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Center Launches New Safe Routes For Kids Training Project The California Center for Physical Activity has launched a Safe Routes for Kids project that trains communities on addressing walkability on behalf of children and youth. The project was launched in June 2005 through a partnership with the Elk Grove Unified School District and nationally-renowned Safe Routes to School trainers. The first phase of this project is emphasizing safe routes to school in an effort to increase the number of children who walk and bicycle to school. Between 1977 and 1995, there was a 40% decline in active travel—trips made by walking or biking—among children between the ages of 5-15, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Distance is often noted as a barrier to walking or biking to school; however, of all school trips of one mile or less, only one-third are made by walking, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education: For children who live close to school, walking or biking to school represents a good opportunity to increase physical activity. Safe Routes to School programs aim to improve the safety and walkability of a child's route to school through: education of children and drivers; enforcement of traffic laws in areas around schools, and; engineering of the street environment in an attempt to control traffic and enhance pedestrian safety. Workshops have been developed to bring together school and community representatives and provide them with a blueprint for implementing safe routes to school strategies in their community. The Center partnered with the Elk Grove school district on this workshop because the district was facing major cuts to its bus service due to budget constraints. The Center and school district staff viewed the bus cuts as an opportunity to promote walking and biking and to assess the safety and walkability of routes to school in Elk Grove. The Center also is conducting Safe Routes for Kids trainings in Humboldt, Monterey, San Diego and Shasta counties this fall. For more information, contact Cyndi Guerra Walter at cguerra@cdph.ca.gov.
Copyright © California Center for Physical Activity. |
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