Teens drive point home with commuting study

Programs promoting car pooling may be largely aimed at adult commuters, but a study by Analy High School students suggests that solo driving is a habit that becomes ingrained almost as soon as teens are handed a set of keys.

A study conducted by the school's advanced placement statistics class found that about 40 percent of Analy students who live within one mile of the Sebastopol campus drive alone to school.

"It's ridiculous," said Julie Wesler-Buck, an Analy senior who worked on the study. "It was shocking to me how many people drove alone. They probably don't even realize what they are putting into the environment, how much gas they are using and that it makes the roads more congested."

Solo driving is not an issue isolated to Analy, according to school officials from around Sonoma County.

"I think parents are much more willing to hand cars to their kids; it's a kind of right of passage," said Mike Rea, executive director of the West County Transportation Agency, which provides bus service for a declining number of students in the west county. "There is just this expectation that that is supposed to happen."

Analy instructor David Casey and the 30 students in his class quantified the impacts of student commute patterns, hoping to persuade them to change their driving habits.

The class found that parents and students are driving 42,000 miles a week to and from campus and pumping 50,000 pounds of greenhouse gases into the air. And they are using 2,500 gallons of gasoline a week just for trips to and from school.

"That just blows my mind," Casey said.

The students will present their findings at a community forum on campus tonight.

"I think they (students) are so unaware of the environmental impacts of driving because it is so part of their culture," Casey said. "They need some work in what they can do as an individual, so my work is really just beginning."

Paradoxically, a new state law intended to promote driver safety makes it harder for students to double-up in their cars.

As of Jan. 1, for the first year they have their licenses, 16- and 17-year-olds are barred from transporting passengers younger than 20.

But those are just the drivers that environmental groups are targeting in car pool promotions.

"If you can change the high school culture - these are the people who are really close to becoming commuters," said Joan Marx, a founding member of Gunn Organization for Alternative, Safe Transportation (GOFAST).

The GOFAST program in Palo Alto has increased bike riding to campus by 31 percent and tripled the number of students who car pool.

Marx will be the keynote speaker at tonight's community forum.

Although the study's findings may be surprising, even some of those involved in the project concede the realities of modern life make it a challenge to get around in a way that is environmentally sensitive.

"I take a class at the JC, I play sports, I do all these other things that require me to go somewhere else right after class," said Wesler-Buck. "Unfortunately, there are a lot of situations where it's hard to car pool."