SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOLS IN THE USA
Written by: Debbie Hubsmith, Executive Director
Presented at Velo-City on September 18 by Christina Davis
Marin County Bicycle Coalition, P.O. Box 35, San Anselmo, CA 94979, USA
Four years ago, Safe Routes to Schools was barely on the radar screen in the United States. Now, in 2001, the term and the program have caught on like wildfire.
In the media, Safe Routes to Schools seems as popular as the 1930's phrase "motorize Manhattan" which was crafted to indoctrinate and spread the use of the automobile. In much the same way, the phrasing "Safe Routes to Schools" has a ring to it which captures the hearts and the imagination of the media, elected officials, police, teachers, parents, and even public works directors. As we say in the USA, Safe Routes to Schools is like "Mom and apple pie." Walking and biking to school is a good thing.
Could Safe Routes to Schools actually help to tame the wasteful transportation ways of the United States? This author answers that question with an affirmative "yes"! Safe Routes to Schools is a comprehensive program that integrates health, traffic relief, environmental awareness, and safety through the cooperation of schools, parents, students, police, and government. It is a systematic program that institutionalizes walking and biking to school and re-creates a culture where walking and biking is encouraged and supported by the community.
This paper will address how Safe Routes to Schools caught on so quickly in the USA; what's happening now; and who's the champion on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.
Many trace the roots of the USA's Safe Routes to Schools program back to the first National Walk to School Day which was held in 1997. The program, initiated by the Partnership for a Walkable America, was launched in Chicago when Mayor Daley led other elected officials and school children on a walk to school. A similar event happened in Los Angeles. The event was fun, and attracted a lot of attention. An idea was born.
By 1998, National Walk to School Day had grown. The event had the backing of the National Safety Council, WALKING magazine, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Highways Administration, the Institute for Transportation Engineers, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Shape Up America, the National SAFEKIDS Campaign, and others. On September 23, 1998, 170,000 kids in 58 communities in the USA and Canada walked to school. The event united small towns with big cities. The "walkable community" idea was really catching on.
The event continued to grow during 1999, and by the year 2000 communities around the world were participating in the first International Walk to School Day. On October 4, 2000, communities in 47 of the 50 states in the USA joined two million walkers around the world in "parades" to school. Whether it was for health purposes, environmental reasons, or goals to reduce traffic congestion, the reasons for walking to schools began to grow as quickly as the event itself.
Throughout the growth and popularity of National and International Walk to School Days, smaller, more community oriented school transportation programs began to emerge as a way to effect permanent changes that would foster more walking and biking to school. The move to create livable communities through Safe Routes to Schools began organically with diverse programs popping up throughout the nation, many modeled after successful European programs that had been taking place for decades.
In the winter of 1999/2000 Congressman James Oberstar (Democrat, Minnesota), approached Bikes Belong Coalition's Director Richard Olken to find out more about Safe Routes to Schools and to discuss how legislation might launch a new era for more bicycling in America. Congressman Oberstar, who was elected to Congress in 1974, is the ranking Democrat in the House of Representative's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He was a key author of the federal legislation in 1991 called ISTEA (the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act) and the 1998 reauthorization of ISTEA called TEA-21 (the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century). These pieces of legislation revolutionized transportation funding in the United States. In addition to crafting language to encompass funding for rail, transit, highways, and local roads, Congressman Oberstar developed the first language which resulted in a dramatic increase in funding for bicycle transit. As a result, the USA has had the financial resources to construct countless new bicycle facilities since the 1990's.
In response to the Congressman's question about Safe Routes to Schools, Richard Olken relayed information about the comprehensive Safe Routes to Schools program in the United Kingdom, and the California funding program. Having just met with Paul Osborne from Sustrans, Olken was able to give Congressman Oberstar the anecdotal and factual information about England's successful Safe Routes to Schools program. Upon further research, Congressman Oberstar discovered that according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30 years ago 2/3 of children were walking and biking to schools in the USA. Today, that number is less than 10%. Furthermore, one in four children in the USA is overweight, and a large percentage of morning traffic congestion is caused by parents driving their children to schools.
Informal research was conducted to learn about what types of school transportation programs already existed in the United States. Generally, Safe Routes to Schools programs in the USA fall into one of five categories, with the most successful programs taking-on several attributes of the five models. What follows are descriptions of each Safe Routes to Schools category with an example of a pioneering program.
The Engineering model focuses on creating physical improvements to the streets surrounding the school and changing the behavior of motorists through reducing speeds, establishing safer crosswalks, and developing more sidewalks, bike lanes and pathways. Probably the first Safe Routes to School program in the US began in the Bronx, New York and was born out of the engineering model. Led by the organization Transportation Alternatives, this program, which started in 1997, is thriving and growing, and now has the backing of the Bronx Borough President.
The Funding model for Safe Routes to Schools provides monetary resources for local communities to create engineering, education and enforcement campaigns to change motorist behavior and make it physically safer to walk and bike to school. The best example of the funding model in the USA is the State of California's 1999 legislation which dedicated one third of the federal TEA-21 Hazard Elimination Safety funds to local Safe Routes to Schools programs. Prior to this legislation, all of the funding was being used to support highway safety. Through an unprecedented collaboration that included diverse partnerships, the Surface Transportation Policy Project and the California Bicycle Coalition made the case that it was also important to provide for the safety of children walking and biking to school. The groups successfully authored and passed legislation which allocated $20 million a year for two years for Safe Routes to Schools projects in California such as bike lanes, sidewalks, pathways, and traffic calming.
The Encouragement model is the least expensive and easiest way for non-governmental organizations to draw attention to walking and biking to school. This form of program typically takes the form of walking school buses, special events and contests. Organizing for International Walk to School Day has served as a major catalyst for communities to get started organizing a Safe Routes to Schools program.
The Enforcement model gets local law enforcement agencies involved in child safety campaigns. Some programs, like the one in Chicago, are called Safe Routes to Schools. Generally, these programs use maps to find schools with the highest number of children hit by cars. A law enforcement strategy grows out of crash maps, and is often combined with police visits to schools where children are educated on safe cycling and walking practices.
The Education model starts with the premise that students need to know how to walk and bicycle safely in order to navigate themselves through city streets to school. Some examples include the Texas Bicycle Coalition's teacher training program, and a program in Hawaii which instructs 4th and 5th grade students on bicycle safety by bringing bicycles and a road show to schools for hands-on lessons that simulate traffic conditions.
Through learning about the various models of Safe Routes to Schools programs, and talking with other national leaders including Bill Wilkinson from the National Center for Walking and Biking, Congressman Oberstar developed a template for a Safe Routes to Schools project which would integrate all of the aforementioned types of programs. On August 9, 2000, Congressman Oberstar distributed a national press release which stated that the Marin County Bicycle Coalition in Marin County, California had received $50,000 from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to develop a demonstration Safe Routes to Schools program for the United States. Another demonstration program was also initiated on the east coast near Boston, Massachusetts. Congressman Oberstar's press release stated that the new Safe Routes to Schools program had the promise to change the habits of an entire generation. As a result of Congressman Oberstar's initiative, a little know program in the USA turned into a national movement almost overnight.
The pilot year for the Marin Safe Routes to Schools program was launched in September of 2000 in nine schools throughout the County, which is located just north of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge. The program, which was based on methodology from the Way to Go Program in British Columbia, Canada, focused on the development of Safe Routes to Schools Teams which are made up of parents, children, teachers, principals, and neighbors of a single school.
After surveying the attitudes of parents and counting how students came to school, the big task for the Teams was to organize for and publicize International Walk to School Day on October 4, 2000. To get the children excited about the event, we conducted in-classroom presentations on Walk to School Day, taught basic safety tips, and led the students in making signs which displayed messages such as, "We Walk and Ride to School," "Share the Road," "Slow Down," and "Safe Routes for Kids." Parents contacted local elected officials and asked them to walk with the kids to school, establishing early ownership for the program by local government. The police were also asked to assist as escorts for the walking school buses and bike trains. Then, on the morning of October 4th, 2000, the hard work paid off. The cars stayed home. An average of 68% of the student population at the Marin pilot schools walked or biked to school on International Walk to School Day. The kids were energized and enthused by the exercise, the parade-like atmosphere, and being with their friends. Parents were excited about the quality-time this activity created between them and their children. Everyone was astonished at the decrease in traffic. In short, International Walk to School Day gave a snapshot of what success was like. It painted a picture of the goals for Safe Routes to Schools, and it attracted new energy and volunteers to join the Teams in the effort to make everyday walk and bike to school day.
Throughout the school year, each pilot program in Marin developed regular, on-going Walk and Bike to School Days which were organized, developed, and run locally by the parents. Local Teams in two cities joined together to form a community-wide Task Force which worked with City Councils and public works departments to map the routes to schools and develop an engineering improvement wish list, as well as a law enforcement strategy. We expanded on curriculum in the schools by introducing walking and biking safety skills rodeos, a lesson on mapping, and a unit on transportation choices and the environment. A spring contest called the Frequent Rider Miles program enabled students to earn prizes by documenting when they came to school by walking, biking, carpooling or busing.
By the end of the school year, our Teams were ready to compare how children were arriving at school with the surveys that were taken in the beginning of the year. The numbers showed that walking and biking increased by 57% (going from 21% in September to 33% in May), and that private automobile trips decreased by 29%. Carpooling at the schools increased by 64%. Over 3,500 students participated throughout the year, and there were no injuries. The demonstration program for Safe Routes to Schools was a resounding success! The Marin program (www.saferoutestoschools.org) was expanded to 20 elementary and middle schools in the fall of 2001, and with funding, we plan to expand the program Countywide
Congressman James Oberstar is now committed to introducing legislation which will fund and spread Safe Routes to Schools throughout the USA. The League of America Bicyclists has started a national focus group which is creating a platform for future legislation, and the Surface Transportation Policy Project is launching a website to catalog and document existing Safe Routes to Schools programs throughout the USA.
In conclusion, Safe Routes to Schools is an idea whose time has come. It is a 21st century program which is mainstreaming walking and biking. Rooted in the themes of cooperation, partnerships, safety, and empowerment of local communities, Safe Routes to Schools in the USA has a bright future.
