oration, perceived importance of issues, and support from the public.
- Higher perceived resident support of local government to address economic development and traffic congestion through changes in the built environment was associated with increased likelihood of municipal official involvement in development, adoption, or implementation of transportation or public works policy to increase pedestrian or bicycle safety (OR= 1.70).
- Perceived importance of health topics was not influential in municipal officials’ transportation policy participation.
- Municipal officials who perceived lack of collaboration among departments as a barrier were less likely to be involved in transportation policy (OR = 0.78).
- Municipal officials who lived in the city or town where they worked were more likely to be involved in transportation policy (OR=1.83).
- This online cross-sectional survey gathered responses from 461 municipal officials from public health, planning, transportation, public works, community and economic development, parks and recreation, city management, and municipal legislatures in 83 urban areas across 8 states in 2012.
Zwald, M., Eyler, A., Goins, K., Brownson, R., Schmid, T., & Lemon, S. (2014). Understanding Municipal Officials' Involvement in Transportation Policies Supportive of Walking and Bicycling. Journal of Public Health Management & Practice. 0(0), 1-8.
- There is promising evidence that walking school buses (WSBs) can impact children’s health and safety skills, and supporting facilitators and eliminating barriers to WSBs could improve program sustainability.
- Three studies demonstrated a positive relationship between WSBs and proportions of children walking to school through self-report, and three studies showed an association between WSBs and increased activity levels using accelerometers, although not always at statistically significant levels.
- Two studies reported savings in car journeys as a result of WSBs.
- One study found that WSB schools had a five-fold improvement in children crossing