Time Efficient, Cost Effective Safe Routes to School Events

Organizing a Walk Your Child to School Week at seven elementary schools simultaneously sounds like a daunting task. But for Ellen McMahon, Kirkland’s Neighborhood Traffic Control Program Coordinator (NTCPC) and a seasoned Parent Teacher Association (PTA) parent, the task is accomplished in a mere four hours.

McMahon’s system is simple.  She brings together the PTA Traffic Safety Chairs from each school, provides them with a Walk to School Week packet which includes letters to both the schools’ principals and parents explaining the event, and entices them with prizes for their students. 

With a budget of just 500 dollars, McMahon provides raffle prizes for each school, a pedestrian safety quiz for each student, and driver safety signs for the event.  “Each school is in charge of its own event.  They organize giving out the raffle tickets, getting volunteers, and handing out prizes,” says McMahon.  "It took a couple of cycles and the enthusiasm of the schools to fine tune our program, but now it runs smoothly is really very easy for me."

The efficiency with which McMahon has organized her events has not gone unnoticed in Washington’s traffic engineering community.  She has frequently been asked to present her Walk to School Week strategies to interested parties across the state.

McMahon believes her experiences organizing these all-school events have influenced the rest of her work as Kirkland’s NTCPC.  Usually, speeding traffic is the cause of neighbors’ concerned phone calls to the citizen driven program which works to find solutions to common neighborhood traffic problems. 

McMahon explains, “When it comes to speeding traffic, people are worried about their children playing in the yard or when they themselves are out walking.”  The streets with the most traffic complaints are also often along a school walk route.  “Families call in because they want to make their neighborhood more walkable.”

A now familiar public face in the school community, McMahon believes she is making a difference in the number of parents walking with their children in the mornings.  “Now that I’m in this position, it's rewarding to know that I can help other PTAs by providing the materials and support they need to expose parents to other ways of handling the problems of congestion.”

To receive Ellen McMahon’s Walk Your Child to School Week packet or a copy of her presentation, contact her at emcmahon@ci.kirkland.wa.us.

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