SPOKES, The Lothian Cycle Campaign

Surveys carried out in Bruntsfield and South Morningside Primary Schools, Edinburgh

A project undertaken by Save the Children and Edinburgh Health Challenge in 1998

Summary

Method

Results

Conclusions and Recommendations

Contacts

Summary

Increased car travel and a corresponding reduction in walking and cycling to school has deprived a generation of children of independence, has been responsible for reduced physical activity with its health consequences, has led to increased traffic congestion and pollution and contributed to high rates of road accidents.

In 1997, Edinburgh Health Challenge and Save the Children carried out a survey in two Edinburgh primary schools as contribution to a City-wide move to promote safe travel to school. The schools had already embarked on relevant activities.

Method

Separate surveys were carried out in the two schools. A questionnaire was administered in class time to all 156 pupils in five P7 (Year 7) classes. The pupils were mostly aged 11 at the time of the survey, a minority being aged 10. A parallel questionnaire was sent home to parents with the pupils. Around half of the parents responded.

The questionnaires for both pupils and parents contained questions about pupilsí current patterns of travel to school, and about their preferred mode of travel. The survey looked at the barriers confronting children wishing to travel independently to school, and questions were asked about bicycle ownership and use, wearing of cycle helmets and the perceived personal and environmental benefits of cycling and walking as forms of transport.

Results

The results showed that 73% of the P7 pupils at the two schools walked to school regularly, and relatively few (22%) came by car. Public transport was use by a minority of pupils and only 2 children cycled on a regular basis.

In contrast, the survey found that 55% of the children would prefer to go to school by bike, although many were happy to continue walking. Parents identified walking, with increased opportunities for cycling as preferred options. Both parents and children identified traffic and driver dangers as the principal barrier confronting independent travel, with ìstranger dangerî being a significant fear. Theft and vandalism to bikes and lack of storage facilities were also identified.

Although increased road safety training would go some way to reassuring parents, research suggests that reduced traffic volume and speeds, road modification and road use legislation may be more effective in reducing child pedestrian and cycling accidents and making roads and streets safer and more acceptable.

82% of the pupils own bicycles, although 29% are not allowed to take them on the roads and more than half are only allowed to cycle on roads round their neighbourhood. Around half the pupils said they wore a cycle helmet, and it was clear that helmets have an image problem for children and young people.

Almost all the children and parents surveyed were keenly aware of the health benefits of walking and cycling. They were equally aware of the environmental hazards of increasing traffic volumes.

Conclusions and Recommendations

• The number of 11 year-olds walking to school in this central Edinburgh sample is encouraging. Strategies to increase numbers should build on this achievement.
• With cycling the preferred mode of travel for more than half the sample of children and many of their parents, current strategies to promote cycling among children should focus on the barriers to cycling and on allaying parental fears.
• If carried out with younger children in a peripheral area of the city, this survey would probably indicate the need for more groundwork for walking and cycling to become acceptable as well as safe modes of travel to school.
• Any safe travel to school project must address the concerns of parents and have their confidence if it is to be successful.
• Efforts must be made to change the integrated pattern of travel to work and school if a further increase in the numbers of children walking and cycling to school is to be increased. This is of relevance in cities like Edinburgh where numbers of children attend independent schools with unrestricted catchment areas.
• For safe travel to school initiatives to be successful, inter-agency, inter-sectorial collaboration is essential.
• Where the city or town council takes a major role in safe travel to school initiatives, the strategy must be integrated into the councilís overall strategies for transportation, education, city development and the environment. Health boards and authorities have a key role to play.
• While there are many educational opportunities for changes in road usage by children, these must be backed up by fiscal policies, road engineering and traffic reduction policies.
• Local application of Agenda 21 principles offer an important opportunity for change.
• Safe and healthy travel to school is the right of all children, under the terms of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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