Fewer students bike in later years of school

By Cassie Archer,
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–

The number of students who bike to school regularly drops around 15 percent when students make the transition from junior high to high school, according to Trish Price, chair of the Davis Bicycle! Schools Committee.

Price says that the amount of students who stopped biking could possibly contribute 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per day.

“This is a relatively small contribution to total emissions,” Price said, “but it’s a significant emission for teenagers as a demographic group, and is completely within their control.”

The amount of students who bike also drops more than 10 percent from sophomore year to senior year, according to a study conducted with Davis High students in 2012 by the Journal of Transport Geography, provided by Rachel Hartsough. The same study said that 53.1 percent of students who did not bike either drove themselves, were driven by someone else or took the bus.

Juniors Jane Bellamy and Kate Gieschen bike regularly to school. Bellamy, who has biked since she was in elementary school, bikes because her mom doesn’t want to drive her to school. Gieschen enjoys biking because it is good exercise, good for the environment and less stressful than driving.

“The parking lot is crazy,” Gieschen said, noting another reason why she prefers to bike.

Junior Claire Drown usually bikes, but drives once a week. Drown would drive more, but her parents work out of town and take the cars.

“I also think there are real benefits to biking to school,” Drown said. “I enjoy the exercise.”

Price says that the amount of students who bike could affect the health and safety of students as well as the environment. “All of those vehicles waiting at the stop lights, signs and parking lot entrances are making harmful gases that accumulate in the tissues of the students,” Price said.

Price also said that reducing the amount of teenagers driving to school by having them bike would also reduce the likelihood of traffic accidents. She recommends students try to find alternatives to driving to and from school every day.

“I realize that’s not practical in every situation, and there are lots of options,” Price said. “My favorite, of course, is to ride a bike!”

Hartsough encourages teens to get “involved in promoting biking, walking and other forms of active transportation.”