Safe Routes to School

My kids are headed back to school in a few days, with mixed feelings. We have all had a wonderful summer, and it is hard to make the transition to a new season and schedule.  One thing we are excited about is using the new cycle tracks in our neighborhood to bike to school. No more sharing the sidewalk with walkers, navigating around telephone poles, and riding across poorly marked intersections.

The city has installed a bunch of other great safety improvements to the streetscape around my kids' school, including a new sidewalk, new paint markings in the street, and new crosswalks. These improvements will make it safer for all the children in the neighborhood to walk and bike to school.

These types of improvements are critically important in getting children to travel to school via foot and bike, with long-term health benefits. In 1969, 48% of children used active transportation to get to school. This number had fallen to 13% by 2009.  Meanwhile, obesity rates for school-aged children have tripled since 1980.  And, most importantly, these improvements save lives. One-third of children's traffic deaths occur when children are walking or bicycling and struck by cars.  

Many safe routes to school improvements have been made possible as a result of federal transportation dollars. Unfortunately, according to the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, Congress completely eliminated dedicated funding for safe routes to schools this year, so it is up to our state officials to choose whether to dedicate transportation funding to these important projects. 

Here's a great picture of a before and after shot of a street near a school that has been upgraded to a safe route to school: