Prevalence and correlates of walkable short car trips: A cross-sectional multilevel analysis

Publication date: Available online 5 December 2016 Source:Journal of Transport & Health Author(s): Rachel Cole, Gavin Turrell, Mohammad Javad Koohsari, Neville Owen, Takemi Sugiyama Many short trips are made by car, and replacing them with walking is a potential strategy to increase physical activity at the population level. The prevalence and correlates of walkable short car trips were examined among adults aged 18–84 years living in the state of Queensland, Australia. Participants (N=14,481) reported their travel behaviors using a 24-h travel diary in the 2009 South East Queensland Travel Survey (SEQTS). A threshold distance within which adults can walk was first identified using the SEQTS data. Consistent with previous studies, we used the 80th percentile distance in walking trips, determined for specific age groups (18–34, 35–49, 50–64, and 65–84 years) and gender, as the distance threshold. This ranged from 1.6 to 2.0km for a single trip, and 3.4 to 4.7km for a trip chain. Car trips that did not exceed the distance threshold were regarded as short trips. The study found that 7% of all car trips were short enough to be walked, and 11% of participants reported at least one short trip on the survey day either as a driver or passenger. Short car trips were more likely to be made by middle-to-older aged adults, women, those who were unemployed, those who had children in the household, those living in the middle-to-most disadvantaged areas, and those l...
Source: Journal of Transport and Health - Category: Occupational Health Source Type: research