Just 48 percent of children who live within a mile of school walk or bike to get there, a study found.
In 1969, 90 percent of children who lived near school biked or walked.
What's the deal? Many suburbs and newer cities lack sidewalks, making safety is an issue. At Franklin's Pleasant View Elementary, children who live approximately 500 yards from the school wait for and take the bus! Who can blame them? If you walk the single roadway in, you have cars and bus traffic literally brushing up against you (see picture above).
I wonder what the acceptable low property taxes vs. children hit by vehicles equation is for those who say sidewalks are a waste of money - even in a school zone?
Let's not forget the fact that subdivisions that can see Pleasant View Elementary from their backyards cannot get there without taking a long, circuitous route, a great portion of which consists of sidewalk-less, highly dangerous 51st Street.
Interesting excerpt:
Older urban communities have the most walking and biking children, at least partly because they were built with pedestrians in mind. But newer communities -- like many in the South -- were designed around the car, and may lack continuous sidewalks or safe crosswalks, [Professor Lawrence] Frank said.
Research also has shown that the South has the lowest levels of exercise and adult activity.
Walking to school goes by wayside
By Mike Stobbe, Associated Press. Associated Press writer Dorie Turner contributed to this report
July 14, 2007
ATLANTA -- Fewer than half of American children who live close to school regularly walk or bike to classes, according to a new study that highlights a dramatic shift toward car commuting.
Children in the South did the least amount of walking or cycling, partly because of safety concerns, experts say.
The issue is considered important because it is linked to escalating rates of childhood obesity. And many schools have been cutting back on recess and physical education, said Sarah Martin, the study's lead author.
"Kids need to take advantage of the opportunities that do exist for physical activity," said Martin, a Maine-based consultant and former researcher with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The article about the study is being published in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Martin did the research when she was at the CDC.
Other studies have found that relatively few children walk or bike to school. The numbers have dropped as the population has grown while the number of schools has declined and the distance to get to them has grown for many families.
In 1969, about 90 percent of children who lived within a mile of school walked or biked to get there. In 2004, just 48 percent did that at least one day a week, the study found.
Separately, federal statistics suggest the numbers are worse, as expected, for children who live farther from school. In 1969, 42 percent walked or cycled and in 2001 (the most recent data available), just 16 percent did.
The figures for those living within a mile of school are based on a spring 2004 nationwide, random telephone survey of more than 7,400 families with children ages 9 to 15.
The researchers didn't ask why so many children were driven to school, but possible explanations include parental attitudes about exercise and safety concerns, Martin said.
Generally, studies have found that less educated families exercise less and have higher rates of obesity. But Martin's survey found that the children of well-educated parents were more likely to get a ride to school. She said in those families, parents may believe it's safer and more expedient for one of them to drive a child to school on the way to work.
Such families likely have more cars too. Other researchers have found that the number of cars is key to whether children walk, said Lawrence Frank, a professor of community and regional planning at the University of British Columbia.
"More cars means less likely to walk," he said.
Older urban communities have the most walking and biking children, at least partly because they were built with pedestrians in mind. But newer communities -- like many in the South -- were designed around the car, and may lack continuous sidewalks or safe crosswalks, Frank said.
Research also has shown that the South has the lowest levels of exercise and adult activity.
-- Associated Press
Money Magazine names Middleton, Wisconsin best place to live
Franklin (ranked #90) take note: Middleton is where the great Middleton Hills traditional neighborhood development is located - coincidence?
Also, you'll never break the top 10 (or 50) if you continue to accept ongoing mediocrity from commercial developers (yes, that means Shoppes at Wyndham Village) and subdivision designers (that means... pretty much all of them).
Middleton profile here. Photo below is Middleton Hills.
Posted at 11:51 AM in Commentary, Current Affairs, Shops at Wyndham Village, The Shops at Wyndham Village project, Traditional Neighborhood Development, Wisdom | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: city planning, new urbanism, Sprawl, traditional neighborhood design
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