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3% of parents of children aged 7-13 years accompany them to school as a result of fears over traffic safety, statistics from the DfT have shown.
Published in a factsheet based on data from the National Travel Survey 2014, the figures also show only 44% of parents allow their 7-10 year olds cross roads alone, down from 58% in 2002.
The National Travel Survey is the DfT’s key source of data for understanding school travel patterns. The Travel to school factsheet summarises the latest results about how children travel to school based on data for England up to 2014.
It reveals that walking is the most common mode of travelling to school. 46% of 5-10 year olds and 38% of 11-16 year olds walk to school. While 46% of 5-10 year olds are also driven to school, just 23% of 11-16 year olds make the journey by car.
Taking the bus is more popular than car for pupils aged 11-16 years (29%) but only 5% of 5-10 year olds take the bus to school.
The long-term trends show that since 2003, among primary school children the proportion travelling by car has slightly increased while the number walking has decreased, while mode share has remained broadly stable for secondary school pupils.
The report also shows that for very short trips (under one mile) walking is the main mode of transport for both primary and secondary school children, while for longer trips (two miles or more) car is the dominant mode for primary school children and bus is the most common mode for secondary school children.
I think Duncan was posing the question why cycling to school was not included. Many cycle to school, and many have to use a bus due to distances. Our main school has fleets of coaches pouring in each morning from a large catchment area.
Derek Reynolds, Salop.
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My comment was directed at the content of the press release and the graphic Richard. No mention of cycling even in the long term trend analysis so that’s why I asked.
Duncan MacKillop. No surprise – No accident.
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Duncan, what planet are you on?
Richard, Norfolk
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I wonder how many of the 43% of parents that are worried about traffic safety are responsible for the road safety issues around schools?
Supplied
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Many primary school travel plans say, in effect, that one of the main risks for pupils near school is the parents of other pupils at the same school trying to park on the doorstep of the school. If that problem can be sorted, great progress can surely be made.
Pat, Wales
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Duncan
The National Travel Survey 2014 says that 2% of pupils aged 5-10yrs cycle to school, while the figure for those aged 11-16yrs is 3%.
Nick Rawlings, editor, Road Safety News
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Nobody goes to school on a push-bike?
Duncan MacKillop. No surprise – Noaccident.
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