File this one under ‘only in America, but could happen here’. So after riding with my two kids (age six and nine) to school this morning I had a quick check of Twitter and found this article on bicycling.com. A women lets her ten-year-old child ride to school only to have her arrive home in a cop car, with the police about to arrest the mother for, wait for it, “child neglect”.
What, are you serious?! Funny thing is though when my kids started riding their bikes to school two years ago there was no bike rack at the school (I had to make one). When I quizzed the school as to why, it turns out that New Zealand police and the government got together and encouraged primary schools to destroy or sell their bike racks in a move to discourage kids from riding bikes. Awesome eh? Cause we need more cars on the road.
Anyway you can read the full story on the arrest story here.
My 10 year old and 8 year old ride to school by themselves. I tend to escort the 5 year old when he rides as well. Given the 10 and 8 year old’s are both american citizens I might be in trouble.
Discourage kids from riding bikes??! What the hell for? I can’t even put in to words how ridiculous that is.
I believe the government and the police are concern for the safety of the kids? Safety from vehicle accidents, kidnappers, child traffickers, and others.However, it’s obvious that most government do not want to take the added responsibility in promoting greener ways of transportation. Others just don’t want to be liable for stolen bikes, kidnapped kids and accidents. Which I believe with or without kids biking, has always been their responsibility.
I wish someone would listen to the entire story and review all the evidence. The police report, the conflicting stories from the police chief..all of it