A tale of two cities: paradoxical intensity of traffic calming around Auckland schools.

The abstract states: "Background - The school journey is a common context for child pedestrian injuries in New Zealand, with children from low socioeconomic, Maori or Pacific families being at increased risk. The extent to which evidence-based environmental strategies that can address this problem are equitably implemented is unclear. Aim - To determine if there is a difference in the distribution of traffic-calming modifications around schools in areas of high and low socioeconomic deprivation in Auckland and Manukau Cities, New Zealand. Methods - From a list of the most and least socioeconomically deprived schools in Auckland and Manukau Cities, 40 of each were randomly selected. The number of modifications within a 1 km radius of these schools was recorded in December 2009 or January 2010. The association of deprivation and region with the numbers of traffic-calming modifications was examined using a general linear model. Results - Socioeconomically least deprived schools had more traffic-calming interventions than the most deprived schools (least square mean (LSM): 25 versus 18; p=0.05), and Auckland schools had more interventions than Manukau schools (LSM: 27 versus 16; p=0.001). Conclusion - Traffic-calming measures were observed more commonly in less deprived areas where the risks of child pedestrian injuries are generally lower. This apparent paradox could result in increasing socioeconomic inequities in the distribution of child pedestrian injuries."