No option to vote for less traffic (From York Press)

No option to vote for less traffic

11:02am Monday 8th March 2010 in Letters By Reader's letter

The public consultation on “tackling traffic” arrived in my neighbourhood last week. Hooray!

But when I prepared to express my firm opinion that traffic in York needs to be reduced by any means possible, there was nowhere to do that. Instead, I may vote for an increase of eight to 13 per cent traffic by 2021. That puzzles me.

My daughter and her friends would like to cycle to school. I don’t let my daughter do that, and neither do her friends’ parents let them. Why? Do we think that exercise will harm our children? Are we worried they’ll be too free to move about in their own town? Do we want our kids to rush home to the telly after school, where we know what they’re doing?

Well no – we actually all know that cycling is wonderful fun for teens, and like to wax nostalgic about the bikes we rode ourselves as kids. I remember going everywhere by bike. It was the independent, simple way to get around in town and country.

My daughter and her neighbours would need to ride along the Fulford Road during peak hour to get to their school. And they’d cross the inner ring road to get into town.

We don’t let them. Can you blame us? We want our kids to grow up.

So they’re allowed to give their bikes an airing along the New Walk at the weekend, river level permitting, and occasionally we take them further, with due supervision. Not for them the joys of kicking off on a bike for the afternoon, dropping in on this friend or that, exploring small streets and zooming down quiet alleyways.

Is this the town, and the life, we want for our kids? Not me: I add scenario E: less traffic, please, asap.

Chantal Frances, Farndale Street, York.