New research from the National Center for Safe Routes to School shows more kindergarten to grade 8 (K-8) students are walking to and from school across the country.
According to the data, the percentage of K-8 children who walked to school in the morning increased from 12.4 percent to 15.7 percent (representing a 27 percent increase). Similarly, the percentage of K-8 children who walked from school in the afternoon increased from 15.8 percent to 19.7 percent (representing a 24 percent increase). Another significant finding of this research was that the percentage of parents reporting that their child’s school supports walking and bicycling for the school commute from 24.9 percent to 33 percent.
The full report, “Trends in Walking and Bicycling to School from 2007 to 2012,” analyzed parent survey data collected by nearly 4,700 schools located in all states and Washington DC from 2007 through 2012. The complete study and a companion piece for practitioners, “Trends in Walking and Bicycling to School: Takeaways for Building Successful Programs,” is available online here (PDF).
Meanwhile, the City of Portland continues to chip away at their own level of success when it comes to Safe Routes to School: a whopping 41 percent of Portland pupils either walked or biked to school in autumn 2013! Read more at BikePortland.
