Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs are sustained efforts by parents, schools, community leaders, public health, and metropolitian planning organizations to improve the health and well-being of children by enabling and encouraging them to walk and bicycle to school.
Successful SRTS programs include policy development, planning, and implementation of the 6 E’s
Engineering
Education
Encouragement
Enforcement
Evaluation
Equity
The 6 E’s would include things like:
- Walkability and bikeability audits on safe routes
- Strategies to improve sidewalk conditions on identified safe routes
- Traffic calming devices to slow traffic and give pedestrians priority
- Educating children on walking and bicycling safety
- Challenging students to walk and bike to school
- Implementation of a walking school bus
- Providing opportunities for all students to participate
- Parent walking and biking surveys
- Safety patrol and crossing guard programs
- Student arrival and departure counts
- Bike rodeos
- Walk and bike to school days
Siouxland District Health Department and SIMPCO provide technical assistance to schools in Woodbury County who are interested in starting a SRTS program. Contact Angela Drent at adrent@siouxlanddistricthealth.org for more information.
Everybody Walk! Video
Iowa Safe Routes to School
National Center for Safe Routes to School