The percentage of pupils walking to school in Northern Ireland has fallen in recent years, while the number of those driven is on the rise, new data reveals.
The ‘Travel to School by Children in Northern Ireland 2021/22’ report, published by Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure on 23 March, shows this trend occurring among both primary school and older children.
When it comes to primary school children, 26% described walking as their main mode of travel; compared to 31% in 2013/14.
Conversely, 65% were driven to school – a rise from 59% back in 2013/14.
It is a similar picture among post-primary pupils.
The report shows among post-primary school pupils, less than one in five (16%) pupils walked to/from school – compared to 22% in 2013/14.
Again, the percentage of post-primary pupils travelling by car is on the rise – up from 30% in 2013/14 to 35 in 2021/22.
Bus remains the most popular method of transport in this age category, at 45%.
Analysis
These figures will certainly be a concern for authorities in Northern Ireland – as efforts continue to reduce car usage and promote active travel.
The challenge is how to get more pupils to walk, particularly those who live locally to their schools.
The data shows half (50%) of primary school pupils live a mile or less from school and of these, almost half were driven to school by car (48% walked).
To reverse the trend, more needs to be done to convince parents of these children that walking is the best option for their children.
As we know, initiative like School Streets have proven popular in this department.
It’s hardly surprising. The Dept for Infrastructure has implemented part-time 20mph limits just outside schools, which has already been rejected by many English authorities. It responds to driver concerns as to where the danger is from children, rather than parent concerns about where the danger is to children.
Parents don’t consider their child walking to school and assess the risk based on whether there is a 100m stretch of part-time limit outside a school, but on the whole journey from outside their house to school.
We first highlighted the shallowness of 20mph just outside schools in a briefing 10 years ago on “How school safety zones are not a priority” https://www.20splenty.org/how_school_safety_zones_are_not_a_priority
In particular they disproportionately provide protection for children driven into the zone by parents and so encouraging the very mode of travel that should be discouraged. The answer is to set a community-wide 20mph limit, promote active travel and use school streets to discourage inactive and unsustainable travel.
Rod King, Lymm
0