School driving ban?

Posted on August 26, 2010 by .
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We’ve all heard of the various schools that ban biking to school for supposed ‘safety’ reasons.

In Bellbrook, Ohio, the local high school banned student driving to the school after a student died in a car crash nearly 40 years ago.

Over the years, parents have lobbied to lift the ban. They finally got their wish for the 2010-11 school year.



See also:

  1. Middle School Traffic Safety
  2. Student killed riding bike to school
  3. School bike vandalism
  4. Noddin Elementary School bike rodeo


  • Captain Kickstand

    Interesting. I am a teacher and for several years had parking-lot duty after school. The kinds of driving behavior I would see from kids on their way away from school would curl your teeth. But it's an unfortunate reality that our society is car-centered and not allowing students to drive can impose a hardship on some families, especially in rural or suburban communities with little or no effective public transportation or cycling infrastructure.

    It sounds like this school district has a pretty aggressive policy, though–restricting driving to kids with a minimum academic load, GPA, disciplinary record, etc. That's a good move and I wish more schools would adopt it.

  • http://www.cyclelicio.us/ Cyclelicious

    I was once a teen, and I likely curled a few teeth as well.

    The restrictions at that Ohio school seem reasonable and reinforce the idea that driving is a privilege. And it looks like they still do school buses there! (something we don't see too much here in California anymore).

  • http://www.stevevance.net/planning Steven Vance

    Me driving to school was such a wasteful idea.

    First, I lived 1 mile away.
    Second, I spent 10 minutes idling in line waiting to exit the parking lot.
    Third, the parking lot assignment system should take into account more factors (like distance students have to travel, need, whatever). It was dirt cheap, too, like $250 per semester. I wonder if that even paid for the cost of maintaining the parking lot.

  • http://www.stevevance.net/planning Steven Vance

    Looks like they built more parking: http://goo.gl/maps/fROX