Reasoning & Evidence
Developing safe routes to schools, parks, and other spaces for socialization is a key component to enabling children’s independence to travel within their communities. Research shows that children who are able to independently wander and socialize with other children are more socially connected than children who rely on transportation via car.(29) Active transportation in youth is impacted by neighborhood urban form and road density. Establishing clear boundaries within a neighborhood that facilitate a threshold of 5-10 minutes for independent travel is crucial to maintain safety in urban neighborhoods.(30)
The U.S. Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program promotes walking and biking to school through infrastructure improvements, safety education, and incentives to encourage active transportation among children. Local schools, governments, and metropolitan planning organizations can partner with the SRTS program to receive educational materials for implementation in their districts. Strategies to create safe routes to school include a walking school bus, funding for bicycle helmets and safety vests, and SRTS presentations for parents. Schools that have implemented these program protocols successfully have seen between a 15% to 45% increase in the number of children who use active transportation to get to school.(31) The program also includes a plethora of maps that highlight safe routes around various school districts and states.
Additionally, children and youth have travel needs that exceed simply going to school. Promoting safe, independent travel options can help youth access places like parks, friend’s houses, recreation facilities, etc. that their parents or caregivers may not be able to take them to. Independent travel can expand beyond school so that children can maintain friendships and connections. An emerging program called Move Minnesota started a training program to teach middle school and high school students how to use public transit, which included interactive learning and guided field trips to boost student confidence in their abilities to use transportation on their own.(53) Another program called HopSkipDrive was created by parents in Los Angeles to offer a ride-share model similar to Uber and Lyft, but designed for children with highly vetted drivers and company supervision to help children travel to school and other extracurricular activities. This program offers broader flexibility for children’s travel and has expanded into eight different U.S. States.(54)
Examples of Community Implementation
Alpine, Utah: Alpine Elementary School partnered with the SRTS program to address barriers their students faced walking to school, including traffic and safety concerns. With their federal funding they implemented school safety assemblies, held a poster contest to educate students, hosted pedestrian family safety walks, and hosted a bicycle rodeo to increase children’s comfort on bikes. Additionally, the school motivated students to use active transportation with the incentive of every 10 miles they walked or cycled, Alpine donated 40 cents to their sister school, the Candle Light School in Kenya. Over the course of the program, students have raised enough donations to purchase three months worth of lunches for the entire Candle Light Student Body.
Los Angeles, California: The city of Whitter in Los Angeles county explored the concept of using greenways as an alternative and safer route to school than the traditional and often inadequate sidewalks and street infrastructure. They created a map including respondents’ addresses of families in their school district that illustrated greenway routes to various schools and how best for families and children to access them. Parent and student feedback noted that using urban greenways provided an easier and safer path to walk or cycle to school.
Reference: The SOCIAL Framework: The Transportation Supplemental Brief
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