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Guest blog: the toxic school run

The school run is something many of us take for granted – a daily routine that can be joyful, stressful, or somewhere in between. In 2022, the National Travel Survey showed that 40% of primary school children and 26% of secondary school children in the UK were driven to school. Analysis in Bath has shown that about 50% of traffic congestion at peak times is caused by trips to and from schools.

Local GP Alice Boden, who has spoken up in council meetings about the need for safe streets for children, explores the impact of air pollution, traffic danger and inactivity on children’s health – and explains how School Streets could transform the journey to and from school into something safer, healthier and happier.

Over to Alice…

What do you remember about travelling to and from school, with your children or as a child yourself? I have wonderful memories of making the school journey in all weathers, bumping into friends and chatting about our days. I can also still feel the stress of sprinting to keep up as my children whizzed downhill on their scooters!

However, the school run has a darker side. A study in London found that children received 15% of their daily exposure to air pollution during travel to and from school. Little lungs and legs make children more vulnerable to air pollution: their lungs are still developing, they breathe faster and their heads are nearer to the level of car exhausts. 

As the President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said in 2023: 
“Air pollution is the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK, with children being particularly vulnerable. All children deserve the opportunity for the best chance for a healthy start in life. Exposure to air pollutants during pregnancy and early childhood can have harmful and irreversible effects on the development of the lungs and other organs leading to potential long-term health effects well into adulthood.” 
 
What can be done to reduce children’s exposure to toxic air? One idea is School Streets: restricting traffic from entering the area around schools during drop off and pick up times. 
Studies of school streets in the UK have demonstrated reductions of air pollution, with nitrogen dioxide levels reducing by 23% and a reduction of particulate pollution of up to 36%. School streets could therefore have a positive impact on the health of children, both now and for the rest of their lives.

Credit: Crispin Hughes / Clean Cities Campaign / Climate Visuals Two children and a parent walking in front of an SUV
Children make their way to school surrounded by SUVs in London, England.

This photograph is part of a new collection of images highlighting the impact of ‘carspreading’ on the school run taken by photographer Crispin Huges for Clean Cities.

It’s not just reducing air pollution that could improve wellbeing for children and families. National guidelines recommend at least 1 hour of physical activity each day for all children. 39% of children in Bath and North East Somerset fail to achieve this, according to data from Sport England. A School Streets pilot in Hackney, London demonstrated a 51% increase in cycling to school and a 30% increase in walking. 

A 2017 study demonstrated a positive association between active travel to school and psychological wellbeing – which, to me, is not at all surprising in our age of digital isolation. I love seeing children excitedly chatting or running ahead of parents, allowing those adults a precious chance to catch up or form new friendships.
 
I must admit to pausing before describing children as “running ahead”, my mind conjuring all sorts of potential problems. The fear of injury (or worse) is always in the background as a parent thinking about how their children get from A to B. In the years from 2019-22, there were 211 child deaths in the UK due to road traffic incidents. 35% of serious injuries and deaths of children in road traffic collisions occur during travel to or from school. 

School Streets could make travel to school safer by reducing vehicular traffic on the surrounding streets, allowing children and their parents to feel safer and more confident to ditch the car.

So, school streets seem to be a very powerful tool: they could prevent potentially fatal asthma attacks, improve children’s lung health and overall future health, improve children’s psychological wellbeing and prevent injuries and deaths on the roads. They are also a change which can often happen locally. However, we seem to be lagging behind here in Bath and North East Somerset. London has over 500 school streets, and there are currently 13 in Bristol. Consultations on 4 school streets in Bath and North East Somerset are planned soon.

If you think a school street could help children at your school, how about getting together with other parents and arranging a meeting with your local Councillors?

References / further reading: 

3 comments

  1. So only 15% of air pollution experienced comes from school travel – sounds low and acceptable. No suggestion of reintroducing the Highway Code so children safer when walking to school!?

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    • The average distance to school for primary age children is 1.6 miles, so it is feasible for many more families to walk, wheel or cycle to school.

      The Highway Code was updated in 2022 with a new hierarchy of road users and clearer rules about giving way to people walking, wheeling and cycling.

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      • But is the ‘new’ Highway Code being communicated in schools?

        If people want to drive their kids to school, who are you to intervene, sounds like a waste of our council tax. Why are we employing people for tasks like this?

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