Paper Details

TRB 91st Annual Meeting (January 22-26, 2012)

Event Number:	604
Event Title:	Current Issues in School Transportation Safety
Event Date:	Jan 24 2012 3:45PM- 5:30PM
Event Location:	Marriott, Maryland C
Event Description:
Event Agenda:

Predictors of Driving Among Families Living Within 2 km from School (12-3405)

This paper aims to present and evaluate demographic characteristics, parent/family level factors, attitudinal factors, psychosocial mediators, route features, resources and environmental factors which appear to influence the decision to drive children who live close enough to walk to and from school within the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), Canada. Telephone interviews were conducted in 2009 with 1,001 parents of children attending elementary school in the GTHA. Analyses were performed for parents living less than 2 km away from school (n=529). Two groups were created: parents who typically drive their children to/from school (n=191) and parents who typically allow their children to walk to/from school (n=338). Descriptive statistics were used to examine household demographics, parent/family factors, attitudinal factors, psychosocial mediators, route features, resources and environmental factors. Independent-samples t-tests and chi-square analyses were used to test for group differences in these. Variables which were significantly different between groups were incorporated into logistic regression analyses to identify predictors of driving behavior. Children were more likely to be driven to school if they had less independent mobility, had fewer travelling companions and engaged in less discussion with their parents on how to walk or cycle to school safely; drivers were less concerned about the trip to school as an important source of physical activity, were more interested in alternative travel modes, had greater distances to travel and faced a greater proportion of local roads and major and minor intersections in their neighborhoods.

Authors
     Larsen, Kristian , University of Toronto, Canada
     Stone, Michelle , University of Toronto, Canada
     Faulkner, Guy , University of Toronto, Canada
     Buliung, Ron , University of Toronto, Canada
     Arbour-Nicitopoulos, Kelly , University of Toronto, Canada