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Why Johnny Can’t Ride to School: Safe Routes on the National Stage
When you see David Darlington’s byline, you know it’s going to be good.
A longtime contributor to Bicycling magazine, his heart-wrenching feature on cyclist fatalities earned a prestigious National Magazine Award in 2009. Now, in the June issue, Darlington digs into another important issue: Safe Routes to School.
- Photo by Nathaniel Welch (Bicycling magazine)
In his in-depth investigation — Why Johnny Can’t Ride — Darlington introduces readers to a family in Saratoga Springs who defied an administrative ban on biking to the local middle school. He examines the many factors that have caused the number of kids who walk or bike to school to fall from nearly 50 percent in 1969 to just 13 percent in 2009. And, interviewing advocates like League president Andy Clarke, he makes the case for improved infrastructure, supportive local policies and continued federal funding for Safe Routes to School.
In fact, the piece was so thought-provoking that Darlington appeared on NPR’s Talk of the Nation yesterday. Click here to listen.
- Robert Ping
It’s a great segment and, as Robert Ping from the Safe Routes to School National Partnership points out, “With May being National Bike Month, it’s the perfect time to be talking about riding and walking to school.” With Safe Routes in the national headlines, Ping provides some additional resources for both longtime advocates and those new to the movement in his his follow-up blog post, including:
- Safe Routes to School programs can increase walking and bicycling by as much as 200 percent and improve safety by 49 percent, and increased physical activity rates in children results in better cardiovascular fitness, including for those who actively commute to school. Find more facts about Safe Routes to School here.
- Safe Routes to School champions quickly learn that Safe Routes to School are safe routes for everyone and that they are also promoting healthier and sustainable communities. From Complete Streets to joint use policies, find important information about policy change here.
- Understanding all aspects of Safe Routes to School is key and by truly understanding liability issues, schools, nonprofits and parent groups can help students reap the health and academic benefits of Safe Routes to School programs while minimizing any risks. These two fact sheets can help your school address liability concerns.
- The Safe Routes to School National Partnership doesn’t grant any federal dollars, but as a nonprofit we do lead the movement in advocating for a federal Safe Routes to School program and win the transportation dollars needed to build sidewalks, crosswalks and bicycle paths, so that families can walk and ride safely to school. Join the cause and speak up for Safe Routes to School today.
And get involved in your community, too. This year marks the first-ever National Bike to School Day on May 9th. Find more information and resources on the new www.walkbiketoschool.com website from the National Center for Safe Routes to School.
Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
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May 3rd, 2012 at 9:33 am
Great article but it’s the same mantra of “infrastructure building, bike lanes and safe routes” which may already be present in many communities.
What is ignored is the power of the teacher’s and school bus drivers unions who in many municipalities dictate how your child travels to school. If more children road their bikes to school, less buses would be needed with drivers being laid off. Cold calculating but true.
Local schools even sabotage students from bicycling to class. Our local high school had a bicycle rack out front for years. One rack holding about eight bikes for a school of 400 students. Guess what? They even took THAT away. Worse yet my children and me have been buzzed by school busses while cycling on the side of the road. A school bus? So unless we address union involvement in these decisions, we can build but they still will not come.
May 3rd, 2012 at 9:59 am
There ARE schools that get it. Our Northeast Ohio bicycle store, Century Cycles, teams up with Raleigh Bicycles and other sponsors to organize very successful Bike To School Challenges each May. This year over 4,000 students in the Bay Village, Rocky River and Medina schools will take the challenge on May 7-25. We incentivize them to bicycle to school as much as possible to help the environment, improve their health and have fun. For more details, visit http://www.centurycycles.com/for/BTS.
Getting kids to ride their bikes to school can be transformative for the entire community — besides the improving air quality around schools, improving children’s test scores and health, and inspiring their parents to use their bikes for transportation. Our Bike To School Challenge program is in its 5th year in Bay Village — in addition to racking up more than 100,000 miles of bicycling, the Bay students have motivated the city to become more bike-friendly with “Share The Road” signs and other initiatives, and Bay schools have applied to Safe Routes to School. Bay Village’s mayor frequently credits BTS Challenge for why she sees more bicyclists around Bay Village all year long — and rides her bike more herself.
May 3rd, 2012 at 12:32 pm
Thanks for reminding me. I was going to send that article to our Schools Superintendent.
An additional consideration–we need to reach out to parents. We tried to use a SRTS logic to get kids to ride to one of our elementary schools. The biggest pushback came from the parents and indirectly from the administration, because it was “too dangerous” to have kids riding to school in that damn sea of SUVs and the school was not going to do anything about the sea of SUVs.
If you don’t get to the grassroots and get the parents on board, i.e., get them to leave some of those battleships home, its an uphill fight.
May 4th, 2012 at 8:58 am
[...] Award-Winning Journalist Puts Safe Routes to School on National Stage (LAB) [...]
May 5th, 2012 at 6:18 am
While trying to find out more about the Adam Marino story, I came across this story that was sort of alluded to in the article, but needs to be emphasized:
Adam is this year the state Cross-Country skiing champion in his age group:
http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2012/02/05/sports/doc4f2f56a0a50cd131018564.txt
Would he have been able to do that if he spent the off-season strapped in the back of an SUV every day?
May 8th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Great article, I appreciate you writing this post. I will be reading your blog regularly from now on! Appreciate it.