Tempting teenagers to cycle.

B Horspool

Auckland: [North Shore City Council].

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The purpose of this study was to collect the opinions of Year 8, 9 and 10 students related to cycling to school. This was achieved through an online survey of a total of 19 intermediate and secondary schools in North Shore City. The questionnaire that contained a variety of questions related to cycling to school, including bike ownership and use, modes of travel to school, safety issues, facility issues and peer issues. A total of 2355 students, approximately 28% of the target population in North Shore City, responded to the survey. The survey was carried out during class time under supervised conditions ensuring data reliability and a sample that was not self selected. Year 8 students were surveyed to provide baseline data to compare with Year 9 and 10 students and to identify any attitudinal shift in future studies. The key findings are: 75% of Year 8, 9 and 10 students on the North Shore own bikes; 9% of Year 8 and 3% of Year 9 and 10 students regularly cycle to school; Boys are seven times more likely to cycle to school than girls; 33% of Year 8, 16% of Year 9 and 11% of Year 10 students would prefer to cycle to school; 40% of students live between 1 and 3 kilometres from the school gate, a suitable distance for cycling to school; Safe crossings, safe routes and the need for on road cycle lanes are cited as the most important barriers to cycling to school; Secure, covered bike sheds would entice more students to cycle to school; More than half of the students indicated that having friends to ride to school with was important; More than 60% of those who regularly ride to school ride on the footpath; Approximately a total of 2800 Year 8, 9 and 10 students in North Shore City do less than 3 hours of exercise per week

Keywords:

adolescents, age factors, commuting, cycling, environment, gender, health behaviour, participation, physical activity, sex factors, social support, wm

For information on how to access the full text of this article, go to http://www.northshorecity.govt.nz/transport_and_roads/travelwise/Reports/Tempting-teenagers-to-cycle-report.pdf or contact your local or organisational library for assistance

Quantitative

Auckland

Facilities

1149

November 14, 2011