Safe Routes to School

Safety Town is a hands-on, interactive learning tool where students play the roles of pedestrians, cars, or crossing guards to learn about street safety. By playing various roles, students learn when and where to safely cross streets, how to avoid distracted walking, and how to actively scan for cars.

Safety Town is portable and can quickly be set up in an activity room or school gymnasium. The course is available to all students, including students with special needs. Actual crosswalks and walkways on school grounds can also be used to provide a more realistic learning environment.

Being physically active is extremely important for children’s health and development, but sometimes children aren’t always getting the amount of exercise they need. One way children can become more active is by walking or biking to school.

To encourage walking or biking to school, schools across the country celebrate International Walk to School Day every year in October and Bike to School Month every May. But biking and walking to school do not need to be once a year events; RideWise works with schools, PTA/PTO/HSA organizations, and parents to encourage walking and biking to school regularly throughout the year.

A Walking School Bus (WSB) is another way to participate in Walk to School days, and is a safe and fun way for children to get physical activity as they travel to and from school with adult supervision.

A WSB can be as simple as families taking turns walking their children to school or as formal as a structured route with a timetable, designated stops and assigned adult volunteers. Each “bus” walks along a predetermined route with one or more adults leading it, picking children up at designated stops along the way. A school can have multiple “buses” originating from different neighborhoods. The process can be reversed in the afternoons on the way home from school. The organization of each WSB is up to the participants of each bus.

Why set up a walking school bus?

For children:

• It’s fun and social
• Contributes to good health and fitness
• Teaches pedestrian safety
• Improves academic performance
• Promotes independence

For parents:

• It’s fun and social
• Contributes to good health and fitness
• Economical
• Provides quality time with children

For the community and schools:

• Reduces air pollution
• Reduces traffic in and around school zones
• Studies show more physically active children perform better in school and score higher on standardized tests

A Bike Train is the biking equivalent of a Walking School Bus. Students and parents meet at a central starting point and bike together to and from school along a predetermined route. Additional students may join at stops along the way. By traveling in a large group led by parents, students will be safer and more visible.

NJ state law requires anyone under 17 years of age that rides a bicycle, is a passenger on a bicycle, or is towed as a passenger by a bicycle must wear a safety helmet. Bicycles should also have a red light on the back and a white light on the front to help increase visibility.

To make a bike train most effective, schools should provide bike racks. It is strongly recommended parents check with the school before starting a bike train to determine if the school has a policy which prevents children from biking to school or biking on school grounds.

The Basic Bike Safety Course is designed to encourage children to ride their bicycle by teaching them the skills needed to safely ride. The course covers a safety check for both the rider and the bicycle, including a proper helmet and bike fit and an ABC quick check for the bicycle, how to safely ride a bicycle, and how to correctly lock their bike to a bike rack or other object.

Pinpointing the best routes to school and identifying routes that are difficult or unsafe are key to successful Safe Routes to School programs. RideWise can work with schools to map the safest routes for students to bike and walk to school, identify where crossing guards may be needed, and address infrastructure issues in school zones that make it difficult to walk or bike to school. RideWise can report findings to local police, school boards, or the municipality to help resolve these issues in order to make biking and walking to school safer.

Looking for more information and ways to start or enhance your school’s Safe Routes to School program? Check out some of the resources below!

Getting More Students to Walk and Bicycle: Four Elements of Successful Programs

Getting Results: SRTS Programs that Reduce Speeding and Distracted Driving