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Driving kids to school eats into fitness

Published September 18, 2007 at midnight

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The signs say "School Is Open, Drive Safely." If only these signs reflected what health and safety experts hope will become a major change in how children get to and from school and after-school activities.

Forty years ago, half of all students walked or bicycled to school. Today, fewer than 15 percent travel on their own steam. One-quarter take buses, and about 60 percent are transported in private automobiles.

The change was primarily motivated by parents' safety concerns: a desire to protect their children from traffic hazards and predators. But it has had several unfortunate consequences.

Children's lives have become far more sedentary. They are fatter than ever and at greater risk of developing hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

The sedentary life also affects their behavior and the ability to learn. Studies have shown that children who engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity show improvement in concentration, memory, learning, creativity and problem solving, as well as mood, for up to two hours after exercise.

With more children being driven to school, traffic congestion has mushroomed. That has increased stress to drivers and risks to pedestrians and cyclists, as well as air pollution, especially in and around schools. Parents who drive their children to school make up about a quarter of morning commuters. More traffic also means more vehicular accidents, endangering the lives of children and the adults who drive them. It has become a vicious cycle.

Safely moving children to and from school and after-school activities is a matter of great concern, not only to parents, but also to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which issued a policy statement on school transportation safety in July.

The academy's statistics on injuries and fatalities suggest that being driven to school in a passenger vehicle is by far the most dangerous way to get there, and riding in a school bus is the safest. Seventy-five percent of the fatalities and 84 percent of the injuries occur in passenger vehicles, but just 2 percent of student deaths and 4 percent of injuries result from travel by school bus.