Safe
Routes to School - Fact Sheet
Safe Routes to School, Fact Sheet -
PDF version
Safe Routes to School began as a grassroots
movement to make it safe, convenient and fun for
children to bicycle and walk to school. Now
communities across the country are embracing
Safe Routes to School programs, and a bill has
been introduced into Congress to give the
movement national support.
Why Safe Routes to School Programs are Needed
A recent national survey found that while 70
percent of parents walked or bicycled to school
as children, only 18 percent of their children
walk or bike to school today. The parents listed
distance, heavy traffic, fear of crime,
inconvenience, as among the reasons their
children do not walk. Many communities are no
longer set up for the walk to school:
subdivisions lack sidewalks, or are separated
from school by a busy multi-lane arterial road.
A lifestyle geared to the automobile means
parents and children spend more time than ever
in the car – more than an hour a day now for the
average child in the U.S. Millions of parents
now drop the kids at school on the way to work,
creating traffic jams in school parking lots.
Meanwhile, many children are struggling with
being overweight, and 15 percent of children are
now considered obese, putting them at risk of a
number of chronic diseases.
Parents, public health officials, school
administrators and others who recognize the
benefits of children walking to school have
begun programs to make it safe and fun for
children to get to school under their own power.
They see walking to school as an easy way for
kids to get essential physical activity, slowing
the obesity epidemic among children. And they
believe this simple activity can help ease the
traffic jams and air pollution that are
degrading quality of life for children and
adults alike.
The National Safe Routes to School Bill
Legislation is in the works to provide support
for Safe Routes to School across the nation. The
House of Representatives, led by Representative
James Oberstar (D-MN) has included a Safe Routes
to School program in the upcoming six-year
transportation bill now under consideration. It
would create a national Safe Routes to School
program. devoting $250 million in transportation
funds each year to make it safe, convenient and
fun for children to walk to school. The original
bill had bipartisan sponsorship; a list of
co-sponsors.
A much less extensive Safe Routes to School
program has been included in the Senate version
of the transportation bill, funded at just $70
million.
Under the House bill, funding for Safe Routes to
School would be distributed to states in
proportion to the number of primary and
secondary school students in the state, with no
state receiving less than $2 million.
Communities would be able to use the funds to
fix hazards and slow traffic near schools while
increasing safety through focused enforcement
and education programs. Each state would create
a position of a Safe Routes to School
coordinator, and the bill also provides funds
for a national Safe Routes to School
clearinghouse. A recent national poll by the
Surface Transportation Policy Project found that
74% favor using state transportation money to
create safe routes for children to bike and walk
to school, even if this means less funding for
new highways. The national Safe Routes to School
bill will give parents the option of getting
their kids out of the backseat and onto their
feet.
Safe Routes to School Programs Today
In the United States, Safe Routes programs are
active in at least 18 states. From Marin County,
California, to the Bronx, New York, parents and
local advocates have established local programs
that examine safety around schools and work to
correct it, while encouraging children to walk
to school. Comprehensive programs address
engineering of the streets for safety, education
and encouragement of children and parents, and
increased enforcement of traffic laws. Programs
can include:
- Walkability and bikeability audits of the
safety of streets around schools
- Use of traffic calming devices to slow traffic
and give pedestrians priority
- Programs that educate children on walking and
biking safely, and challenge them to walk or
bike often
- “Walking school buses” in which one or two
parents or volunteers escort a group of children
on the walk to school
- Increased traffic enforcement around schools
- Cooperation between school officials, law
enforcement officials, and transportation
planners.
For real success, programs require a significant
investment in safer streets, and two states now
provide that investment: California and Texas.
- California invests one-third of its federal
safety set-aside funding into a construction
grant program available to local jurisdictions
to make it safer for children to walk and
bicycle to school. The $20 million annual
program began as a two-year pilot in 1999 and
has been extended for three more years.
List of grantees.
- Texas created a Safe Routes to Schools
program in honor of Matthew Brown, a child
killed while riding his bicycle. The program
funds construction projects designed to
improve children’s safety around schools.
Initial funding of $3 million was increased to
$5 million after more than $45 million in
applications were received for the first
round. Funds were awarded in February, 2003.
more
For more information about existing programs,
see the California Health Training Center’s
index of
Safe Routes programs nationwide. |
