Outraged citizen films scene outside of school during pickup hours: 'This is a huge … failure'

Bike lanes are a great way to alleviate traffic and make roads safer. What's not so great? When those bike lanes are used as a parking lot.

A video posted on Reddit showed a long line of cars blocking the bike lane during school pick-up. 

Blocking bike lane to pick up kids for school. My neighbors said: "We have no other choice!"
byu/pwrof3 infuckcars

"This is a huge infrastructure failure," wrote the poster. "Car-centric cities make it so that people feel they are 'forced' to drive a car two miles or less to pick up their kids from school."

"A good option would be riding a bike to school on those bike lanes. Oh wait…" joked one commenter.

But it's no joke. A car idling for just 15 minutes during school pick-up burns an eighth of a gallon of gas, which costs money and puts unnecessary wear on the engine. The exhaust is also terrible for air quality, releasing heat-trapping pollutants. 

These air pollutants are especially bad for children's developing lungs. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, school pick-up hours coincide with increased levels of toxins like benzene, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde, which are known to cause respiratory issues and increase cancer risks, per the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and research published by PLOS One.

Cities are working to curb these dangers by encouraging people to bike instead of drive. But, as this video demonstrated, the well-intentioned addition of a bike lane is failing due to a larger infrastructure problem. 

Commenters were quick to blame drivers for not using public transportation. "Somehow Americans have collectively forgotten that school buses exist," wrote one.

As the original poster pointed out, though, they're not entirely at fault. "They've been mostly defunded and now you have to apply at the beginning of the school year and hope your kid gets a seat on one of the two buses."

Do you think your city has good air quality? Definitely 🥰 Somewhat 😮‍💨 Depends on the time of year 😷 Not at all 🤢 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

Another responded with a shocking statistic: "In California, only 9% of students have access to a publicly funded school bus (the lowest in the nation). It's abysmal."

According to the Los Angeles Times, more than two-thirds of California students get private rides to school every day.

In addition to improving access, fleets of aging, diesel-powered buses need to be replaced to close the loop. Districts are electrifying school buses to save money and improve children's health.

In the Netherlands, they've done one better by using a bike bus.

"This problem is created because people feel they have no choice but to drive," wrote one commenter. "We need better infrastructure so people don't feel like driving is the only option."

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