Safe School Zones in Kilkenny

Introduction

There have been numerous active travel interventions with schools in Kilkenny over the last 10-year period with limited success.

The response to Covid-19 has radically changed mobility patterns in Kilkenny and the reduction in traffic has resulted in an increase in people walking and cycling. However, as restrictions are eased and workplaces and schools reopen, the volume of traffic will also increase. The restrictions imposed by the response to Covid-19 and the necessary social distancing measures to allow the return to school, necessitate the introduction of a mobility management plan for the schools facing congestion and associated social distancing challenges.

The aim of this intervention is to increase the space for pedestrians, encourage more to cycle and use public transport and to accommodate car use for those who need it, while ensuring safe access to schools.

This will be an iterative process, requiring ongoing review and adaptations

There is a need to move away from framing transport analysis at the aggregate level where mobility patterns are difficult to change and move towards more innovative methods that will encourage people to adjust mode, times, scheduling or allocation of journeys. The propensity to change may be greater than assumed or reflected in surveys and this has been demonstrated by studies conducted when people are faced with a disruptive event. These studies have also shown that there is greater potential for people to adapt than assumed or than indicated in surveys (Greg Marsden et al., 2020). This has been evident across the world with the disruption in mobility in response to the Covid 19 pandemic. In Ireland, participation in cycling doubled from from 4% in March/April 2019 to 8% in February/March 2020 (pre-dating most restrictions) and a further increase to 10% was recorded in both the Delay stage, from 12^th March 2020, and this was maintained during the Stay at Home stage, from the 27^th of March 2020. Recreational walking also increased 64% in 2019 to 78% during the Stay at Home Stage (Sport Ireland, 2020). These figures illustrate multi-modality within the population that has not been evident before and the challenge lies to convert that to modal shift for other journey purposes.

Research by the World Obesity Federation predicts that by 2025, 241,000 schoolchildren in Ireland will be overweight or obese by 2025. (Reference Cited by Reilly, Policy Manager, Irish Heart Foundation, WHO Modelling Obesity Project - European Congress on Obesity, Prague 2015)

There is a danger that if schools and workplaces are not proactive, the fears around social distancing will cause more commuters to use the car than before. This will drive a negative feedback loop of greater cars. This feedback loop is already evident in both surveys, where students expressed a fear of walking due to excess traffic. This effect has the potential to be even greater in September on reopening, creating greater traffic congestion and safety concerns.

This indicates the necessity of an urgent mobility intervention, prior to “return to normal” behaviours when schools and workplaces return to full capacity in last August and September.

Marsden et al (2020) found that shopping journeys were significantly flexible for many, and work journeys are more flexible than traditionally assumed, whereas caring responsibilities were more fixed, however “there is greater potential for societal adaptation if we can explain why it is necessary and what the benefits might be”.

Benefits of Active Transport to Schools

The health benefits of physical activity for children and adolescents are widely recognised and include cardiovascular and metabolic health, healthy bone and muscle development, mental health benefits and enhanced concentration spans and academic performance and overall life satisfaction (References).

The World Health Organisation and the National Physical Activity Guidelines recommend that children and adolescents should do at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily and strengthening activities 3 times per week (Department of Health and Children & Health Service Executive, 2009; WHO, 2010). The findings from the Growing up in Ireland longitudinal study show that in Ireland in 2009, only 31% of boys and 21% of girls aged 9, met the WHO recommendations on vigorous physical activity. In 2009, one in four 9 year olds were overweight with girls more likely to be overweight or obese than boys (Growing up in Ireland, 2009). When this cohort had reached 13 years, boys and young people from socially advantaged backgrounds were more likely to be active and again, one in four were overweight or obese (Growing Up in Ireland, 2012). By the age of 17/18, over one quarter of Irish adolescents were overweight or obese and there was a strong association with social advantage. More recently, in the Children’s Sport Participation and Physical Activity Study, the figures of children meeting the guidelines had dropped to 13% (17% primary school pupils and 10% post primary school pupils). Once again, boys were more likely to meet the guidelines than girls at all ages, but since 2010, the proportion of primary school boys reporting meeting the guidelines dropped from 27% to 23%. Similar to the Growing Up in Ireland study, higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness were positively associated with the number of days on which the Guidelines were achieved (Woods et al., 2018).

More recently, there is growing evidence on the additional dangers associated with increased, continuous sedentary time. In Ireland, the average sedentary leisure time for primary school children was 5.1 hours and 6.6 hours / day for post primary children (Woods et al., 2018).

One of the most equitable methods for increasing activity levels is to integrate physical activity in everyday lives in the form of active transport, walking and cycling. This method will help reverse current trends and reduce disparities, where those who are socially advantaged have higher levels of recreational physical activity, widening the gap.

Active Transport has multiple co-benefits including reduction in car dependency and congestion, reduction in air pollutants and noise emissions, increased independence travel for children, reduced companion journeys for parents

Air Pollution

Respiratory

In 2017, 13% of 9 year olds in the Growing Up in Ireland study reported a respiratory illness. 10 years previously, just over 5% of 9 year olds, reported respiratory illness .

Background Information

This section compiles the results of various studies and surveys that have been completed in Kilkenny schools since 2011. The census data illustrates the dramatic reduction in the percentages of those cycling for transport in Kilkenny over a 20 year period.

Car use in Kilkenny was 54.5% in 2011 and 7.5% of boys cycled to school, compared to 1.8% of girls.

The majority of students (51.4%) irrespective of gender preferred to travel by bike

More recently, travel surveys have been conducted at the 3 primary schools and 1 secondary school. Congestion is evident at all schools and safety concerns have been expressed by parents and students attending the schools preventing the encouragement of active travel and creating car dependency.