fety could be important predictors for adolescent cycling behavior. Recommendations include promoting initiatives that facilitate social interaction and cyclist safety at the school.
Benson, J. and A. Scriven (2012). "Psychological, social and environmental barriers to cycling to school." International Journal of Health Promotion and Education 50(1): 34-44.
- Walking school buses (WSB) increased children's physical activity, but impact on pedestrian safety behaviors (PSB) is unknown.
- This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of collecting school-level pedestrian safety behavior outcomes and changes to those outcomes during a WSB program study.
- The WSB was associated with more children crossing at an intersection, but fewer children fully stopping at the curb. These mixed results suggest modification to the WSB program may be necessary in order to improve children's pedestrian safety behaviors on the walk to and from school.
- Further WSB studies, preferably fully powered experimental trials that longitudinally follow participants' pedestrian safety behaviors in the long term, should be conducted in a variety of settings among diverse populations to formally evaluate pedestrian safety and physical activity outcomes. Moreover, studies that examine the influence of the built environment, use objective measures of neighborhood safety, and consider vehicular traffic are also necessary to evaluate their influences on the WSB and children's pedestrian safety.
Mendoza, J. A., K. Watson, et al. (2012). "Impact of a pilot walking school bus intervention on children's pedestrian safety behaviors: A pilot study." Health & Place 18(1): 24-30.
- The school setting could be a primary venue for promoting physical activity among inner-city children due to the structured natured of the school day. The authors examined differences in step counts between structured school days (SSD) and weekend days (WED) among a sample of public school children in Washington, DC.
- Subjects (N = 29) were third- to sixth-grade students enrol