rder to increase rates of active travel.
Zuniga, Kelly Draper. (2012). “From Barrier Elimination to Barrier Negotiation: A Qualitative Study of Parents’ Attitudes about Active Travel for Elementary School Trips” Transport Policy 20: 75–81.
- Despite efforts to combat increasing rates of childhood obesity, the problem is worsening. Safe Routes to School (SRTS), an international movement motivated by the childhood obesity epidemic, seeks to increase the number of children actively commuting (walking or biking) to school by funding projects that remove barriers preventing them from doing so. This article summarizes the evaluation of the ﬁrst phase of an ongoing SRTS program in California and discusses ways to enhance data collection.
- There is no requirement for funded SRTS programs to submit evaluation data to the California Department of Public Health, but some supply information on a voluntary basis. This study used de-identified data sent to the University of California, San Francisco. The information was on children's school transport modes and parents’ views on active commuting from the Arrival and Departure Tally Sheet and Parent Survey about Walking and Biking to School, instruments developed by the SRTS national center.
- As of October 2010, 20% (n = 42) of grantees from 219 federally funded programs in California had voluntarily submitted evaluation data pertaining to 392 schools, including 63,078 unique parent records.
- Findings: Regardless of weather conditions, day of week, or time of day, the relative pattern of school transport mode was consistent. A majority of children commuted in their family vehicle, and smaller percentages of children walked, carpooled, took the school bus, biked, or used public transportation.
Chaufan, C., Yeh, J., Fox, P. (2012). “The Safe Routes to School Program in California: An Update.” American Journal of Public Health 102(6): e8–e11
- Researchers examined the extent to which differential traffic volume and road geometry can explain social inequalities in pedestrian, cyclist, and motor vehicle occupant injuries across wealthy and poor urban areas.
- They performed a multilevel observational study of all road users injured over 5 years (n = 19 568) at intersections (n = 17 498) in a large urban area (Island of Montreal, Canada). They considered intersection-level (traffic estimates, major roads, number of legs) and area-level (population density, commuting travel modes, household income) characteristics in multilevel Poisson regressions that nested intersections in 506 census tracts.
- There were significantly more injured pedestrians, cyclists, and motor vehicle occupants at intersections in the poorest than in the richest areas. Controlling for traffic volume, intersection geometry, and pedestrian and cyclist volumes greatly attenuated the event rate ratios between intersections in the poorest and richest areas for injured pedestrians (−70%), cyclists (−44%), and motor vehicle occupants (−44%).
- Roadway environment can explain a substantial portion of the excess rate of road traffic injuries in the poorest urban areas.
Morency, P., L. Gauvin, et al. (2012). "Neighborhood Social Inequalities in Road Traffic Injuries: The Influence of Traffic Volume and Road Design." American Journal of Public Health 102(6): 1112-1119.
- Although a health impact assessment (HIA) is a tool that can provide decision makers with recommendations to promote positive health impacts and mitigate adverse health impacts of proposed projects and policies, it is not routinely conducted on most major projects or policies.
- To make health a decision criterion for the Atlanta BeltLine, a multibillion-dollar transit, trails, parks, and redevelopment project, a HIA was conducted in 2005–2007 to anticipate and influence the BeltLine's effect on health determinants.
- Changes in access and equity, environmental quality, safety, social capital, and physical activity were forecast, and steps to maximize health benefits and reduce negative effects were recommended.
- Key recommendations included giving priority to 