Ever imaginative and concerned for our health and well-being Transport Secretary the Rt Hon Grant Shapps suggests that school children ought to cycle to school. It will be fun and good for their health, apparently. But the underlying reason is to allow people returning to work and using buses to maintain their social distancing. There are so many contradictions and real and present dangers in this proposal that it hard to know where to start. But someone must, so here goes.
Taking the social distancing measures first this is most probably completely unnecessary. Of the mainly lunatic measures that were introduced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic social distancing is the least problematic and, unlike masks and lockdowns, does have some logic behind it. If someone has an infection, keep away from them or ask them to keep away from you. We have always done this. Thus, people take days off work if they are too unwell with a cold and if they do go to work, given the normally minor consequences of a cold, they will politely indicate that they have it and warn people not to come too close. All very sensible. But children of school age rarely contract COVID-19 and if they do, they are asymptomatic. As explained in the HART report, there is no strong evidence for asymptomatic spread of the coronavirus. While this surely classifies as a solution in search of a problem, an obvious alternative solution arises. Adults can socially distance on buses and then children, to whom they are of negligible risk and from whom they are at little risk themselves, can take up the remaining spaces.
More seriously, I question the wisdom of the suggestion to have more children cycling to school. I am all for getting people on bikes and strongly encouraged my children to cycle. But not to school. In any case, how many school age children do you see cycling to school? Very few, and for a variety of reasons. Mainly, it’s not ‘cool’ and you can forget wearing a helmet, that is not only not cool but an invitation to have that which holds your helmet in place shoved down the toilet at lunch break. Then, if my experience is anything to go by, inordinate amounts of time are spent communicating with insurance companies submitting claims for stolen bikes. It appeared to me that locking up your bike was also not cool.
But the main reason I would not support this is that it is an insanely dangerous suggestion. Sadly, 29 people in the age range 0-19 have died, all with underlying conditions, of COVID-19 in the past year. If we increase the numbers of children cycling to school these figures could be equalled or surpassed in no time at all by bicycle related deaths. In 2108 five children in the age range 0-15 died as a result of bicycle accidents and 378 were seriously injured in a total 1,954 accidents in this age group. Currently, fewer than 3% of children cycle to school and both walking and cycling to school have declined in recent decades. The Transport Secretary’s suggestion is to increase the number of children cycling which, itself and unavoidably, will increase the numbers killed and injured. But, specifically, to suggest that more children—very few of whom will wear helmets—take to their bikes at the two times of the day when the roads are busiest is nothing short of irresponsible.
Opinions from the Unity News Network (UNN) editorial team & various contributors. | UNN always clearly distinguishes between news and opinion pieces and as an open minded outlet we publish views from a variety of people and organisation that do not necessarily reflect the views of UNN or its writers. Articles published under UNN Opinions are always opinion pieces and if published on behalf of a contributor will contain that authors name at the start of the piece.
