Safe Routes to School

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"Safe Routes to School" is a blanket term for nonprofit and/or government programs which encourage local governments to improve walking and cycling infrastructure around schools. Such programs typically highlight unsafe walking and cycling conditions around schools, provide grant money which local governments can apply for in order to pay for physical improvements, and include promotional material produced by children to encourage walking and cycling and to discourage parents from driving their children to school.

Campaign groups and local authorities around the world have been actively involved since the 1990s. In the UK cycle path charity Sustrans is particularly active. In the US there is now The National Center for Safe Routes to School .

A successful Safe Routes to School project involves school staff, pupils and parents and local officials responsible for transport. Most often the project will include a walking tour which highlights unsafe walking and cycling conditions and recommends traffic calming improvements such as retiming of traffic signals to allow for more walking time, or striping crosswalks in places where they do not exist.

[edit] In the United States

Funding for a national Safe Routes to School program was included in SAFETEA-LU, the most recent federal transportation reauthorization legislation. The national program acts as a pass-through by which pedestrian safety funding is funneled to state governments, which award grants to localities.