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Pupils urged to keep walking to school

"Walk-to-school initiatives work, but only with long-term commitment, organisers say.

Last week, more than 140,000 children from 443 schools took part in a range of activities to encourage walking and cycling on Land Transport New Zealand's Feet First walk-to-school day.

However, the latest results from the Transport Ministry's ongoing household transport survey show that over half of New Zealand children are driven to school each day, up from 31 per cent in 1990.

Over the same period, walking and cycling by five to 14-year-olds has dropped from an average of two hours and 10 minutes a week to just under one hour and 20 minutes."

Few kids walk to school

"A University of Otago survey of more than 1,500 Dunedin primary school children found that only around one-third had walked to school on the survey day.

A matching survey of their parents indicated that around half of the children usually walked to school less than three times per week. The survey findings appeared in NZ Medical Journal." Study co-author Dr Tony Reeder says the findings provide objective evidence previously unavailable to those working in health, education and transportation planning.