Children’s route choice during active transportation to school: difference between shortest and actual route

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Research

Evert Verhagen¹  Willem van Mechelen²  Dirk Dessing³  Sanne I. de Vries⁴  Geertje Hegeman⁵  Frank H. Pierik⁶ 

[1] Department of Public & Occupational Health and EMGO+ Institute, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Amsterdam Collaboration on Health & Safety in Sports, IOC Research Center, AMC/VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Australian Centre for Research into Injury in Sport and its Prevention (ACRISP), Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Australia;Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine (ESSM), Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa;Department of Public & Occupational Health and EMGO+ Institute, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Amsterdam Collaboration on Health & Safety in Sports, IOC Research Center, AMC/VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine (ESSM), Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa;School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Sciences, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland;Department of Public & Occupational Health and EMGO+ Institute, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Amsterdam Collaboration on Health & Safety in Sports, IOC Research Center, AMC/VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;TNO, Department of Life Style, Leiden, The Netherlands;Research group Healthy Lifestyle in a Supporting Environment, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands;Royal HaskoningDHV, Amersfoort, The Netherlands;TNO, Department of Urban Environment and Safety, Utrecht, The Netherlands;

关键词: Elementary school;    Children;    Global Positioning System (GPS);    Built environment;    GIS;    Active transportation;    Walking;    Cycling;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12966-016-0373-y

 received in 2015-12-22, accepted in 2016-04-07,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of environmental correlates that are associated with route choice during active transportation to school (ATS) by comparing characteristics of actual walking and cycling routes between home and school with the shortest possible route to school.MethodsChildren (n = 184; 86 boys, 98 girls; age range: 8–12 years) from seven schools in suburban municipalities in the Netherlands participated in the study. Actual walking and cycling routes to school were measured with a GPS-device that children wore during an entire school week. Measurements were conducted in the period April–June 2014. Route characteristics for both actual and shortest routes between home and school were determined for a buffer of 25 m from the routes and divided into four categories: Land use (residential, commercial, recreational, traffic areas), Aesthetics (presence of greenery/natural water ways along route), Traffic (safety measures such as traffic lights, zebra crossings, speed bumps) and Type of street (pedestrian, cycling, residential streets, arterial roads). Comparison of characteristics of shortest and actual routes was performed with conditional logistic regression models.ResultsMedian distance of the actual walking routes was 390.1 m, whereas median distance of actual cycling routes was 673.9 m. Actual walking and cycling routes were not significantly longer than the shortest possible routes. Children mainly traveled through residential areas on their way to school (>80 % of the route). Traffic lights were found to be positively associated with route choice during ATS. Zebra crossings were less often present along the actual routes (walking: OR = 0.17, 95 % CI = 0.05–0.58; cycling: OR = 0.31, 95 % CI = 0.14–0.67), and streets with a high occurrence of accidents were less often used during cycling to school (OR = 0.57, 95 % CI = 0.43–0.76). Moreover, percentage of visible surface water along the actual route was higher compared to the shortest routes (walking: OR = 1.04, 95 % CI = 1.01–1.07; cycling: OR = 1.03, 95 % CI = 1.01–1.05).DiscussionThis study showed a novel approach to examine built environmental exposure during active transport to school. Most of the results of the study suggest that children avoid to walk or cycle along busy roads on their way to school.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Dessing et al. 2016