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<br /> <br />This article examines how mapping exercises with schoolchildren can reveal the <br />influence of travel conditions on perceptions of the neighborhood environment. This, in <br />turn, can help communities identify, prioritize, and generate support for improvements <br />that will make the routes leading to school safe and inviting for walkers and bicyclists. <br />This research further demonstrates how exposure to heavy traffic negatively affects <br />children's perceptions of their environment, and how installing pedestrian and bicycle <br />improvements can quickly improve those perceptions. This shift in perceptions may not <br />only encourage more physical activity, but can also strengthen the connection between <br />children and their communities. In sum, safe school-area streets for walking and <br />bicycling improve a neighborhood's livability from a child's vantage point. <br />Children are highly dependent on cars (and their drivers 1) for mobility, and, at the <br />same time, they are at the greatest risk from the threats posed by speeding traffic.2,3 <br />"Look both ways and wait for the cars before you cross the street!," parents will instruct <br />their children. If a road is busy with speeding traffic and has no sidewalks and/ or <br />bike lanes, parents will likely tell their kids to avoid it altogether. The underlying <br />message is clear - cars rule our streets and, consequently, many of our neighborhoods <br />_ effectively isolating our children from the surrounding community and limiting the <br />range of activities they can participate in along the way to growing up. <br />This limit on independent mobility decreases children's opportunity to be physically <br />fit and healthy. But it may also have an impact on aspects of their mental health by way <br />of diminished ability to independently experience and learn about the world around <br />them. <br /> <br />2 NCBW Forum Article 3-7-05- March 2005 <br />