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Greetings!
Happy Holidays to everyone. I hope this newsletter finds you preparing for time with family and friends. It is a wonderful time of year for recharging ourselves. I know the teachers and school staff are looking forward to well deserved breaks. I encourage you all to take the holidays for that relaxation and recharging. Let's all envision the new year as a time to find new ways to encourage our students to be healthy and active. It is Montana but we can still walk and bike to school. The newletter includes some thoughts on preparing for the cold weather. By encouraging students, parents and staff to walk and bike to school through winter we can all take steps toward being more healthy and to fighting off the winter blues if they try to sneak in. Get out and enjoy the beauty that Montana winters bring!
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Recycle-a-Bicycle Youth Bike Summit 2012
|  Recycle-A-Bicycle is thrilled to announce the Youth Bike Summit 2012! The Youth Bike Summit is a three day gathering geared toward youth, bicycles, education, and advocacy. This annual national conference offers a dynamic inter-generational exchange through educational workshops and panel discussions that are interactive and practical. Save the date! Please help spread the word! For more information, please visit our website. WHEN: Friday January 13 - Sunday January 15, 2012
WHERE: The New School in New York, NY
ADMISSION: $10/youth; $25/adult Fundraising Tips: Want to come to the Youth Bike Summit but need help fundraising for a trip to New York City? Click here for some helpful tips! Youth Bike Summit 2012 is being planned by a Steering Committee comprised of officers, educators, and youth from youth bike education organizations throughout the country, including Bike Works, Bikes Not Bombs, Community Bicycle Center, Community Cycling Center, Neighborhood Bike Works, Phoenix Bikes, Sibley Bike Depot, West Town Bikes, and more! |
| National Center Releases "Getting Results" Resources | |
Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs are impacting communities across the country in measurable ways. Local SRTS programs can: help reduce traffic congestion in neighborhoods and around schools, improve driver behavior, and increase bicycling and walking to school. To highlight the visible results gained by communities and to provide examples of how successful SRTS programs tracked their progress, the National Center for Safe Routes to School has developed a series of "Getting Results" resources.
"These new resources are designed to help communities think ahead about how to identify desired outcomes and measure a program's impact, and to highlight how SRTS programs have helped address problems that impact entire communities," said Associate Director Nancy Pullen-Seufert. "Measuring the impact of SRTS activities can help a local SRTS program evaluate its progress, pursue additional funding or even market its efforts."
The three-part "Getting Results" series will highlight SRTS programs that have helped achieve:
- Traffic reduction
- Changes in driver behavior that improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists
- Increased student participation in walking and bicycling.
The first piece, "Getting Results: SRTS Programs That Reduce Traffic," shows that specific schools in Utah, Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina, Vermont and California measured success after using a variety of traffic reduction strategies. For schools that seek to develop programs that reduce the number of vehicles near the school during arrival and dismissal times, they should take a baseline measurement of traffic before starting any strategies so that it can be compared to traffic once reduction efforts are underway or complete.
The next two "Getting Results" resources will be released in the following months, so check the Safe Routes to School website www.saferoutesinfo.org for examples of programs that have influenced driver behavior to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists and also for tracking increased walking and bicycling. Click here for more information
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Tips for Cold Weather Walking and Biking
|  Fair weather fashion As trees go bare and the temperature begins to drop, kids need to adjust their wardrobe choices in order to make their walk or bike ride to school safe and comfortable. Parents can help children make good decisions about what to wear and learn how to prepare for colder weather.
Add an extra layer
Teach your kids how to put together outfits with multiple layers, so they can remove one or two after they get to school. Make sure clothing is comfortable and easy to put on and remove. Also be sure your child has a good place to store discarded layers during the school day so they can be put back on when it's time to go home. Protect exposed skin
When winter wind and colder temperatures arrive, make sure kids are fully equipped with a winter hat, gloves, and a scarf to keep extremities warm. Check socks and shoes for holes, and consider coating shoes with a water-repellent fabric treatment or investing in waterproof shoes to keep feet dry. Get some traction
Icy or snow-covered sidewalks can cause children to slip and slide, especially if their shoes have poor traction. If the soles of your children's shoes are worn smooth or simply do not grip sidewalks well enough, replace them or have kids wear winter boots during travel and change shoes when they arrive at school. Pack a backup
Consider packing an extra pair of socks or even a full change of clothes in your child's backpack, in case he or she gets wet on the way to school. Warm, dry clothing will help your student focus and perform better in the classroom. The ultimate accessory: water bottles
With all those extra layers on, kids may lose more water through perspiration during their journey. To avoid dehydration, make sure children are drinking plenty of water before and after they travel to and from school. |
The Right Tools for the Trip to School
| The right safety measures can help make walking or biking to school a great experience for kids. There are several "tools" that will help ensure your child is fully equipped to get to and from school safely, and they won't cost a thing!
A walking buddy. Talk to a neighbor or friend and arrange for your kids to walk or bike to school together. It's a good idea for children to walk in groups, and it's more fun!
A safe house. Find a neighbor, local business, or other location along the route to school and ask whether your child would be able to wait there for a ride in an emergency. Make sure kids know where to go if something happens and they need an adult.
Important numbers. Write down your home phone number and address, your work and cell phone numbers, and a number for another trusted adult and put them in your child's backpack. Also, be sure children know where they can stop to use a telephone if they need to contact you.
Visibility assistance. It is possible that the skies could still be dark when kids leave to walk or ride to school. Be sure your kids can see and be seen easily-give them a flashlight, have them wear reflective clothing or bright colors, and make sure they realize that drivers may not always be able to see them.
Make sure your children understand the importance of each of these resources, as well as when and how to use them. Simple steps can make walking or biking to school as safe as it is fun and rewarding!
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| National Center for Safe Routes to School Releases U.S. School Travel Research | |
School Travel Trends Tracked for Four Decades: National Report Shows More Students Driven to School
CHAPEL HILL, NC - Where can you find the most recent data on school travel in the U.S.? The National Center for Safe Routes to School recently released "How Children Get to School: School Travel Patterns from 1969 to 2009," a research report which provides insight into national trends in U.S. school travel. Using information from the 2001 and 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) and its predecessor the 1969 and 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Surveys (NPTS), the report describes how student school travel in the United States changed between 1969 and 2009.
"Previously, various sources have been cited to document travel to school, which has sometimes resulted in comparing apples to oranges," said Lauren Marchetti, Director of the National Center for Safe Routes to School. "The NHTS is the only nationally representative survey on youth school travel, and it was a priority for our researchers to develop a central resource for this information in an easily accessible and approachable format. While the report is not specific to Safe Routes to School (SRTS), the findings can be used to create benchmarks for SRTS programs and others to better interpret local travel information they are collecting."
"How Children Get to School: School Travel Patterns from 1969 to 2009" addresses school travel trends in general, which is an important body of knowledge for anyone working to impact the way children get to school to understand, including communities and individuals involved with SRTS. This report presents the two measures of school travel captured by the NHTS: one measure provided by parents and the other by students and then highlights the differences in data between these two groups.
As stated in the report, statistics show that from 1995 to 2009 among those students living within one mile of school-a distance often considered easily walkable and bikeable-there were no significant changes in school travel trends. When all students are considered, regardless of distance lived from school, the percentage of students driven to school in personal vehicles increased while walking and school bus use dipped slightly and bicycle use stabilized. The report also indicates that parents driving students and teens driving themselves to school accounted for 10-14 percent of all the personal vehicle trips made during the morning of the school year.
Click here to access the full report.
The National Center recently released another report, "Federal Safe Routes to School Program Progress Report," which addresses the progress of the federal Safe Routes to School Program specifically. It found that since the federal program began in 2005, more than 10,400 U.S. schools across all income levels have participated in SRTS programs, and all three main requirements of implementing the law have been achieved. Click here to learn more about the progress of the federal SRTS program.
About the National Household Travel Survey
The U.S. Department of Transportation conducts the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) to assess the country's transportation patterns every 5 to 10 years. The 2009 NHTS updated information gathered in the 2001 NHTS and in prior Nationwide Personal Transportation Surveys (NPTS) conducted in 1969, 1977, 1983, 1990, and 1995. Click here for more information.
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National Center Announces
Bike to School Day | |
The National Center is planning a first-ever national bike to school event and celebration. Save the Date and get ready to shift into a new gear with Bike to School Day on May 9, 2012. It's the Wednesday before Bike to Work Week. |
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Sincerely,
Taylor Lonsdale
Montana Safe Routes to School
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Important Dates
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December 31 - Montana SRTS funding application is due.
January 13-15 - Recycle-a-Bicycle Youth Summit
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