These days most children are driven to school even though they could walk. School journeys contribute substantially to peak hour traffic. Overseas studies confirm this. However, data on journeys to school is not even collected in Australia, perhaps indicating the low priority given to school travel management at the policy level notwithstanding the recognised environmental, social and health impacts of the practice of driving children to school. This practice not only deprives children of the opportunity to undertake regular, incidental physical activity that will lead to a long-term healthy habit, it also deprives them of the opportunity to learn fundamental pedestrian safety practice at a critical time in their development when they can be supervised by a parent/carer. Many parents drive their children because they perceive roads to be dangerous which, ironically, leads to more congestion and its corollary effects. This vicious cycle is being successfully turned into a virtuous cycle in the UK through projects similar to Leichhardt Council's Walk to School (WTS) project. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract No. E208290.
Samenvatting