A typical school travel pattern in Malaysia usually involves trips that take place at three peak times: (1) 7:00 A.M. to 8:00 A.M. when students of the morning session arrive; (2) between 12:00 noon to 2: 00 P.M. when these morning session students return to their homes and those in the afternoon session arrive; and (3) from 6:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. Interspersed between these periods, students travel to and from extra classes and co-curricular activities. Most of these trips are made by cars or motorcycles. This is not surprising because children usually share the commute to school with their parents or travel on a school bus or van. Very few children cycle to school and even fewer choose to walk (Nasarudin & Md. Nor, 2013). This commuting pattern, on the whole, has become more pronounced in the past decade.
What factors influencing children’s commuting pattern?
Research points to two major factors. First, children’s commuting pattern is heavily influenced by the adult-centred mobility decisions. These decisions, in turn, depend on age, gender, ethnicity, employment, and work flexibility of the parents (Yarlagadda & Srinivasan, 2008), as well as a score of other factors in between, including the rising income, shift from in-town living to suburban areas, changes in society and family lifestyles, lack of reliable public transportation service, and concerns about road safety and personal safety (Bradshaw, 1995; Godfrey et al., 1998; Mohamad & Kiggundu, 2007; Mohamed et al., 2011; Oxley, Jamaludin, & Johnson, 2012).
Perhaps the most important factor is mother’s working pattern. Studies conducted in Australia and US have shown that it was the mothers who conducted most of the chauffeuring tasks to and from schools (McDonald, 2008; Morris, Wang, & Lilja, 2001) and for many working mothers, journeys to work are often combined with dropping off and picking up kids from school. We are seeing this trend in Malaysia too. Arguably, decision regarding mode of transport for the school journey is not simply determined by the journey to school itself, but it is also shaped by various activities in which families, especially mothers, have to perform before or after the school journey.
Increasing car-dependency of children: Should we be concerned?
The short answer is yes. Why? The current automobile-dependent lifestyle embraced by many people somehow reduces daily physical activity for children. A study by Cooper and colleagues (200
3) reported that children who travelled by car were less active after school and throughout the evening than those who walked to school. This finding is somewhat troubling as substantial evidence from various studies reveals that the reduction of physical activity markedly contributes to increasing obesity and other related illness such as hypertension and diabetes (Williams, 2011).
Physical inactivity is also becoming more prevalent in Malaysia, and is seen as one of the strongest factors for obesity in children and adolescents (Moy et al., 2004). In a cross-sectional study by Rampal and colleagues (2007), out of 3,333 respondents, 379 children were found to be at risk of overweight and a further 273 were classified as overweight. This prevalence is substantially higher in males and in the Malay samples. From these studies, we can tentatively conclude that the high usage of motorised travel in general, and the declining trend of walking and cycling in particular, have a great impact on children’s general well-being.
So, what can be done about it? In the next post, I will outline five ways we can address this issue.
References:
Bradshaw, R. (1995). Why do parents drive their children to school? Traffic Engineering and Control, 36(1), 16-19.
Cooper, A. R., Page, A. S., Foster, L. J., & Qahwaji, D. (2003). Commuting to school: Are children who walk more physically active? American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 25(4), 273–276.
Godfrey, D., Mazzella, T., Cabrera, I., & Day, S. (1998). Why don’t children walk to school? Paper presented at the Harmonizing Transportation and Community Goals – The Challenge for Today’s Transportation Professional, ITE International Conference, Monterey, California.
Labour Force Survey Report Annual Data 2016. Available at https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?r=column/pdfPrev&id=SGZCNnMrWW9ZTEdpYys4YW0yRlhoQT09
McDonald, N. C. (2008). Household interactions and children’s school travel: The effect of parental work patterns on walking and biking to school. Journal of Transport Geography, 16(5), 324–331.
Mohamad, J., & Kiggundu, A. T. (2007). The rise of private car in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Assessing the policy options. IATSS Research, 31(1), 69–77.
Morris, J., Wang, F., & Lilja, L. (2001). School children's travel patterns - A look back and a way forward. Paper presented at the 4th Australasian Transport Research Forum: Zero Road Toll - A Dream or a Realistic Vision, Hobart. Available at http://mams.rmit.edu.au/fqg4obh5v8u4z.pdf
Moy, F.M., Gan, C.Y., & Mohd Kassim, S.Z. (2004). Body mass status of school children and adolescents in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 13(4), 324-329.
Nasrudin, N. A., & Md Nor, A. R. (2013). Travelling to school: Transportation selection by parents and awareness towards sustainable transportation. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 17, 392-400.
Oxley, J. A., Jamaludin, A. N. S., & Johnson, M. (2012). Analysis of child pedestrian deaths and serious injuries in Malaysia. Journal of the Australasian College of Road Safety, 23(2), Australasian College of Road Safety, Australia, 30-36.
Rampal, G. R. L., Mohd Sidik, S., Rampal, S., Jie, D. W. Y., Lee, C. P., Shya, L. J., & Shun, S. Y. (2007). Prevalence of overweight among secondary school students in Klang District, Selangor. Malaysian Journal of Nutrition, 13(1), 1-8.
Williams, P. T. (2011). Evidence that obesity risk factor potencies are weight dependent, a phenomenon that may explain accelerated weight gain in western societies. PLoS ONE, 6(11): e27657. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027657
Yarlagadda, A. K., & Srinivasan, S. (2008). Modelling children’s school travel mode and parental escort decisions. Transportation, 35(2), 201-218.
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About the Author:
Nor Diana Mohd Mahudin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the International Islamic University Malaysia. Her full profile can be found at https://psychologyiium.wixsite.com/website/nor-diana. She occasionally blogs at http://beyondcommuting.blogspot.com, and can be reached via @beyondcommuting on Twitter.
Note: This article gives the views of the Authors, and not the position of the Department of Psychology IIUM Blog, nor of the Department of Psychology IIUM.