remember many over weight pupils in those days even with substantial school dinners because we were always moving ie walking running etc not sat around playing on x-boxes,virtual realities,eating processed sugar fuelled rubbish.

Madari the snake charmer says:

Get Real!!! is it safe anymore for young girls to be walking to school on their own or in a group with all the groomers about???

madari wrote:
Madari the snake charmer says:

Get Real!!! is it safe anymore for young girls to be walking to school on their own or in a group with all the groomers about???

These young girls weren't forced off the streets and into the cars. They were talked and tricked.
Maybe a little bit of education should do the trick, remember the saying, 'never talk to strangers'!

Years ago, when telly was black and white or even monochrome, if you lived in a posh house, it was my lot to walk to school across, what was then, the main road to Scotland.
Motorways hadn't been invented then, in this country.
Then, when I went to Grammar school, and was in the 3rd year, I had to walk one of my neighbours children to school, across the 'busy roads'.
I had a paper round that was huge, only because my older brother had literally beaten off the competition.
Joined the Army, learned to march a bit and learned to love walking, for miles.

I used to live in Stephen St, Mill Hill and my mate was aghast that I had walked to his his house on Whitendale Cres, from where I lived. So much so, that he gave me a fiver, for the taxi fare home
Have other mates, who drive buses in this town, who wonder why I was in Rishton the other day, as they drove past me.

The thing is, when you are speeding along in a car, you miss Nature. You don't see where Ladybirds lay their eggs or the mob of Magpies on Larkhill. It just isn't there for you.

In the old days, just after colour telly was invented, and before there was Channel 4, my wife and me used to love the walk to a village pub. We had a lovely dinner, a few drinks, with a kiss and cuddle, in farmers fields, on the way home.

In this idyllic world, my car is a necessary evil, not something that I really want nor need. The 'Chelsea tractor' has become ubiquitous, driven by people that have no idea how to do a 3 point turn, taking the fat kids to school, when there is no need for it.

Am sure that, given enough pressure, SpotOn could be persuaded to provide a bus service to suit the parental need for little Johnny/Joanie to not use his legs.

Did I mention my Great Uncle Bill, he died. He got knocked off his bike, by a bus, aged 94.
Blood tests showed that he was over the limit for driving, so the bus driver got off, Scot free.
This was back in the day when Ribble ran the buses. I still hate buses, only because they killed my Great Uncle Bill.
As Hitler once said, some of my friends were Jews, and so, bearing no malice, some of my friends drive buses.