Two-thirds parents support car restrictions around schools

The majority of parents support investment in safe walking and cycling to protect children on their journey to school from both COVID-19 and road danger, an opinion survey in 11 countries conducted by YouGov for the Child Health Initiative (CHI) shows.

Half of UK parents (48%) with children between five and 18 felt streets were not safe on the journey to school, while concern was more acute for parents with children below the age of five, 56% of whom reported feeling concerned.

More than two-thirds of respondents (67%) supported measures to slow, restrict or ban cars around school zones, rising to three quarters (74%) of parents with children under 18.

Almost half of parents (48%) whose children do not walk or cycle to school currently would commit to shift modes to support COVID-19 distancing measures, but only if the streets were safe. This represents a potentially huge change in how millions f school journeys are made – reducing pollution, encouraging physical activity, and reducing congestion, while at the same time reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Air quality was a particular concern for parents of younger children (newborns to four years old) with almost half (46%) concerned about air quality, compared to 42% of the wider population. Concern in urban areas was notably higher – 21% of Londoners reported feeling ‘very concerned’ about the air and 68% were concerned to some extent.

Polling across 11 countries in five continents found almost three-quarters of people support physical changes such as road closures, limiting traffic and reducing speeds to protect children worldwide; three in five worried about air pollution and more than two-thirds of parents would change the journey to school to walking and cycling as part of COVID-19 social distancing measures, but only if streets were safe.

The polling is launched in tandem with new UNICEF and Child Health Initiative global guidance to help manage the risks posed by COVID-19 and ensure the safest, healthiest journeys to school possible. ‘Guidance For Safe And Healthy Journeys To School During The Covid-19 Pandemic And Beyond’ aims to help schools, policymakers and local governance to develop the safest, most appropriate interventions to make kids safe as more than a billion young people begin to return to education.

Its ten-step guide highlights the simple, low-cost ways to deliver the street level interventions so widely supported by the polling that will not just make streets safer in the pandemic, but in the long-term for children and the wider population. The Child Health Initiative is further calling for a package of ‘Speed Vaccine’ measures – safe footpaths and crossing, cycle lanes and vehicle speed reductions – proven to reduce serious road injury and deaths, to be widely and urgently adopted wherever children and traffic mix.

Saul Billingsley, Executive Director of the FIA Foundation, said: “Parents are facing difficult choices about how to protect their children from COVID-19 exposure, dangerous roads, and air pollution while still accessing education. The pandemic has highlighted the vital role of pedestrian and cycling provision in enabling safe social distancing.”

“This polling shows there is overwhelming and wide community support to invest in walking and cycling, and to reduce vehicle access and vehicle speed around school streets everywhere. Local authorities have the public backing to make these changes to streets now, in response both to COVID-19 and the wider challenges of road traffic injury – the leading global cause of death for children and youth – and air pollution. While we await the COVID-19 vaccine we must implement the speed vaccine.”