A multi-faceted approach for assessing the safety of Israeli Arab children in their travel to and from school

Road crashes are considered as one of the main threats to human life around the world. Children pedestrians are most at risk to be seriously injured in road crashes, in particular, those from economically disadvantaged communities. Various factors contribute to their high involvement in road crashes. Some of these factors are related to the characteristics of the children and their parents, while others are related to the physical urban road environment. The share of Arab children in Israel (<15 years old) in pedestrians’ fatalities far exceeds their fraction in their age group. Therefore, effective and immediate measures to increase their safety are required. The present research, a part of a larger ongoing project, proposes a multifaceted approach and applies it to a real case study in the Arab local council of Jadeidi-Makr in Israel. The proposed approach is based on: (1) data collected by means of questionnaires posted to the children and their parents concerning the travel characteristics of the children to school; (2) objective data on the children walking routes collected by GPS-enabled watches; and (3) road safety auditing of the school environment and the main routes to the school. The results of this study found that children’s characteristics, their travel behavioral patterns, their parents' safety perceptions, and the road environment are all significant factors when considering children’s safety as pedestrians. Thus, improvements in the infrastructure, children and parents’ safety awareness, and police enforcement are essential to increase Arab children’s safety. The responsible authorities, decision and policy makers are called to join forces and take immediate actions to realize the suggested improvements in reality

Artropolis 93 : Public Art and Art About Public Issues

Contains 12 texts and documents works by nearly 300 Canadian artists in a Vancouver-based public art project. Includes artist's statements. 7 bibl. ref