Fewer than half of children walk to school despite cut in accident risk

THE proportion of primary children walking to school has fallen to less than half despite a significant cut in pupil road casualties, official figures show.

Only 48 per cent of five to ten-year-olds across Britain walked in 2008 compared to 62 per cent in 1989-91, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported yesterday.

However, the risk to pupils from traffic appears to have significantly dropped over the same period, despite more vehicles being on the road.

Previously-published Scottish Government figures showed the number of Scottish pupils killed or injured walking to or from school has been cut by 40 per cent in the past decade alone, while traffic has increased by a seventh. There were an average of 298 such casualties in Scotland in 2004-8 compared to 493 in 1994-8.

The ONS said the proportion of pupils taken by car had increased from 27 per cent to 43 per cent.

This may be related to the distance travelled increasing, such by parents placing their children at schools other than their nearest primary. The average trip increased from 1.3 miles in 1995-7 to 1.6 miles in 2008.

Those pupils who walked were more often than not accompanied by an adult. In 2008, 86 per cent of seven to ten-year-olds had a grown-up joining them on the walk to school, compared with 78 per cent in 2002.

The main reason for accompanied travel was traffic danger, with 58 per cent of parents saying it was a concern. A further 29 per cent feared their children would be assaulted or molested.

This is despite initiatives such as "walking buses", where accompanied pupils walk in groups, and 20mph zones around schools.

The Scotsman highlighted last year that fewer children were walking to school in Scotland than ever before.

A poll of 400,000 pupils by Sustrans, a walking and cycling development group, showed 48.3 per cent of pupils walked to school.

That compared with 53 per cent recorded by the Scottish Government in a survey in 2007.

However, the Sustrans research – the first to cover more than half of Scotland's pupils – also found more than expected were cycling. A total of 2.8 per cent said they cycled, three times as many as the total in official figures.

Tony Armstrong, chief executive of Living Streets, which runs the Walk to School campaign, described the figures as a "wake-up call" to ministers, councils and parents.

He said: "Walking to school is one of the cheapest, greenest and easiest things for parents and children to do.

"Although average distances to school have increased, the vast majority of pupils still live within a 20-minute walk of their school.

"We need to take action now to make children more physically active to prevent storing up health problems later in life."

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: "One of the best ways of reducing traffic danger is to reduce traffic – and much of the traffic on the school journey is parents driving children to school. This clearly creates a vicious circle."

The Scottish Government said the number of pupils walking or cycling to school was increasing.

A spokesman said: "We are investing a record 11 million a year in sustainable and active travel, including walking and cycling.

"As part of this investment, 10m is being targeted to create seven sustainable travel demonstration communities across Scotland, which will promote and provide more opportunities for cycling and walking, allowing more people to enjoy the benefits of increased physical activity."