Cycling is too dangerous for children

[surfgurl]

A friend of a friend has trained to run the CP course with the council. It was the only way she could ensure her daughter got to do the course.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

I experienced something similar to the OP, albeit many years ago. When I left the parental home to go to uni, I bought a motor bike. That was the cue for Mr A senior to disown me for two years, so convinced was he that I would die a horrible squashy death under the wheels of a bus. Suffice to say I still managed to outlive him with some forty years of cycling and motor cycling under my belt. The daft thing is, is that he rode a motor bike for donkey's years himself. Nowt so strange as folk!

 

[Willow]

Thinking about it I have no idea why I didn't cycle to senior school, it would have been much quicker than walking and I cycled everywhere else. How bizarre, I guess cycling wasn't encouraged as much then as perhaps it is now I have never thought about it before.

 

[PashleyPrincess]

The problem is that in the UK cycling is seen as a leisure activity with the sort of associated risks of say, rock climbing, necessitating the need for full body armour. It's no wonder parents have this kind of response. Very sad.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Like the monika PP. Are you really a Pashley rider?

 

[PashleyPrincess]

Like the monika PP. Are you really a Pashley rider?

Absolutely . She's my baby and my transport. I love her with a passion. Elegance not exertion...

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Good for you. They have a style and grace all their own. I am now thinking all Miss Marple and restrained Englishness.

 

[summerdays]

Each year you had to go and see the head teacher with your bike who would check it was roadworthy. The head teacher who would then give you permission to cycle in and store your bike at school. The onus was on you to ensure the bike was kept in a road worthy condition. Every so often the head would do a spot check. You got a phonecall home if your bike wasn't roadworthy.

I'm impressed ... the head at my youngest kids school doesn't do that, on the other hand you can cycle to school even if you are on stabilizers - so at least he isn't discouraging it. And using the Travel Plan money we had a cycle storage with 20 stands put in. In summer it can be really difficult to get your bike in - in winter quite often there is only a hardy couple of kids - my son included.

 

[wafflycat]

That sounds really organised. Did it encourage or discourage you to cycle though?

When I was in junior school, I took my cycling proficiency test. It encouraged me to cycle as once I'd passed my CPT, my parents then felt it was okay for me to cycle further on roads. In school holidays I was entirely happy being out on my bike all day, by myself. I loved it. On the other hand, I didn't cycle to school, I used to walk to school.

 

[beanzontoast]

When I was in junior school, I took my cycling proficiency test. It encouraged me to cycle as once I'd passed my CPT, my parents then felt it was okay for me to cycle further on roads. In school holidays I was entirely happy being out on my bike all day, by myself. I loved it. On the other hand, I didn't cycle to school, I used to walk to school.

This was my exactly my experience. I actually used what I'd learned in CP training and got out into the countryside a lot. Just the last bit is different - I didn't cycle to school either, but I had to bus it 15 miles each way.

 

[Jaded]

It's not the bikes that are dangerous

Actually quite often it is. Some of them weigh as much as a small aircraft carrier and have parts made of cheese.

My niece (whose family can afford horse riding and holidays abroad) asked to make her brakes work, as they didn't. They were V brakes on a supermarket special and the metal on the clip thing at the top (where you release the brakes to remove a wheel) was so soft that if you really braked hard it bent out of shape and unclipped.

They have hard hats and body protectors for riding that probably cost more than the bike did.