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Streets Ahead
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What's it all about?
Streets Ahead is a program to increase physical activity in children aged 4 to 12 years by supporting them to walk and cycle around their neighbourhoods.
We want to:
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Establish a Neighbourhood Action Team that will help identify barriers to children's active transport and independent mobility, and develop strategies to overcome them.
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Increase the rate of children walking and cycling to school, and for older children to do so independently.
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Increase the rate of children using active transport to get around their local neighbourhoods; to be out in the parks and other public places; and for older children to do so independently.
Background
VicHealth introduced the Walking School Bus (WSB) in 2001 to encourage primary school children to undertake regular physical activity by walking safely to and from school, replace short car trips to school with walking, support the development of local social networks, and to build the capacity of local councils to act as a resource and facilitate the establishment of WSB networks within local primary schools.
As part of a broad review of WSB in 2007, VicHealth found that the program has a formal (safe) structure that appeals to many parents, has been relatively successful at raising the profile of walking and has introduced the culture of walking. WSB also had numerous flow on benefits including infrastructure improvements to the built environment, increased community connectedness and a positive impact on schools (reduction in absenteeism and bullying, children arriving at school safely, more alert and on time , more diverse parents involved in school related activities and better relationships with local government).
However, the WSB review also found many limitations with WSB such as, they are resource intensive to establish and maintain, mainly cater for younger students (prep to year 4) and do not usually operate every day. As a standalone program, WSB is too structured and inflexible and does not allow for the whole community approaches that may increase the level of children's active transport and independent mobility.
“Streets Ahead – Supporting children to get active in their neighbourhoods” will build on the learning from WSB to create positive environments that enhance children's active transport and independent mobility in all aspects of their community life, not only to and from school.
Wodonga Council is one of six councils that are participating in the Streets Ahead Project funded by the Victorian Health Foundation.
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Why Wodonga needs Streets Ahead?
Streets Ahead aims to increase physical activity in children aged 4 to 12 years through active transport, such as walking or cycling – pursuits that were seen as ‘normal' until relatively recently.
A great deal of research has been done about how and why parents now drive children for trips that, a few years ago, children would have taken to using active transport. Among other reasons, we know that parents believe they are saving time and protecting their children from harm by driving them, instead of allowing them to travel locally ‘under their own steam' and, for older children, without adult supervision.
However, we know there are lots of health and developmental benefits for children who use active transport. It reduces their risk of childhood obesity and increases their chances to learn to exercise judgement (including traffic sense), become independent and socialise. Using active transport more often for local trips instead of cars could also reduce traffic congestion, alleviating the environmental and safety issues that come with busier roads.
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What the evidence tells us
Over the past three decades, there has been a major shift in how parents transport children to school. The proportion of students walking to school in Melbourne, for example, between 1974 and 2003 fell from 45% to 15%, while car travel to school increased from 23% to 70%. This is despite most children living close enough to walk or ride a bicycle to their school.
Research involving parents and children, both overseas and in Australia, highlights the many reasons for these changes, which have had big impacts on lifestyles.
The influence of cars in decentralising our suburbs and towns, for example, means many of us spend more time driving than did previous generations. This, in turn, contributes to much greater volumes of traffic, making our streets less safe. Importantly, these changes reduce the ability of older children to move around their neighbourhood or town without adult supervision.
Independent mobility enables children to be more active, have better social connections and to learn about their local neighbourhood. Some key findings from a broad range of research are explained below.
The world seems more risky
Media stories highlighting crime and other bad news tend to heighten parents' anxiety, making them want to supervise their children at all times. This leads parents to overestimate likely risks and to believe that driving their children protects them from hazards like ‘stranger danger' and traffic accidents. Paradoxically, when more parents opt for the car they may actually expose those children who are pedestrians to much greater risk overall than is likely to come from ‘stranger danger'.
Parents under pressure
Parents are under increasing economic stress and many are working longer hours, leaving them ‘time poor'. At the same time, they feel under peer pressure to be seen as ‘good parents' by supervising their children and giving them access to lots of scheduled activities. This sees many parents ‘chauffeuring' their children on frequent short trips – making parents even more ‘time poor' than if their children walked or cycled themselves.
Do cars slow us down?
Parents generally see driving their children as the quickest and easiest option, but this perception may undermine the reality when everyone is following the same route. In Victoria 17% of early morning traffic on the roads is made up of cars doing the school run. This significantly adds to road congestion, slowing down journeys and boosting car emissions. It may also be forming life habits for children who never experience any alternative to cars as the preferred form of transport.
Children learn by doing – and by example
We know that family behaviours influence whether children adopt active transport. If parents walk and cycle with their young children, these children are more likely to walk and cycle, gaining independent mobility, as they mature. Teaching children traffic sense also requires a supervised, incremental approach. With the right support, children can be taught road safety so that, at a suitable age, they can travel independently to school and around their neighbourhood.
Children want more freedom
Interviews with children found that most would prefer to walk or cycle to school and to other local destinations, and they want the independence to travel without adult supervision (where appropriate). These opportunities allow them to become resilient and to develop a sense of responsibility, time and risk management skills, and independent decision making. It also frees them to explore their neighbourhoods, and become confident within their communities.
What can the Wodonga community do?
Streets Ahead is about how small steps can make big differences to individual families and whole communities.
Parents can start with changes that encourage others to follow, building up a momentum of support until it's ‘normal' again to see young pedestrians and cyclists in local streets. These changes are about more than just infrastructure (e.g. crossings andfootpaths) – they involve habits and behaviours.
Anyone in the community who has an interest in any aspect of the project is welcome to join the Neighbourhood Action Team. Your level of committment on the Team is up to you.
But what if whole communities backed these moves and brought governments and other authorities onboard? What if we all shared the responsibilities and benefits of having children walk, run, ride and skate in our streets? We know that the more children walk and cycle, the safer our local streets become. Together, we could use these demonstration projects to start restoring our neighbourhoods by encouraging children back onto our streets.
It could also become a catalyst for getting to know our neighbours. Children tend to break down social barriers between adults,and help make streets more ‘human' and interesting places. These are just some of the many reasons for supporting Streets Ahead.
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