SCHOOL HOLIDAYS TO CUT RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC BY 20%

12.00.00pm GMT Mon 28th Jul 2003

As school holidays start across Britain this week the Liberal Democrats have highlighted that the 20% of urban rush hour traffic due to the school run will vanish until the beginning of the autumn term.

New figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show a dramatic increase in the number of children being driven to school by car.

·At the peak school travel time nearly 1 in 5 cars on urban roads are taking children to school, according to the DETR.

·For the first time ever, less than half of all trips made by under-17s to school are made by walking (down from 63% in the mid-70s to 49% now).

·The proportion of school journeys by bus, cycling and other non-car use has also fallen.

·The proportion of school journeys made by car has rocketed (up from 12% to 30% today).

·There are now a staggering 2.2 billion passenger car miles a year devoted to the school run with an average journey distance of less than 3 miles.

·Almost 1 million children are driven less than 1 mile to school.

Hereford MP Paul Keetch commented:

"The school run can cause considerable traffic problems. I think that the Government should be doing more to encourage parents and kids to take a walk to school, especially when those schools are nearby.

"Almost a million children are driven less than a mile to school and at the same time almost 10% of 6 year olds now considered obese; the extra 100 hours of exercise a year could actually do a power of good."

ENDS