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Updated: May 15, 2026
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Using a Virtual Reality Walking Simulator to Investigate Pedestrian Behavior
Published on: June 9, 2020
Beyond distance: children's school travel mode choice
Chanam Lee1, Xuemei Zhu, Jeongjae Yoon
1Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, 014 Williams Administration Building, College Station, TX 77843-3137, USA. chanam@tamu.edu
Summary
Perceptions of the environment and parental attitudes significantly influence whether children walk to school, even when distances are similar. Addressing these perceptions is key to increasing walking rates.
Area of Science:
- Child Health
- Environmental Psychology
- Urban Planning
Background:
- Long distance is a major barrier to children walking to school, necessitating comprehensive interventions.
- Childhood obesity is a significant public health concern requiring immediate solutions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate environmental and attitudinal factors associated with elementary school walking.
- To control for objective distance in the analysis of school travel modes.
Main Methods:
- Utilized parental survey data from 601 child pairs with matched home locations.
- Employed conditional logistic regressions to compare walking versus private automobile use for school travel.
Main Results:
- Perceptions of distance, sidewalks, traffic, park access, and walking convenience varied between child walkers and automobile users, despite similar objective distances.
- Parental attitudes and child preferences were linked to the likelihood of walking to school.
- Safety concerns (traffic, strangers, getting lost) were more prevalent among parents who drove children but were not statistically significant in multivariate analyses.
Conclusions:
- Improving street and route infrastructure shows potential for promoting school walking.
- Educational and promotional strategies are necessary to overcome perceptual and attitudinal barriers to walking.
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