I had an early doctor's appointment yesterday and was surprised as usual by the huge decrease in volume of traffic during school holidays.

Does this mean that the vast majority of people who drive their children to school don't work?  I accept some may need to take holiday to be with their children but I wouldn't have thought that would lead to such a large decrease in volumes both morning and afternoon.

I would say a mixture of people who don't work but drive their children to school and yes a lot of people take holidays at the same!  But also my OH leaves at a different time if not taking the girls to school so thus reducing the traffic at that time (as its takes less time without the school run first :))

Hadn't thought of the time difference Rachel - wonder then if the congestion is just moving timeframe?  Perhaps all the people who normally leave later are all moaning about the school holidays cos they have all the extra traffic! :D

I'm sure it does make a difference.  Even a large number of those dropping children off on the way to walk will not have the good fortune of having the school exactly on their route so the total length of time that everyone is on the road is reduced.
I notice this term our local primary has reintroduced their failed walking bus scheme and this seems to be having an effect on the traffic around here.  There seems to be a lot more children in it than the last effort so hopefully the parents have finally woken up and decided to support it :)

Our local primary school tried a walking bus but there were no takers at all. My parents live in a small village and the walking bus there is thriving - perhaps children in rural areas are more used to walking than those in  urban areas? :)

Would love to walk mine to school but we live 30 minutes away from their school and also live off the beaten track as it were - we looked into the school bus routes but even that doesn't come anywhere near us!!! :(