I hesitated posting this photo for one reason:
I don’t want these kids to not be allowed to walk/jog from WAHS to the field in Old Trail.
But … after last week’s discussion (47 comments as of this writing) about walking to school and the absurd policy that prevents kids from walking to and from school, I thought that this phots was an important part of the conversation – kids can walk/jog from school to practice. Good for them.
Now, adults, please don’t screw this up and take it upon yourselves to prevent kids from walking the one mile from school to practice. It’s good for them, it’s good for the environment and it’s good for Crozet to have fewer cars and buses on the roads.
their not walking to school… their running AWAY from school…. LOL… what a conundrum, show or not to show a picture of kids exercising…. if you show it- parents will shout “NO MORE RUNNING – LET ME DRIVE YOU”… kind of scary to think this is EVER thought of as a bad thing…. OMG….
As Crozet develops, we really need to include more plans for walk/bike-ways. With all of the development going on, wouldn’t you rather be able to walk to the “downtown” instead of drive the 2 minutes? nnAs far as the kids being safe while walking, teaching independent thinking and how to keep themselves safe goes a whole lot further than “doing it for them” by driving them everywhere. nnHmmm, I wonder if their SOL test scores would go up if they learned how to take care of themselves…nnHere’s some questions for us all to chew on as we plan our community’s future: n- How much money does the school district spend on bussing the Crozet-area kids to school? n- How much money would it cost to develop safe walk-ways from the area neighborhoods to the schools? n- Which is a better investment in our future? n- Which provides the most overall value to our county? n
Outstanding comment and suggestions. Thank you. I might borrow it for a full post and discussion. 🙂
I’d love to have you borrow it! I can’t make it to Ann’s meetings this week, but I’d appreciate it if someone would provide her with these thoughts.
All I ever hear is talk about creating “Walk/Bike-ways”… Every development is saddled with this for the very few that use them…… did anyone hear of “side walks?” – or how about riding a bike on the side of the road and not in the middle of the road….. and I love the one about kids being safe while walking… isn’t it common sense to walk with one foot in front of another and look before crossing the street – or do the kids walk with their eyes closed and dart in front of cars all the time??? Maybe we need “walking” classes in our schools… OMG….. Our the kids to pampered now-a-days? …. Oh and one more thing… Sure – let’s throw more money into our schools… I’m still looking for the return on my investment……
@EddieLake…Uhh…yes, I think they DO walk with their eyes closed, because culturally we have not empowered them to think/look for themselves. nnI was suggesting that instead of spending money on gas for our busses, we spend the money on pathways that can be used for more than one thing. The School District saved $400,000 by trimming down the number of bus stops this year. I think we can do better than that. nnLastly, I think the reason people don’t use them, is because pathways have been poorly developed/planned, with no connectivity or way to GO anywhere. What’s the use of a path if you can’t go somewhere? nnA sidewalk would suffice just fine, but they are expensive and *someone correct me if I am wrong, please* I believe sidewalks have to follow certain regulations which cost more money. nn
Oh, one more thing – being safe while walking also implies that they are in open, well-lit areas where someone couldn’t hide/attack them.
Thats why I carry a gun.
idiot. stay away from our schools
It’s legal – it’s registered – and it’s not allowed in schools – or churchs… I am a law abiding individual – I pay my taxes and I vote. Our founding Fathers guaranteed me that RIGHT. You can crawl back into your hole and only come out during the day.
Mom2, Eddielake, please stop. We’re on the path (like the play on words?) towards a good discussion. nnCan we agree to stop?
I’m not sure i would hold my breath on any school policy changing to saying its acceptable to walk without the existence of sidewalks, nor would i bank on any county or developer building sidewalks in the near future. However, if i felt it was safe to walk from point A to point B, i would. I would walk, skip, bike, run, crawl. Whatever method i felt was safe.nnFurthermore, I haven’t heard from anyone posting that they got penalized for walking to the schools. I recall reading that they were told not to walk…yeah…. ‘thanks for your opinion’. I would bet that a school penalizing anyone for walking would generate some negative publicity.
Two things about this picture. I believe it’s the girls’ cross country team, not kids who live in Old Trail heading home. Also, they’re running on the wrong side of the road, as do most people. Didn’t we learn in kindergarten to run/walk facing traffic so you could see the cars approaching?
1 – They’re not on the road; they’re on the well-worth path next to the road.n2 – Most of them are holding lacrosse sticksn3 – I never said that they were kids living in Old Trail, just that they were safely going from WAHS to Old Trail.
Jim,nthey are the Henley Middle School lacrosse team. It’s also the third year in a row they have jogged from school to practice in OT.
More accurately, they are the Albemarle Girls Lacrosse League team. This is not a school team, the AGLL is willing to organize by school.
Thanks so much, Mom2 – so a non-school-affiliated organization is able to use reason and logic? Awesome.
You never stop making assumptions to see what you want. The children have been discharged from school. A private organization arranges to have HS students accompany the students from Henley to the practice field precisely because it is not deemed safe. That is reason and logic.
Clearly my sarcasm didn’t make it through. I am agreeing with you.
you know a first step might be a pedestrian bridge over 250. it certainly would link the three schools better. nnhttp://www.historicbridges.org/illinois/lincolnpark/little_dscf2670.jpg
With views like that, I can’t believe anyone would want to be holed up inside a car or a bus!
also – jim – shouldn’t you be driving instead of using your camera while driving. 🙂
Luckily, I had a passenger this time. 🙂
When I went to WAHS, one of my classmates (who was on the girls’ cross country team) was running across 250 at that very spot when she was hit by a car going 55 mph. She was out of school for months, nearly killed. She was a sweet girl.nnI wholly support letting kids walk, bike, or otherwise get themselves to school under their own power. I’m just adding a data point.
Thanks, Waldo. nnNot to diminish your friend’s injuries and experience, but that’s one incident in 15 years. Should we prevent all kids from walking and learning valuable life skills because one person was injured?
The kids who live within 2 miles of WAHS, Brownsville, and Henley don’t all live in Old Trail. That’s not the intersection (with it’s crosswalk and light and connecting sidewalks/trail to Henley) that concerns the authorities. It’s the kids who don’t have as easy a path (however much it needs to be improved and connected to Old Trail, which it does) that we also need to keep in mind. I can’t see the authorities saying “Kids who live in X Y and Z and on ABC Street can walk to school, but kids who live on D, E, and F can’t.” It’d be a nightmare to manage that. And for all that we think it’s ridiculous, they (think they) have the legal responsibility once the kids have left for school or come home. School systems get sued (and lose) over bus accidents, accidents at bus stops, and at crosswalks by schools. nnI do have concerns about kids walking on the sides of 240 (either down towards Batesville or towards Crozet from the 240/250 intersections) or 250 to those schools. When landowners between my house and the schools would not agree to let kids walk along what used to be a right of way (well away from speeding trucks and the roadbed) my desire to walk to school (lo those many years ago) diminished because it was scary to walk along that road. Visibility for walkers at the 240/250 intersection can be … poor, and people shoot the turns often wiggling past queued cars. I can remember 2 other people who were killed walking on the side of 250 and 240, and I spent 15+ years living elsewhere, so they might not be recent enough to count.
Sad that you need a picture to show that it is possible to walk to school. Truth is that you can walk anywhere you want. You all should know this. Forget about brain dead children needing to be protected… Crozet has never had a problem with sidewalks being worn out because of crowds of people walking on them. Forget trails, pathways, sidewalks or whatever you want to call them. You could put a motorized walkway or horizontal escalator or whatevernthey have in airports in Crozet and it would be empty. People here want to drive. The closer they can park to where they are going the better. When there are roads full of people walking that will prove a need for more sidewalks. Asnfar as the possible danger of walking on the road, what can you do that does not have the possibilty of danger? Driving a motor vehicle? You have a verynnice livable area here. Now lets do all we can to encourage local governmentnto screw it up…
To the broader point, not just walking to school but walking into Crozet from ANY of the neighborhoods would be nice. I think that also ties into keeping downtown vital… if it’s easy for people to get to those businesses, by car (which necessitates parking), or on foot or bike, they will continue to come. We would love to walk to school, and to pizza, and to the bank, and to the dry cleaners, and the coffeehouse(s)… Thanks for posting Ms. Mallek’s updates on the VDOT projects!
There are several teams at WAHS that use old trail to practice. The track teams especially go over to old trail to use the many walking trails as well as run in the the neighborhoods. There is a crosswalk with buttons to control the lights for a reason and they are always very careful. Also, there are no sidewalks coming off of the intersection as you enter old trail after crossing the street. You simply have to run on the grass until you reach the sidewalk. Also-one side is very bumpy and uneven, so that is probably why they are on that side of the road-twisting an ankle is otherwise very possible.
nIt’s sad that we need pictures to try to prove that kids can walk to school. The fact is that people have been walking places since forever. Yelling “danger”nevery time you want something does not make it true. As far as sidewalks,nwalk-ways, bike-ways are concerned, no sidewalk in Crozet has ever been worn out by masses of people walking on it. People want to ride and you could put in a people mover walkway,(horizontal escalator) like they have in airports and people would still prefer to drive. And, park as close as they can to where they are going. Wanting bike trails, walking trails, plant me a treenareas where you can go look at one, are provided for in organized urban areas.nWe live in a natural area that has been supported by the community in the past. Once you tear it up and urbanize it it will be gone forever. Trader Joe’s is coming to Charlottesville in a brand new ,man made community. I think that they might even mark the way for children to walk to school to make it reallynsafe. Bright orange marks on the walkway sponsered by a fast food place…n