Article talks about the air being too polluted to ride in, in the UK! I live around some of the dirtiest air in the US, in California's central valley. If these people are gonna use "air pollution" as an excuse to stay in cars and create even more of it, I don't know what to say other than "what a bunch of wimps". Do these people think walking or riding a bike in anything but the most pristine alpine air is gonna cause them to drop dead of cancer? Inactivity is a much bigger risk, I would argue.
I'm not normally a person who's fond of more laws, but this whole "driving your kids to school" thing is completely out of control these days, almost like a fad of some sort. I definitely sense some one-up-manship among parents dropping their kids off. Who's got the newest, shiniest Escalade, who's kid is most popular, smartest and best-looking, who's got the prettiest mom, etc., etc. These parents often seem no more self-aware or mature than their damned kids.
I don't have kids, so I can't really relate, all I know is that as a kid I always either walked to school or rode my bike, and would have been humiliated to be seen being dropped off by my parents, or even worse, get picked up after school. I guess it's the opposite these days, the kids who don't get dropped off feel humiliated. Whatever, all I'm saying is that these idiots are slowing down everyone else who are legitimately on the roads trying to get to work on time, and something need to be done about it, similar to what the poster above said is the law in Japan.