Dorset school travel statistics give cause for optimism
Over a three-year period, Dorset County Council has been asking more than 30,000 pupils at around 100 schools how they usually travel to school – and the results make encouraging reading.

The figures show a gradual slowing down in the increase in car use for the school run. Original estimates in 1999 forecast a three per cent increase in car use over three years, with a corresponding decrease in walking rates.

The latest figures however, show the overall increase in car use on the school run over that period is just one per cent - and the walking rate has also dropped by just one per cent. Traffic growth in the county has been estimated at more than three per cent in the same period.

Some 46 per cent of primary aged pupils in Dorset are now taken to school by car every day, with 38 per cent making the journey on foot.

The development of School Travel Plans at 45 schools in the county since 1999 has been cited as a key contributory factor in the slowing down of car use increase.

Further details about the statistics can be obtained from Robert Smith, head of road safety, Dorset County Council, r.smith@dorsetcc.gov.uk