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Abstract
Walking School Buses (WSBs) provide a safe alternative to being driven to school. Children benefit from the contribution the exercise provides towards their daily exercise target, it gives children practical experience with respect to road safety and it helps to relieve traffic congestion around the entrance to their school. Walking routes are designed largely based in road safety considerations, catchment need and the availability of parent support. However, little attention is given to the air pollution exposure experienced by children during their journey to school, despite the commuting microenvironment being an important contributor to a child’s daily air pollution exposure. This study aims to quantify the air pollution exposure experienced by children walking to school and those being driven by car. A school was chosen in Bradford, UK. Three adult participants carried out the journey to and from school, each carrying a P-Trak ultrafine particle (UFP) count monitor. One participant travelled the journey to school by car while the other two walked, each on opposite sides of the road for the majority of the journey. Data collection was carried out over a period of two weeks, for a total of five journeys to school in the morning and five on the way home at the end of the school day. Results of the study suggest that car commuters experience lower levels of air pollution dose due to lower exposure and reduced commute times. The largest reductions in exposure for pedestrians can be achieved by avoiding close proximity to traffic queuing up at intersections, and, where possible, walking on the side of the road opposite the traffic, especially during the morning commuting period. Major intersections should also be avoided as they were associated with peak exposures. Steps to ensure that the phasing of lights is optimised to minimise pedestrian waiting time would also help reduce exposure. If possible, busy roads should be avoided altogether. By the careful design of WSB routes, taking into account air pollution, children will be able to experience the benefits that walking to school brings while minimizing their air pollution exposure during their commute to and from school.
Highlights
In societies where many children are driven to school every day, a Walking School Bus (WSB), a school-based initiative in which children walk to school in a group supervised by adults and following established routes, is an attractive alternative
This paper investigates the impact of mode and route choice on air pollution exposure in the journey to school for a school located along a road with high levels of traffic, based on air quality data collected during a two-week field campaign of a hypothetical WSB route, with the goal of identifying ways in which exposure can be minimised
Efforts to phase the lights to pedestrian traffic and waiting especially at school commute times and keyand intersections near schools, would help to help reduce the air times, especially especially at school school commute commute times key intersections intersections near schools, schools, would to reduce reduce times, at times and key near would help to the air air pollution pollution exposure exposure experienced experienced by by children children while while walking walking on on their their journey journey to to school
Summary
In societies where many children are driven to school every day, a Walking School Bus (WSB), a school-based initiative in which children walk to school in a group supervised by adults and following established routes, is an attractive alternative. WSBs help to reduce car congestion near the school entrance (thereby reducing the accident risk in the immediate vicinity of the school) and provide an opportunity for children to learn about road traffic safety by experiencing the road environment under adult supervision [1]. WSBs contribute towards recommended daily exercise targets for. Res. Public Health 2016, 13, 1064; doi:10.3390/ijerph13111064 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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