That’s the finding of research that sounds the alarm on a “back-seat generation” of children who don’t walk or cycle to school.

Australian Catholic University researchers found 60 per cent of primary school children in Melbourne and Geelong are dropped off to school by car.

Lead author Alison Carver said “trip-chaining”, a common scenario where time-poor parents drop off children to school on their commute to work, often made driving the most convenient option.

“We are not putting the blame on parents,” she said.

“But we want them to stop and think about the physical and health benefits their children are missing out on by not walking or cycling to school. These kids are literally being chauffeured around everywhere. They are the back-seat generation.”

One school in Melbourne's inner south-east has come up with a unique solution to encourage active travel and put parents’ minds at ease.

Malvern Valley Primary School uses a system developed and donated to the school by a family whose children attend the school. The couple run their own software development company.

Every students is assigned a tag that they tap on a kiosk when they arrive at school. They log whether they have walked, cycled, caught public transport or been driven to school.

An email alert is then sent to parents to inform them that their children have arrived safely.

Every student who taps on receives a house point, but those who have engaged in active travels receive extra points.

Claire Burzacott and Shane Russo, whose children Connor, 11, and Amy, 9 said they'd noticed an increase in children walking and riding to school since their Tag On technology was rolled out in 2017.

"Older children, whose parents may have been a little hesitant, are now riding a lot more," Ms Burzacott said.

"It's because their parents are receiving that email."

The couple's children cycle to school three days a week, and walk part of the way two days a week.

While Ms Burzacott accompanies Amy on the three-kilometre ride into school, Connor whizzes into school by himself.

Principal Joshua Sheffield said the school also ran a bike education program for grade 4 students, which aimed to boost their confidence and teach them road rules. They have also worked with Stonnington Council to map safe routes to school.

These initiatives were an important step as Dr Carver said physical inactivity was linked to an increased risk of low bone density, cancer, obesity, cardiovascular disease and mental health issues later in life.

The study was based on data from 713 households with children aged five to 12. These households were located within two kilometres from a primary school, or within walking distance.

It found that just 35 per cent of these students walked to school, while 3 per cent cycled and a tiny proportion caught public transport.

According to Dr Carver, concerns about traffic and stranger danger had made parents hesitant about letting their children travel to school by themselves.

She said it took about 10 minutes for a primary school-aged child to walk 750 metres.

Most children learn the skills to walk to school and estimate the speed of traffic when they are 10 years old, she said.

Dr Carver is calling for safe drop-off and pick-up zones to be located within 800 metres of schools. She said these would allow parents to drop off their children on the way to work, but also ensure children walked some of the way to school.

Between 1985 and 2001 the proportion of Australian children walking to school declined from 37 to 26 per cent, while the rates of cycling to school plummeted from 20 to 8 per cent.