CHILDREN AT RISK: LOSING MOBILITY AT AN EARLY AGE

More so that any other segment of the population, children are dependent on walking and bicycling to get around. At the same time, they are among the most vulnerable users of the street. Children are taught to "look both ways" before crossing the road almost as soon as they can walk, but that instruction is insufficient protection for today’s busy streets and fast-moving traffic. A recent study by the Santa Ana Unified School District showed that more than half of the city’s 72 pedestrian accidents during the first six months of 1998 involved children walking near schools.(12) Both students and residents reported that motorists regularly speed by them, running stop signs and ignoring children in crosswalks.

Fears about child safety—motivated in part by crime but also by concerns about traffic—now prompt parents to chauffeur children to almost all their activities, causing a dramatic decline in children’s basic independence and mobility. According to the National Personal Transportation Survey, children aged 5-15 walked or biked for 15.8 percent of all their trips in 1977. That share fell to 14.1 percent in 1990 and declined even further to 9.9 percent in 1995. These changes in travel patterns have given rise the popular phenomenon of the "soccer mom" in the mid-1990s.

The decline in walking among children has dramatic implications for children’s health. The 1996 Surgeon General’s report on Physical Activity and Health revealed in that just 26 percent of youth aged 12 to 21 walked or bicycled for 30 minutes a week in 1992, declining to 21 percent three years later.(13) Only half of this age group participated in vigorous physical activity, and 25 percent didn’t participate in any vigorous physical activity at all.(14) A study by the Oregon Department of Transportation's Bicycle and Pedestrian Program showed an even more dramatic decline: the average number of youths cycling per day at a number of sites that were monitored dropped from 61 in 1987 to 27 in 1997.(15)

At the same time the National Health and Nutrition Survey reports a marked increase in child obesity since 1963, with the biggest increase in the most recent edition of the survey. Twenty-two percent of U.S. children are now obese, which health professionals consider to be a very serious problem.(16) But if the environment doesn’t provide opportunity for safe and spontaneous physical activity it’s likely that children will spend more time indoors. Indeed, sedentary activities such as TV-watching and video games are on the rise, with more than a quarter of U.S. children now watching TV for four or more hours daily.

Yet another alarming statistic regarding child pedestrian injuries and fatalities is that children represent a vastly disproportionate share of all pedestrian fatalities and injuries relative to their share of the total population. These inequities are highlighted in Table 4, a ranking of counties in California where children comprise the greatest number of all pedestrian incidents relative to their share of population. In addition, Latino and African American children are disproportionately represented among all pedestrian fatalities and injuries occurring among people under 21 in California relative to their share of the population (see table 5).(17)

Clearly something must be done to reduce the dangers to children on neighborhood streets. Fortunately, effective strategies exist to reduce vehicle-pedestrian crashes, to make streets and neighborhoods safer and more conducive to walking and bicycling, and at the same time improve the public’s travel choices as well as our overall quality of life. The newest movement, which has been gaining popularity throughout the U.S. and the world, is one that uses principles of street design, along with enforcement and education of both motorists and pedestrians to create a safer environment for everyone.