title: Timing and effect of a safe routes to school program on child pedestrian injury risk during school travel hours: Bayesian changepoint and difference-in-differences analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In 2005, the US Congress allocated $612 million for a national Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program to encourage walking and bicycling to schools. We evaluated the effectiveness of a SRTS in controlling pedestrian injuries among school-age children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bayesian changepoint analysis was applied to model the quarterly counts of pedestrian injuries among 5- to 19-year old children in New York City between 2001 and 2010 during school-travel hours in census tracts with and without SRTS. Overdispersed Poisson model was used to estimate difference-in-differences in injury risk between census tracts with and without SRTS following the changepoint.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In SRTS-intervention census tracts, a change point in the quarterly counts of injuries was identified in the second quarter of 2008, which was consistent with the timing of the implementation of SRTS interventions. In census tracts with SRTS interventions, the estimated quarterly rates of pedestrian injury per 10,000 population among school-age children during school-travel hours were 3.47 (95% Credible Interval [CrI] 2.67, 4.39) prior to the changepoint, and 0.74 (95% CrI 0.30, 1.50) after the changepoint. There was no change in the average number of quarterly injuries in non-SRTS census tracts. Overdispersed Poisson modeling revealed that SRTS implementation was associated with a 44% reduction (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 87% decrease to 130% increase) in school-age pedestrian injury risk during school-travel hours.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bayesian changepoint analysis of quarterly counts of school-age pedestrian injuries successfully identified the timing of SRTS intervention in New York City. Implementation of the SRTS program in New York City appears to be effective in reducing school-age pedestrian injuries during school-travel hours.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Department of Anesthesiology, Mailman School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology; Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention, Columbia University Medical Center, 622 West 168 Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA. cjd11@columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: DiMaggio
authors.affiliation: Mailman School of Public Health Department of Biostatistics, 722 West 168 Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Qixuan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Mailman School of Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management, 722 West 168 Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Muennig
authors.affiliation: Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Department of Anesthesiology, Mailman School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology; Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention, Columbia University Medical Center, 622 West 168 Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Guohua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: Bayesian; Changepoint; Injury; Pedestrian; Pediatric; School travel