Daniel Convissor's Website

Bike Paths Work

A survey of a class at each grade level indicated that no kindergarten children had ridden bikes to school, compared with 22% of first-graders, about 50% in grades 2-5, and 71% of sixth- graders. When parents were asked about their children's bicycle use, most believed it was safe for children to ride bicycles in Davis, largely due to bicycle lanes. Almost everyone wanted more lanes...

Because it is difficult to disentangle the effects of generally favorable conditions, such as climate, from Bocholt program effects, "control" communities with similar conditions but without bicycle programs were examined. A survey was undertaken in Woodland, CA, a city of about the same population size located near Davis. With the same climate and topography, but without Davis' bicycle program, bicycles were viewed as incidental. Respondents lacked contact with bikeways and had no opinion about them. While Woodland children did ride bicycles to school, only 7% of high school students not bussed rode bicycles compared with 6,045 in Davis. For junior high school students, the comparable figures were 38% in Woodland compared with 80% in Davis.

--Marda Formann Mayo, Bicycling and Air Quality Information Document, prepared for USEPA by Abt Associates, Sept. 1979.

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Last updated: 7 April 1999