Nowadays, children are more likely to use motorized transportation modes to go to and from school. This paper focuses on examining the relationship between neighbourhood safety and primary-aged children walking to and from school on their own; across different socio-economic areas in Tehran. Self-reported parental and children surveys and urban design measurements were used to determine the influence neighbourhood safety factors have on the choice of children’s school transportation mode. The results reveal that parents and children with negative perceptions of neighbourhood safety tend to use motor vehicles or to escort their children while walking to and from school. Keywords: Social barriers, walking to and from school, neighbourhood safety, children © 2017. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.