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Why Safe Routes to School?
Why should you be involved in Safe Routes to School?
A generation ago, a majority of US children walked
or biked to school.
Today, most children take the bus or are driven. Only 1 out of every 8 children gets to school on their own two feet. This quiet shift of norms is taking a tremendous toll on our communities.
- Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions due in part to increasingly inactive lifestyles.
- An estimated 25% of morning traffic is parents driving their children to school.
- More cars on the street make neighborhoods seem less safe, discouraging walking and biking.
- Overcrowded school drop-off
and pick-up areas bring pollution and traffic danger to the doorsteps of our schools.
Safe Routes to School programs can combat these trends by:
- bringing people together in a joyful activity.
- supporting the habit of moderate daily exercise.
- addressing safety concerns with structural improvements and community building.
- providing an open invitation for people to be deliberate about their transportation choices.
- organizing diverse community members around a unifying issue: neighborhood safety.
