Examination of Traffic Safety in Neighborhoods Associated With Active Commuting to School in Austin, Texas

Only 10% of US children participate in active commuting (walking and bicycling) to school (ACS). Parental concerns related to traffic are a primary barrier to ACS, yet no studies have assessed these concerns together with neighborhood traffic safety-related features. This study examined the associations between traffic safety-related features in neighborhoods and ACS among school-age children in Austin, Texas.

This cross-sectional analysis utilized pre-COVID-19 baseline data (2019-2020) of parent-child dyads enrolled in the Safe TRavel Environment Evaluation in Texas Schools study. ACS, traffic safety-related features in the neighborhood (sidewalk availability, safe road crossings, traffic safety, traffic speed, and safety at intersections and crossings), and child- and family-level covariates were reported by parents. Geographic Information Systems methods were used to construct neighborhood traffic safety-related variables (bike lane coverage, sidewalk coverage, traffic volume, high-speed streets, major roads, pedestrian beacons, and traffic/pedestrian signals) and neighborhood-level covariates within an 800-m straight-line Euclidean buffer from children's home to school. Multivariable logistic regression was used to test the association between traffic safety-related features and ACS adjusted for neighborhood-, child-, and family-level covariates.

Among parent-child dyads with complete data (N = 187) from 22 schools, bike lane coverage was directly associated with ACS (AOR = 2.61; 95% CI, 1.44-4.90). Compared with low bicycle lane coverage (below the median, <0.35), high bike lane coverage was significantly associated with 2.49 times the odds of ACS (95% CI, 1.23-5.23).

These findings support the need to increase the availability of bicycle infrastructure near schools as a possible strategy to enhance ACS participation.