The Decline of Walking and Bicycling

Not long ago, children routinely moved around their neighborhoods by foot or by bicycle, and that was often how they traveled to and from school. That is no longer the case. Whether looking at the total proportion of children walking and bicycling to school, or just those children that live within a mile of the school, the decline is apparent.

• In 1969, 42 percent of children 5 to 18 years of age walked or bicycled to school.
• In 2001, 16 percent of children 5 to 18 years of age walked or bicycled to school.
• In 1969, 87 percent of children 5 to 18 years of age who lived within one mile of school walked or bicycled to school.
• In 2001, 63 percent of children 5 to 18 years of age who lived within one mile of school walked or bicycled to school.

 The circumstances that have led to a decline in walking and bicycling to school did not happen overnight and have created a self-perpetuating cycle. As motor vehicle traffic increases parents become more convinced that it is unsafe for their children to walk or bicycle to school. They begin driving them to school, thereby adding even more traffic to the road and sustaining the cycle. Understanding the many reasons why so many children do not walk or bicycle to school is the first step in interrupting the cycle.

Many factors contribute to the reduction in children walking and bicycling to school. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published the findings from two nationwide surveys of parents that identify barriers that prevent them from allowing their children to walk to school. In the 2004 survey, 1,588 adults answered questions about barriers to walking to school for their youngest child aged 5 to 18 years. Parents cited one or more of the following six reasons:

Examining the underlying issues for each barrier provides an opportunity to understand how they can be addressed. These issues are explored in the following sections.

Distance to School

Up through the 1960s, many schools were located in the centers of communities, and this close proximity to residential areas contributed to high rates of walking and bicycling to school. Beginning in the 1970s, rather than renovating existing schools or building within the community, most new schools were built on the edges of communities where the land costs were lower. The recent trend in school construction has been to build and operate a large school instead of several small schools. This pattern has led to numerous school closings and consolidations. Between 1940 and 2003, the number of public school districts decreased from 117,108 to 14,465, and the number of public and private elementary and secondary schools went from over 226,000 to approximately 95,000 in 2003. During that time, the population of students attending elementary and secondary schools grew from 28 million to 54.5 million. Not surprising, the average number of students per elementary and secondary school has increased over five-fold. The result is that today schools often accommodate many more students than in the past and in effect have become “mega-schools.” Bigger schools require larger tracts of land, often from 10 to more than 30 acres. The schools are frequently built where land costs are lower, which tend to be on the edges of communities instead of in the centers of existing communities.

Fewer schools, many of which are located away from where students live, combined with larger enrollment populations, result in school catchment areas that are geographically larger than in the past. These expanded catchment areas require students to travel farther making it difficult, if not impossible, for children to walk or bicycle to school.

In addition to increasing land costs, a host of other factors contribute to the placement of schools on the fringes of communities. Factors include school siting standards, school funding formulas, existing land use policies and lack of coordination between planners and school officials.

• In 2004, 27 states had some form of minimum acreage standards for school setting. These standards often demand large tracts of land that can be found only in less developed parts of communities or outside of town.
• School funding formulas that favor new construction over renovation of existing schools often do not consider long-term transportation, operation and maintenance, and infrastructure improvement costs (e.g., sewer, water and road) associated with building in a new location.
• The prevailing land use pattern and zoning ordinances require the separation of land by usage type. Low, medium, and high density residential, commercial, and institutional uses are each separated from one another and connected by motor vehicle. This makes walking to school in suburban areas challenging because of the low housing density (number of homes per acre) within walking and bicycling distance and the safety issues posed by busy roads or an incomplete sidewalk system.
• Oftentimes school boards communicate with planning officials after a decision is made about a site for a new school or whether to close or renovate an existing school. One study, examining school setting in North Carolina, found that in several communities school districts were exempt from local planning and zoning ordinances.

School consolidation has lengthened the trip between home and school, and longer trips coincide with few children walking and bicycling. By increasing the distance between home and school, consolidation of schools may discourage physically active trips to school while encouraging higher levels of motor vehicle use and pollution.

Traffic-Related Danger

Traffic-related danger was the second most common reason cited by parents for not allowing their children to walk to and from school, according to the nationwide survey.

In 2004, 493 pedestrians and bicyclists ages 14 and under were killed, and approximately 29,000 children were injured while walking or bicycling in the United States. One response by many parents is to drive their child to school. However, being inside a motor vehicle does not ensure safety. In fact, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for school-age children. In the United States during 2004, 1,638 children ages 14 and under were killed and 246,000 children were injured as motor vehicle occupants.

As communities have accommodated increased motor vehicle traffic volumes, opportunities to walk and bicycle have suffered. Unsafe traffic conditions often are coupled with a lack of safe places to walk. Even in places where there are sidewalks, they are often in disrepair or are blocked.

Twenty percent to 25 percent of morning rush hour traffic is attributable to parents driving their children to school. As the percentage of children walking and bicycling to school continues to decrease, motor vehicle traffic increases, and parents become more convinced that walking to school is unsafe for their children. Parents may believe that the safest way to school is for them to drive their children, but may not be aware that by driving they contribute to the traffic congestion and traffic danger surrounding the school.

Many injuries and fatalities can be avoided if streets are made safer, especially if structural improvements are combined with education activities to teach children and drivers about pedestrian safety and enforcement activities to ensure drivers follow safe driving rules.

Weather Conditions

While the weather has not changed much since a generation ago when so many children walked or biked, adverse weather was the third most frequently cited reason in the national survey parents gave for not allowing their children to walk to school. Identifying weather as a barrier could be reflective of contemporary social norms in the United States, where people are accustomed to driving for almost every trip. This makes it easy to forego walking and jump in the car at the first sign of cold, rain or heat. Nevertheless, Safe Routes to School efforts have been launched in areas with all kinds of weather, from cities across Canada to Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Arlington, Massachusetts.

Crime Danger

Almost 12 percent of parents in the nationwide survey cited that crime danger prevented them from allowing their children to walk to or from school. Parental fears of crime include child kidnapping and assault. However, kidnappings make up less than 2 percent of all violent crimes against people under 18 years old and only 4 percent of all kidnappings occur in the vicinity of a school. These issues can generate strong fears and communities are finding ways to address these safety concerns. Crime concerns may be based on both real and perceived crime. Whether real or perceived, these fears affect how many children are allowed to walk or bicycle to school. SRTS programs work to identify what are the real dangers and what are perceptions and try to address both.

Sometimes children face danger in their own neighborhoods from gangs or other illegal activities. These issues also have been addressed by community groups that want walking conditions to be safe. For example, in Detroit, Michigan, the Injury Free Coalition for Kids and city officials joined together to identify concerns and began working on improvements in traffic flow, demolishing abandoned and burned out homes, cleaning up abandoned lots, improving the aesthetics of the childrens' routes, and working with the Detroit Police Department to address the presence of drug dealers and crime along the routes.

Opposing School Policies

Six percent of parents identified school policies as a barrier for walking to or from school. Some schools or communities do enforce school policies that prohibit children from walking and bicycling to school. Although the school rule may have stemmed from safety concerns for students, its implications could work against a SRTS program. The solution may be to address the safety issues rather than permanently prohibit walking and bicycling to school. Identifying and understanding the reasons underlying the policy can help programs address important issues and reverse the policy if appropriate.