Abstract
Active school transport (AST) may be an important source of children's physical activity (PA). "School Travel Plans" may increase AST by addressing school specific concerns such as road safety and traffic congestion. As part of a national initiative, a School Travel Planning intervention is being rolled out to 120 schools across Canada. The objective of this paper is to outline the rationale and implementation of this initiative and present baseline data (n =9217; collected September 2010 to May 2011). After baseline data (parental surveys) are collected, School Travel Plan Facilitators are now working with the schools to assemble a working group of stakeholders (e.g., parents, teachers, traffic engineering professionals) to create and implement an action plan encouraging active transportation choices at each school. At baseline, 37.6% of children walked/cycled to school which increased to 43.8% walking/cycling to home from school in the afternoon. Rates of AST were highest in British Columbia (54.5%) and lowest in Newfoundland (12.5%). Often the target of such initiatives, parents of children (n=1971) who were driven and lived within 1.5 kms from school were most likely to cite convenience (48%) as the reason for driving as opposed to concerns about the safety of their children in terms of traffic (28%) or personal safety (29%). Follow-up data will be collected in September 2011 and will identify whether such barriers can be effectively and feasibly addressed through school travel plans to increase the number of children who walk or cycle to school.Acknowledgments: This research was funded through the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer's CLASP (Coalitions Linking Action and Science for Prevention) initiative and the Public Health Agency of Canada.