Pedestrian traffic safety and outdoor active play among 10–13 year olds living in a mid-sized city

Abstract

This cross-sectional study examined the independent and interactive associations between objective and perceived measures of neighborhood pedestrian traffic safety and outdoor active play. A total of 458 children aged 10–13 years from Kingston, Canada were studied in 2015–2016. Outdoor active play was measured over 7 days using data from activity logs, accelerometers, and Global Positioning System loggers. Geographic Information System data were collected within 1 km of participants' homes and used to create traffic volume, traffic calming, traffic speed, and pedestrian infrastructure indexes. Parents' perceptions of these pedestrian safety domains were obtained by questionnaire. Most of the pedestrian safety measures were not significantly associated with outdoor active play, and there were no interactions between the objective and perceived measures (p > 0.3). The significant relationships are listed here. Children whose parents perceived moderate or high traffic speeds in their neighborhood had outdoor active play values that were 0.35 (SE = 0.10, p = 0.021) and 0.20 (SE = 0.15, p = 0.048) SD units higher, respectively, then children whose parents perceived low traffic speed. By comparison to children from neighborhoods in the lowest tertile, children from the highest traffic volume tertile had higher outdoor active play levels (0.26, SE = 0.12, p = 0.029), while children from neighborhoods in the moderate traffic calming tertile (−0.28, SE = 0.11, p = 0.008) and the moderate pedestrian infrastructure tertile (−0.25, SE = 0.11, p = 0.023) had lower outdoor active play levels. Keywords: Child, Physical activity, Safety, Residence characteristics