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SALT LAKE CITY -- Back in the day, we walked five miles in all weather conditions to get to school.
Walking to school has changed. High speed roads, railroad tracks, congested intersections, open waterways, bullying and sexual predators. Getting to school on foot today can be dangerous.
Byoung-Suk Kweon, an environmental and landscape architecture researcher at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR), in an interview with Science Daily said, “Concerns about safety are the main reason that less than 13 percent of U.S. children walked or biked to school in 2004, compared to more than 50 percent who did so in 1969.”
The danger associated with walking is one of the driving forces in the increasing numbers of parents driving their children to school. Unfortunately, older schools were never designed for the kind of traffic that they now experience. This creates another danger: highly congested parking lots.
The danger associated with walking is one of the driving forces in the increasing numbers of parents driving their children to school. Unfortunately, older schools were never designed for the kind of traffic that they now experience. This creates another danger: highly congested parking lots.
Increasing congestion at school, rising fuel costs and epidemic child obesity rates are causing many parents and school communities to look for viable safe alternatives to allow students to walk or bike to school.
A quick search of the Internet will reveal a large number of private and governmental programs offering a solution to encourage students walking to school. One of the most successful ideas is "the walking school bus."
So, just is a walking school bus?
At its simplest, a walking school bus is a group of volunteers walking with students to and from their local school. The National Safe Routes to School program describes a walking school bus in the following terms: “A walking school bus is a group of children walking to school with one or more adults. That may sound simple, and that is part of the appeal. It can be as informal as two families taking turns walking their children to school or as structured on a planned route with meeting points, a timetable and a schedule of trained volunteers.”
Brian Armes, an elementary school principal in the Bonneville School district in Idaho, has a five-year history of a walking school bus in his school. In a newsletter on the Idaho Transportation Department website, Armes has a great deal of good to say about the program. “The majority of Mountain Valley Elementary students walk or ride bikes to and from school, in all weather conditions. The walking school bus has decreased traffic going in and out of the school. This is huge, due to the fact we one way in and out on the same two-lane road.”
The majority of Mountain Valley Elementary students walk or ride bikes to and from school, in all weather conditions. The walking school bus has decreased traffic going in and out of the school. This is huge, due to the fact we one way in and out on the same two-lane road.
–- Brian Ames, principal
In the program in Armes' school, the volunteers wear high- visibility yellow jackets. He notes this as a necessary component. “In the beginning, we had children aimlessly in the road, crossing wherever and whenever they were ready. The volunteers coordinate crossing spots and times. The children look for those yellow jackets and know how safe they are. We also have sex offenders in the area, and it detours them,” he said.
The real benefit to a program like this is the adaptability. It can be changed to fit the needs of any school or school community. For more information starting a walking school bus program, check the National Safe Routes to School website.
Guy is a longtime educator, having taught and coached tennis and swimming. He is school safety and security administrator for the Bonneville School District in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Guy has been married for 26 years and has three children.
