St. Thomas Aquinas School is located in an urban neighborhood approximately four miles north of downtown Indianapolis. It serves 221 students in kindergarten to 8th grade. Officials estimate that 85 percent of the students live within two miles of the school and could walk or bicycle to school if conditions were better. However, surveys taken prior to instituting an SRTS program showed that less than 15 percent of students walked or biked to school.
This study explores how school-level dynamics that underlie the planning and implementation of SRTS programs relate to the percentage of students who walk and bicycle between home and school.
Shifting Modes: A Comparative Analysis of Safe Routes to School Program Elements and Travel Mode Outcomes identifies the following four key factors that successful SRTS programs share:
Applications are now being accepted for participation in the Safe Routes to School National Course Instructor Training, to be held October 24 - 27, 2011, in Yakima, Wash. Up to 12 individuals may be selected.
The UNC Highway Safety Research Center will present a Spanish-language Webinar based on a resource developed by the UNC Highway Safety Research Center and National Center for Safe Routes to School with funding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) National Conference is held every other year and is co-sponsored by the National Center for Safe Routes to School (the National Center) and the Safe Routes to School National Partnership.
The next National Conference will take place August 13 - 15, 2013 in Sacramento, California. Visit www.saferoutesconference.org for up-to-date information on the conference.
Kids on Wheels documents the 2011 pilot year of Bike ED, a bicycle education program at all nine public elementary schools in Fayetteville, Arkansas conducted by the Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks with a grant from Arkansas Safe Routes to School. Produced by Dan Dean and Ekaterina Romanova.
The Child Pedestrian Safety Curriculum, developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, teaches and encourages pedestrian safety for students grades Kindergarten through 5th Grade. It is organized into five lessons: walking near traffic, crossing streets, crossing intersections, parking lot safety, and school bus safety. Each lesson builds upon previous set of skills learned.
Walking and biking are two of the easiest ways to be active. The National Center has prepared a new research-based resource that specifically looks at the potential physical activity benefits of a SRTS program and describes strategies for measuring those benefits.
In 2005, the United States Congress established the national Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program in Section 1404 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). Through a combination of engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement and evaluation strategies, the program was developed to address traffic safety, traffic congestion and air quality issues around schools, while also acknowledging the health benefits of active school travel.
Have you ever been confused about who does what to advance Safe Routes to School?
