All Party Commission to address UK kids’ “physical inactivity epidemic”

Ban cars? If only! Many councils like Shrewsbury won't even take measures to reduce town centre traffic, where cars are impractical and a bigger menace than elsewhere. Meanwhile the P&R is consistently under-used

It's not that we are obsessed with cars but our lives have been built around them - work is too far away from home for many, the one-stop-shop supermarkets and other retail outlets are out of town and so on. It is also human nature to take the easiest option, drive to McD, BOGOF deals on junk food (when did you last see offers on fruit & veg?), ready meals laced with sugar etc etc.

Governments increase our dependence on oil while bus and train fares have rocketed. Nobody wants to make the tough decisions that are needed as they will be unpopular. According to Monday's automatic speed control article, even the police don't want to be unpopular with drivers!

My kids are fit and healthy and cycling and football take up a lot of their time. They also play video games and have consoles but we do try and restrict the time they spend on those. They've been riding bikes since they were really small (a strider bike meant they never needed stabilisers and got on pedal bikes at 4 and 3 respectively) and have both competed in BMX racing, with the youngest riding at national level, as well as doing track and mountain bike sessions at times. They have also done a council run cycle safety course recently, which they got a lot from.

My eldest has said he wants to cycle to school but we're wary because of the risks. There is a route he could take that would avoid using major roads and crossing those at pedestrian crossings but we're still not sure.

However, let's be clear about the real risks compared with the perceived risks. In this respect, every one of the posts in this thread so far has failed to mention a crucial point. Cycling in the UK is actually safer now than it was in the 70s and 80s when road deaths peaked. There is extensive DfT data on this last point and probably the biggest factor in road safety improvements has come from the massive reduction in drink driving.

Despite the fact that I know this, I'm still reluctant to let my eldest ride to school. I used to ride to school way back in the 70s and this included negotiating a busy road. There certainly were many incidents involving other pupils on that road, and I recall one that was fatal and another couple that involved life changing injuries but there may have been more I don't remember. So is it parental peer group pressure perhaps that makes me so reluctant to let my eldest out on the road when I was free to roam on two wheels at his age and when the actual risks were at least three times higher?

The family vehicle fleet at present stands at one car, two motorcycles, two skateboards, four mini-scooters and eight bicycles incidentally.

The problem is simple, cars.

How you ban cars, that is the hard part.

Infact banning cars would actually be one of the most effective health measures any government could take.

Kids are fat because they don't play outside. They don't play outside because they might get hurt by the motor vehicles.

Parents won't let their kids ride on the roads because "it's too dangerous and there are too many cars", yet see the solution to this problem as driving the kids to school thereby adding to the problem.

The government and councils need to invest in high quality cycle infrastructure to ensure kids can ride to work in safety, and adults can ride to work and shops quickly and easily. Combine this with compulsory Bikeability training in schools at primary AND secondary level, and work to reduce parking near schools, especially in urban areas.

Cars are, unfortunately, the problem but no one wants to tackle the elephant in the room. As a car driver & owner I'm part of this, but I increasingly see what the obsession with cars is doing to living standards. There is no way to allow my 8 yr old to ride to school as even the quieter routes are clogged with cars and 2 main roads are to be crossed where cyclists and pedestrians take their chances. Most terraced streets are chocca with parked cars. All the space to play in the streets has gone, even if the street itself is quiet. Cars are dictating what we can or cannot do (or allow our kids to freely do) due to the risks (speeding really pisses me off) & selfish space taking up they impose.

None of my kids are fat and I own two cars - go figure. We also own 12 bikes between us. The biggest problem getting kids cycling is the safety issue and not without reason. We have the biggest youth membership at our club ever, but we have to train off-road. We need safer roads so that kids can cycle to school, to the park, to the shops, to their friends like we used to. How we get there I really don't know but education must be key. The attitude of drivers is changing, I have seen it happening as more cyclists are on the roads and it doesn't matter whether they are commuters, racers, mamils or whatever. If new drivers rode bikes as kids then part of this education is complete.

None of my kids is fat, I don't own a car, go figure.

Look on the bright side, this so-called "physical inactivity epidemic" has its upsides, especially for the economy.

Tablet, smartphone and PS3 sales are through the roof. People are replacing their cars more often because of the mileage they do ferrying the kids to school and everywhere else (think of the lovely duty on all that fuel Mr Osborne! :-). And only poor people walk or cycle from A to B, what would the neighbours think?

When they are not on Facebook or Youtube the TV has 250 channels of mindless sh*t to flick through.

The supermarkets and fast food outlets are winners. They're busy selling us cheaply made junk food, sometimes with 'exotic' ingredients like horsemeat, labour-saving gadgets that you didn't realise you needed plus that all-important sports nutrition for walking to the newsagent or mixing with vodka for a laugh.

MAMILs are doing their bit by keeping the LBS and Rapha in business. The Sunday ride helps burn off Saturday night's pizza & real ale binge before a cafe stop for a monster breakfast and overpriced frothy coffee. Thanks to a tailwind and jumping onto a fast group they're now up to 89th on that Strava segment they do each week so they've surely 'earned' an extra slice of cake... And you can always get decent bibshorts in XXL. Tightwads win too when the MAMILs sell their barely used stuff on ebay. Everyone's happy.

Whjich is a long-winded way of saying this: while making us fat makes them and their pals loadsamoney no-one in a position of influence will do anything about it.

What, so Wii Fit isn't the answer. Darn it!

I'd say get 'em on the bike but where exactly do children cycle safely nowadays? I can't imagine many parents here in London letting their kids out on the road like I used to. Maybe just taking them for a walk will be enough. Leash optional.