CALL ME BACKSouth African parents overwhelmingly support investment in safe walking and cycling to protect children on their journey to school from both COVID-19 and road danger, an international opinion survey conducted by YouGov for the Child Health Initiative shows.
The results, released earlier this week by the Child Health Initiative show that in South Africa:
50% of parents think the roads are not safe enough for their child to walk or cycle to school
68% of adults are concerned about air quality in their local area
79% of adults support road closures, speed reduction, and restrictions on cars near schools
65% of parents would change children’s school journeys to walking and cycling as part of COVID-19 social distancing measures, but only if streets are safe
The results from the opinion survey in 11 countries further shows that:
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
More than half of journeys to school are not safe, think parents
More than two-thirds of parents would change the journey to school for their child to walking and cycling as part of COVID-19 social distancing measures, but only if streets were safe
Vehicle restrictions to protect young people from road traffic injury and the wider community from COVID-19 exposure, and air pollution are also emphatically supported by the public, according to the research by Child Health Initiative, a global health partnership co-ordinated by international philanthropy organisation the FIA Foundation. On Tuesday (SUBS: 8 September), UNICEF and the Child Health Initiative published new global guidance for safe and healthy school journeys during the pandemic and beyond.
The global pandemic has focused public and political attention on the importance for public health of safe and healthy streets. Many cities have introduced new or temporary cycle lanes and widened footpaths, and reduced vehicle speed limits. The journey to school is a particularly urgent issue – more than a billion children are in the process of returning to school over the next few months as governments seek out ways to balance COVID-19 risks with the need for education. Road traffic injury remains the leading global cause of death for young people age five to 29.
“Reduced road traffic – particularly in areas around schools – has several major benefits. One benefit is an improvement of air quality as less vehicles mean less pollution – which is important for pedestrians and cyclists. In South Africa where close on 40% of all road fatalities are pedestrians, less traffic means streets are safer for them, and all other road users,” says the AA.
The polling shows strong support for these measures from parents and the wider community.
Worldwide, more than half of all parents with children aged five to 18 (53%) felt streets were not safe enough on the journey to school.
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.”
It’s a position endorsed by the Automobile Association of South Africa.
Willem Groenewald, CEO of the AA, said: “These findings support a call we made in April that lessons learnt from the reduction of traffic during lockdown be applied once restrictions eased. At the time we noted that now is a good opportunity to re-evaluate public transport, and reimagine better roads for all road users making them safer for cyclists and pedestrians, and to ease congestion where possible. The results from the YouGov poll affirms that citizens want these measures introduced, and we believe provincial and municipal traffic authorities must pay serious attention to these calls.”
Overall, more than two thirds (69%) of parents would commit to shift modes (i.e. their children do not already walk or cycle) to walking and cycling on the journey to school to support COVID-19 distancing measures if the streets were safe. This represents the potential for a huge change in how journeys are made – reducing pollution, encouraging physical activity, and reducing congestion, while at the same time reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Guidance For Safe and Healthy Journeys To School During The COVID-19 Pandemic
To help manage the risks posed by COVID-19 and ensure the safest, healthiest journeys to school possible, new UNICEF guidance published on Tuesday, ‘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 crossings, 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.
Notes to editors
The press release is being issued by the AA as a partner of the FIA Foundation in South Africa.
About The Automobile Association of South Africa
The Automobile Association (AA) has been the trusted champion of the South African motorist and traveller for over 85 years. Along with our AA Accredited Sales Agents located countrywide, the AA offers access to over 50 benefits on 1 card as well as other travel and mobility services that extend far beyond 24-hour roadside assistance – from technical and legal advice, to emergency rescue services, roadside security and a mobile app suite. The AA offers specialised apprenticeships to help motor industry players build in-house skill, and short skill courses for individuals.
The Automobile Association of South Africa is a member of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the Alliance Internationale de Tourisme (AIT).
For more information please visit www.aa.co.za or aasa.mobi, or contact:
Automobile Association of South Africa (AA)
AA Public Affairs
011 799 1126 or 083 386 6954
press@aasa.co.za
About the YouGov polling
A YouGov poll of more than 13 000 respondents Argentina, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, UK, India, and USA.
The survey was conducted between 7 August 2020 and 2 September 2020 as part of a YouGov omnibus.The questions asked were:
How safe, if at all, do you feel the roads in your neighbourhood are to allow children to walk or
How concerned, if at all, are you by the air quality in your local area?
To what extent would you support or oppose restrictions (speed reductions or road closures etc.) on motor vehicles near schools if it allowed your child to walk or cycle safely to school more safely?
Parents in the survey were also asked: How likely, if at all, would you be to switch to walking or cycling when taking your child to school to support social distancing measures, if you felt the roads were safe?
About the Guidance For Safe And Healthy Journeys To School During The COVID-19 Pandemic And Beyond
Guidance For Safe And Healthy Journeys To School During The COVID-19 Pandemic And Beyond is a UNICEF document, developed with the support from the Child Health Initiative and members, such as Save the Children. It offers guidance to help manage the risks posed by COVID-19, to help ensure the safest, healthiest journeys to school possible.
This guidance is for education authorities and policymakers; school administrators, teachers and staff; parents, caregivers and community members; and students. It will complement the UNICEF, UNESCO, World Bank, World Food Programme and UNHCR global framework for reopening schools and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) interim guidance for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Schools. By issuing broad, illustrative guidance, this document is intended to encompass the varying needs of children of different ages and abilities living in different contexts. It is understood that solutions may be feasible in some areas and not others, for multiple reasons, including funding issues.
About the Child Health Initiative
The Child Health Initiative is coordinated by leading global road safety philanthropy the FIA Foundation.
The Child Health Initiative is an informal collaboration of organisations committed to advocating for the rights of children and adolescents to safe and sustainable mobility, and working together to implement and promote practical solutions. For a full list of partners see www.childhealthinitiative.org.
Learn more about the speed vaccine in the These are our streets: Manifesto 2030 which calls for a transformation of urban streets by 2030 into safe, low speed and accessible space that puts people first, encouraging zero-carbon walking and cycling, by deploying the ‘Speed Vaccine’: safe footpaths and crossings; protected cycle ways; and maximum 30 km/h speed limits anywhere children and traffic mix.
