Children's right to cycle under fire in UK

One of the dilemmas of modern parenting was thrown into sharp relief last week in Dulwich, south London.

The decision of Oliver and Gillian Schonrock to let their daughter, 8, and their 5-year-old son cycle unaccompanied less than 1.5km to their school caused a furore after the headteacher threatened to report the couple to social services.

Gillian Schonrock said she believed the benefits far outweighed the potential risk from stranger danger, accidents and other factors.

The head thought the children were being put at risk. London Mayor Boris Johnson described the couple as heroes and attacked "barmy" health and safety rules.

Two years ago a survey by Cycling England criticised overprotective parents for stifling the chances for children to bike to school. A poll of more than 1000 parents found that four out of five children were banned from cycling to school.

The report said that fear was creating "cul-de-sac kids", limited to cycling only in their own road and neighbouring streets.

Environmentalists who despair at the school-run gas-guzzling 4WDs point out that the average journey to primary school is less than 3km and to secondary school less than 5km, so adults cannot say cycling to school is not feasible.

Provisional UK Department for Transport figures show that cyclist deaths fell from 115 in 2008 to 104 last year, although against the downward trend in road-user casualties, the number of cyclists seriously injured rose from 2450 to 2606.

But the nature of risk facing today's children remains hotly debated, despite all the statistical evidence that British children are far more likely to be hurt in a family setting than outside the home.

Last week the Children's Society released a report claiming that parents' fears about young people's safety outside the home are exaggerated. More than 2000 people were asked to identify the biggest risks for children aged between 6 and 15 in a number of situations.

Three-quarters said they were exposed to a high level of risk when parents did not know their whereabouts in the evening. Letting a child play outdoors after 9pm in summer without knowing where they were was seen as dangerous.

- OBSERVER