The health benefits of physical activity during childhood are now well established and include reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, higher bone mineral density and favourable psychosocial health.

 For young people, active transport, that is walking or cycling to local destinations, is an important source of physical activity. However, it appears that parents may restrict these activities due to safety concerns.

This study sought to inform interventions aimed at increasing walking and cycling among youth by gaining an understanding of how levels of active transport vary between children and adolescents, and what safety-related aspects of the local road environment are associated with active transport.

The study involved parents and children in metropolitan Melbourne over a two-year period from 2004 to 2006. In 2004, 166 parents of children (aged 8 – 9 years) and 265 parents of adolescents (aged 13 – 15 years) were surveyed regarding their family demographics.

Children’s levels of active transport were reported by their parents, while adolescents self-reported their behaviour. Safety-related features of the local road environment within 800m of each participant’s home were gathered using a Geographical Information System (GIS).

On average, boys in this study walked or cycled for transport more frequently than girls. Adolescents made more walking trips per week than children, however, children’s levels of active transport increased over the two-year period, while adolescents’ levels of active transport declined.

At baseline, the road environment features most consistently associated with active transport were intersection density and traffic/pedestrian lights. The presence of walking tracks was also found to be associated with increases in active transport among girls in both age-groups over time.

This is an important finding in light of the observed age-related decline in physical activity, and the low levels of activity seen amongst adolescent girls in particular.