Safety First

Every Safe Routes to Schools program activity offers a safety component, but the following activities focus exclusively on education and engineering to increase the safety of children walking and bicycling to school:

We work to improve infrastructure around schools:

Walk Audits: A School Walk Audit is a school/community event used to identify and evaluate the safety issues around a school, after Safe Routes to Schools staff and the school community have determined that engineering/infrastructure treatments are the most appropriate solution for that school. The School Walk Audit typically focuses on a single school and encompasses a maximum of ¼ mile distance in any direction from the school.  Participants in the Walk Audit traditionally include school parents, staff, and sometimes students; city or county planners and engineers, neighbors, traffic safety officers, and local elected officials.  Walk Audits are led by a planning and design firm experienced in working with Safe Routes to School programs.

 When do you have a walk audit?
 

Before deciding to hold a walk audit you need to carefully assess the main safety concerns at the school site. Sometimes these concerns are best addressed through non-engineering solutions and will not require a full walk audit.  Here are some examples:

• Drop-off zone is very congested and unmanageable

• Is driver behavior the main problem here?  Is the location of the drop-off zone problematic?  In these situations, the first step will be to observe the drop-off zone and decide whether re-location or driver education are the best solutions.

• Drivers are double parking in the street, making unsafe U-turns, and otherwise driving in an unsafe manner.  Again, this may be a situation best addressed through a driver education campaign coupled with staff or parent volunteer monitoring of the pickup and drop-off.

If the concerns center on unsafe intersections, lack of or inadequate signage, or other infrastructure issues, engineering solutions may be appropriate. Safe Routes to Schools offers school walk audits on a limited basis.  Contact us to request a walk audit, and complete this form. 

After the Audit: Conceptual Plans  

After the audit, the consulting engineer draws up a conceptual plan to reflect the safety concerns and some possible solutions to make the streets and intersections safer.  Here is a sample conceptual plan.  The plan is then sent back to the school so that the school community can review it and make sure the plan reflects their concerns.  Once we reach consensus, the plans are presented to the local Public Works Department, and we request a meeting between Public Works, the school community, and Safe Routes to Schools staff.  Sometimes the Public Works Department can address safety hazards through such treatments as crosswalk re-painting, additional signage, and other city-based solutions.  For larger and more expensive infrastructure improvements, public works will need to apply for federal and state Safe Routes to Schools grants.

Parent Workshops:

We also believe strongly in educating parents to teach their children about safety. We organize and teach customized workshops with safety themes for PTA's and other parent meetings. The 20-30 minute-long Workshops are interactive and include the following suggested themes:

• Pedestrian Safety: We provide parents with a background on how kids see differently than adults and how to model, coach and observe youth’s pedestrian habits.
• Be Safe Be Strong; Safety with Strangers: Keeping students safe with strangers while walking is of great concern to all parents. Using information we have obtained from experts in the field, Safe Routes to School staff will provide parents with some basic tools, resources and hands-on activities that address this important topic.
• Bike Train and Walking School Bus Training Session: This session equips parents with everything they need to launch a School Bus program, including vests,stops signs and pedestrian safety tips; as well as logistical organization and support. The Walking School Bus is a proven method using the simple strategy of encouraging students to walk or bike to school in groups supervised by parents or other adults.