Santa Barbara Area Council of PTAs

Schools can do their share in reducing congestion and danger in the school zone. Consider: Schools make up about 25% of all morning rush hour traffic. If we can reduce the number of cars going to schools, we will also help the environment and improve neighborhood quality of life. In Santa Barbara, we are fortunate to live in a small city with near perfect weather, where many students can walk or ride a bike to their neighborhood schools. This gives children a sense of responsibility, a dose of fresh air and healthy daily exercise, as well as the opportunity to enjoy some time with friends or parents.

Safe Routes Programs are best run by a school based coordinator. This can be the principal, a teacher, a parent or group of parents. Older children, student councils, and leadership classes can help. The coordinator organizes special events like Walk to School Day in October and Bike to School Day in May. In addition he/she organizes ongoing programs encouraging students to walk or bike to school, to carpool or use the bus. Several area schools are now trying such programs. The PTA Safety Committee works with coordinators, points them toward the resources available, helps them with the nuts and bolts of organizing and brainstorms for new ideas.

A complete and very helpful toolkit and guide to running a Safe Routes program can be downloaded here.

The SR2S Coalition has now developed a comprehensive SR2S plan that schools can sign on to. It is endorsed by all Santa Barbara Area superintendents and consists of the following:

Letter of Commitment - The principal writes a letter of commitment to support the following activities at his/her school:
Mobility Surveys - These are distributed to teachers to survey students the first week in October and again in the spring. Students are asked how they got to school that day: walking, bicycling, carpool, bus, or car. This information is incredibly useful, encouraging students to think about their transportation choices. The data gathered can help gauge the success of SR2S's efforts.
Walkability Checklists - These are distributed to kids and parents on or before Walk to School Day. These checklists are a way to gather information about access problems and concerns specific to each school.
Walking School Buses - Group walking is great way to alleviate safety concerns. A parent is designated as the "driver" of the Walking School Bus (or bike train) and picks children up at designated spots along the route to school through a particular neighborhood. This takes some initial organization by interested parents but can last for years.
Walk to School Day - October 8. Event days provide a glimpse of what every day could be like if parents walked or biked with their kid; less cars spilling out of school parking lots and calm neighborhood streets.
Safety Instruction - The school will schedule bike and pedestrian safety instruction as age appropriate. In Marin County, this has been successfully incorporated into the PE curriculum.
SR2S Curriculum (optional)- There are some very exciting lesson plans relating to transportation choices and atmospheric chemistry, geography, math, etc.
Mapping Safe Routes - An important goal for this school year is to map the current suggested routes to school and identify any barriers to be prioritized for improvements. The City of Santa Barbara is currently working on its Pedestrian Master Plan with a SR2S component.

We are looking for a few pilot schools who wish to adopt the whole program. How about yours?

For helpful ideas and resources, check out the following web sites:

California Safe Routes to School Clearinghouse: www.4saferoutes.org.
www. saferoutestoschools.org
www. coast-santabarbara.org. COAST is the local umbrella organization for the SR2S Coalition.

For Walk to School Day, go to:
www.cawalktoschool.com
www.walktoschool.org

Related web sites of interest:
Traffic Solutions
The Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District
The Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District
The Palo Alto Council of PTAs
The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition. They list Bike Week events in May.