Start the new school year off on the right foot, and consider how you’re getting there.
Active and Safe Routes to School wants students to be able to walk, bike or roll to and from school. Why is that important? There’s lots of personal and community benefits, including increased physical activity, reduced traffic congestion, safer streets and neighbourhoods, improved air quality, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Here are some things you can do to support active school travel this fall.
Take advantage of the warm fall weather and walk, bike or roll to school. Plan out a route and try to walk or bike one day. Invite your neighbours to join! With a little guidance, lots of kids are able to walk, bike or roll on their own too, which gives them an opportunity to build confidence and independence, and frees up time for busy parents.
Not sure where to start? Participate in Walktober!
Walktober (walking October) is a great opportunity to try out walking to school. Choose a day or week to walk to school, and spend some time before doing a trial run of the route.
We want to remind Manitobans that slower speeds means safer streets. By driving slower you can prevent crashes and reduce the severity of injuries if there is a collision. Every km/h slower has an impact.
Pedestrians have been shown to have a 90% chance of survival when struck by a car travelling at 30 km/h or below, but less than 50% chance of surviving an impact at 45 km/h.
Help end the cycle of driving! If families don’t feel confident that their children are safe while walking, biking, or skating to school, they aren’t inclined to let them. This creates a cycle in which fewer and fewer children are on the street and drivers are inclined to move faster because there seems to be nobody around. Let’s end the cycle by making streets safe, and children can start using them.
Think of School Zones as “Community Zones”
Whether it’s a school day, holiday, or the middle of summer, we need to respect that we’re driving in areas where people live, children go to school, families play, and people walk, bike, or bus to work. They provide safer streets for children, the most vulnerable road users. Which is why we want to see school zones expanded to other areas that children frequent, like community centres, parks, playgrounds or libraries.
Green Action Centre supports 30km/hr speed limits for all residential streets (all arterial and collector roads would remain the same as they are currently, people still need to be able to travel across the city).
You can help make safe speeds a priority in your neighbourhood. Contact your city councillor – send them an email or call to let them know you want safe 30km/h speeds in Winnipeg.
To learn more about safe speeds visit SafeSpeedsWPG.com.
Start a Loan-a-Lock Program
A big barrier for kids biking to school is not being able to keep it safe because they don’t have a safe, secure way to lock it. Keys are an especially hard thing for children to keep track of. You can support students who want to bike to school by starting a loan-a-lock program.
We’re happy to be able to provide some schools with locks to start their own Loan-a-Lock system. Learn more about the program.
How does Loan-A-Lock work?
A school has locks available that students can borrow for the day. A student ‘checks-out’ the lock in the morning and returns it when they leave at the end of the day.
Learn more about Active School Travel
Active and Safe Routes to School is here to support and encourage schools, students and communities across Manitoba with active and healthy school travel. Check out our events and resources!
Have questions?
Get in touch with us anytime! Email asrts@greenactioncentre.ca or call (204) 925-3777
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