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Abstract
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Problem Child pedestrian activity accounts for 40% of the child-related road traffic accidents (RTA) in China. Over 70% primary school students walk to school every day, making many children a large target for RTA.
Objectives (1) Improve the pedestrian safety by mapping major Walk-to-School roads (WTSR). (2) Collaborate with community resources to improve major WTSR.
Method (1) Create a city planning map (CPM) with the area surrounding the respective school. (2) Design a childfriendly CPM; add road names and residential roads. (3) Assign homework to students to map their route and colour their WTSR. (4) Input all WTSR and find the major WTSR. (5) Evaluate major WTSR and collaborate with community resources for environmental improvement.
Results (1) Five hundred primary students participated in the WTSR colouring; 467 coloured WTSR maps collected. (2) Two major WTSR were identified, with 80% of children taking these roads. (3) Five environmental improvements were completed through evaluation of the major WTSR, including removing the bins at corners, resetting the duration of the traffic light at road crossings, etc.
Conclusion (1) The CPM of the community is available in most cities. (2) The CPM need to be designed into a child-friendly version and must include residential roads. (3) Assigning the WTSR as homework was accepted by students to point out the WTSR. (4) The major WTSR helped the community to synergise resources for environmental improvements round school zone. (5) This measure can be expanded to all the schools to recommend safe WTSR.
KW: SR2S |