Walking to school is more likely to keep kids active as they age

My sister got hit by a motorcycle when she was 9 because she was going through a crosswalk next to the school and the motorcycle didn't see her because of a bus.

She survived, but she still has some back problems after 30 years.

The government created traffic lights after the accident, and I think that should be compulsitory near every school.

I can only speak to Redmond, WA, but I live near a few schools (I walk the dog through one when school's out), and I see kids walking to school by themselves on a daily basis. The elementary school children are often accompanied by adults, but I see clusters of kids accompanying each other in groups. The middle school, I see probably approaching 100 kids(?) when school lets out, mostly in groups, some individuals, and like the neighbor kid across the street, a lot on bicycles.

Now, maybe other cities have different attitudes, and I realize not all of the stories are made up, but this "CPS will take your babies if they are outside by themselves" seems more hysteria than reality. But my data are very limited and very localized.

If parents let their children think that walking that much is akin to abuse, beyond reasonable expectations, well, that's a very modern look that their grandparents would just not understand. It's like having cars and a safer world means they don't need to use their bodies more as part of day-to-day life, just reserve them for sports.

When working from home, I would see kids in my neighborhood--admittedly, not many--walking to school, though whether that meant walking to a bus stop, I don't know. I do see a lot of kids on the bus in the morning, though the unaccompanied ones seem to be of middle school or high school age.

Over half the people I know commute to offices, on the days they attend, via busses and trams. Those that live further-afield might take their cars, but the use of public transport is extremely common in the bigger cities like Helsinki.

Walking anywhere when its high-humidity and over 90F (33C) isn't workable for most people because they don't want to arrive covered in sweat. And that's not a temperature that is a brief high for the day at 3pm, it's that hot at 9am on the way to school/work and still that hot at 6pm when headed home.