Traffic safety is one of the top issues that parents identify as a barrier to walking and biking to school. Safety activities – including educating drivers, implementing school-wide policies, and obtaining funding for safety improvements – are all part of improving safety around your school.
A Safety Campaign is an organized initiative that increases motorists' awareness of students walking and bicycling. It can include promotional materials, events, infrastructure changes, and/or increased enforcement. A traffic safety campaign can be targeted near schools or in a larger area to address traffic safety throughout a community or city.
School route maps inform parents and students of traffic conditions and walking and biking infrastructure around schools. Maps indicate the most convenient and accessible walking and bicycling routes to and from school. They also identify areas to avoid due to high traffic volumes, limited walkways, absence of controlled street crossings, and other potentially unsafe conditions.
Walking and bicycling audits identify barriers for travel between home and school. Also known as assessments, walking and bicycling audits generally include a tour of the school area where participants identify issues related to walking and biking, followed by a debriefing and brainstorming session to rank concerns and identify potential solutions.