Effects of Group School Commuting of Elementary School Students on Their Traffic Safety

Abstract

In Japan, it is common for elementary school students to walk to and from school from the first grade. While many schools have implemented group school commuting (so-called "shūdantōgekō") as an effort to improve the safety of elementary school students, there have been quite few studies that had quantitatively revealed the traffic safety effects of group school commuting. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of group school commuting on the frequency of traffic accidents among elementary school students. Specifically, we first conducted basic analyses and statistical modeling on the relationship between the number of elementary school students by prefecture, the percentage of schools that implement group school commuting, and the frequency of accidents involving elementary school students when commuting to and from school. In addition, we estimated the group school commuting trip rate using person-trip data for cities in Aichi Prefecture, and examined the relationship between it and the frequency of accidents involving elementary school students. The results suggested that group school commuting has a certain traffic safety effect.