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Idaho Transportation
Department
Public Affairs Office
P.O. Box 7129
Boise, ID 83707
208.334.8005
Fax: 208.334.8563
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Children encouraged to walk to school Oct. 6
Event highlights health, environmental safety issues

It should be one of the most carefree journeys a child makes – the trek to and from school. Yet, a number of factors conspire against children to make it a high-risk trip:

  • Children travel as part of a group and are engaged in social interaction that robs them of attention to traffic.
  • Increasingly, children suffer under the weight of a heavy backpack that makes riding bicycles and walking a challenge.
  • The routes often are congested, and too frequently, are inadequate for the volume of walking/biking traffic.
  • And their morning journey competes with commuter traffic – preoccupied motorists in a hurry to reach their workplace.

The importance of providing safe routes to schools is a critical part of transportation. Idaho expects to join other states across the nation next year in focusing resources to improve school routes and ensure children the carefree journey they should expect.

The need for safe routes is clear.

In Idaho last year, 57 children ages 4-14 were injured in pedestrian crashes, and another 110 children in the same age range were involved in bicycle crashes. Ninety-nine percent of bicyclists received some form of injury, according to the Idaho Office of Traffic and Highway Safety. Although bike helmets are effective in preventing 85 percent of the head injuries, only 15 percent of cyclists involved in crashes in 2003 were wearing the protective gear.

"Until about age 10, most kids haven't developed the skills to safely cope with traffic," said Josephine O'Connor of the OTHS. "They typically act on impulse, they can't judge car speed very well, and they assume that if they see you in a car, you can see them."

The Idaho Transportation Department joins school districts throughout the state in promoting “Walk to School Day” Oct. 6. Parents, teachers and school administrators are asked to plan activities on that date to encourage children – with appropriate adult supervision – to walk rather than ride school buses or arrive in the back seat of the family van.

The Walk to School Day was organized in 1994 in Hertfordshire Council, Great Britain. Three years later it was introduced in the United States by the Partnership for a Walkable America with an event in Chicago; another followed later in the year in Los Angeles. The initiative received its own designated week in the U.S. the same year. More than 170,000 Americans from 58 communities participated the following year.

While the journey to school is the primary focus, Walk to School also:

  • Encourages physical fitness
  • Raises the awareness of how walkable a community is and where improvements can be made
  • Focuses attention on the environment
  • Reduces crime
  • Reduces traffic congestion, pollution and speed near schools
  • Creates an opportunity for parents, teachers, school administrators and civic leaders to bond with children.

For information about the international event, see the organization’s web site at: http://www.iwalktoschool.org/

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne joined youngsters in Boise along one of the pedestrian routes last year.

Some Idaho schools have used the event as a catalyst to improve traffic and safety conditions around their facilities; others participated last year to create a fun and educational event, enabling parents to walk with their children and reinforce safety procedures in the process.

Anyone interested in organizing a formal activity in Idaho as part of the International Walk to School event should contact the appropriate school office or coordinate with the state Department of Education.

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