This form will help measure how students get to school and whether the SRTS Program affects trips to and from school. Teachers can use this form to record specific information about how children arrive to and depart from school on several days in a week. The information this form helps collect will be used to help track the success of SRTS programs across the country.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has developed the Child Pedestrian Safety Curriculum, which teaches students how to safely walk near traffic, cross streets, cross intersections, navigate parking lots, and walk near school buses. All lessons are organized by age group (K-1, 2-3, 4-5th grades) and the entire curriculum is available to download for free.
The biggest concern about implementing a Safe Routes to School program in Stevensville, Michigan, was the semi-rural Township’s lack of sidewalks near Roosevelt Elementary School. The largest subdivision is located within a mile of the school, but no one walked or biked because the route to school was along a busy street without sidewalks. Most streets in the Township are asphalt with soft shoulders, resulting in inadequate space to walk on the side of the driving lane.
The Hillside Learning and Behavior Center in the Allegan-area ESA School District serves 93 students with disabilities from seven local school districts. Students range in age from pre-kindergarten to 26 years old.
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.
