Many schools embrace the themes of International Walk to School and continue to promote and celebrate active travel to school throughout the school year. We hope that the success of these schools will inspire you!!

As part of their support of International Walk to School (IWALK), the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit is planning on conducting a social media competition for IWALK Week to see which school can best spread the word in their community about the benefits of walking to school. Schools whose hashtags (e.g. #MTDavidsonWalksToSchool) generate the best picture of the week, the most content, and the most retweets/shares, will be rewarded with a $150 gift certificate and a golden shoe award. The health unit believes this campaign will create awareness around active travel to school. We will report on their success in our next issue.

Town of Aurora Supports Active School Travel

Devins Drive Public School in Aurora, Ontario, has been enthusiastically promoting Active and Sustainable School Travel and has also been fully engaged with the School Travel Planning process. The project began in the fall of 2012, when a family survey provided insight into specific areas within the school community where pedestrian safety could be improved upon. Since that time, representatives from York Region District School Board, York Region Community and Health Services, Town of Aurora and keen parents participated in a school walkabout in October 2013. Specific items noted during the school walkabout and acted upon include: York Region District School Board helped to improve connectivity by creating a paved pathway from the school yard to sidewalk; the Town of Aurora helped to improve pedestrian safety by addressing traffic calming issues with the addition of stop signs, pavement markings and traffic calming signage. Devins Drive Public School is planning on launching IWalk during International IWalk Week from October 6 to 10, 2014.

Green Communities Canada, Ottawa Public Health, Ottawa Student Transportation Authority, and the Ottawa Safety Council are partnering on a new initiative to bring a daily Walking School Bus (WSB) to eight schools for three months beginning in late September. Uniquely, the project will feature paid leaders in response to a frequent barrier to sustaining WSB initiatives: an over-reliance on parent volunteers. Stay tuned for updates on this exciting new initiative.

 

Nova Scotia Success Stories 

 

Crosswalk Flags - Road Safety Education and Awareness at Shatford Memorial Elementary School in Nova Scotia 

 

Shatford Memorial Elementary School is located in a rural neighbourhood on the outskirts of the Halifax Regional Municipality. The school has been part of the Ecology Action Centre's School Travel Planning Program since 2008, when they joined as part of the Nova Scotia School Travel Planning Pilot. The school has continued to be actively involved in the program throughout the years and has many accomplishment including  connecting the school to the Nova Scotia Rails to Trails infrastructure, working with local RCMP to increase traffic enforcement, participating annually in walking and biking events, hosting multiple walking school buses, and advocating for many road improvements.

 

Crosswalk Flags are a simple idea used to reduce vehicle accidents involving pedestrians. Basically, a container of flags is placed at each end of a local crosswalk and pedestrians are instructed to carry them while crossing. Holding the flags will indicate to a driver that a pedestrian intends to cross.

 

As part of the arrival of the new crosswalk flags, the School Principal, Angela Comeau, refreshed the school population's road and walking safety knowledge and provided a demonstration on how to properly use the crosswalk flags. The Shatford School Travel Planning Committee also created an evaluation sheet to monitor the effectiveness of the program.

 

A New Sidewalk - Improving access for families with young children   

WeeCare Development Centre - Tiny Travel Planning

 

WeeCare Development Centre became a participant of the Ecology Action Centre's Tiny Travel Planning Program in January 2013. Tiny Travel Planning is an adapted version of the centre's School Travel Planning Program that uses a collaborative community-based approach to improve road-safety issues and promote parents and children using sustainable transportation to arrive at and depart from childcare centres. 

 

As part of the Tiny Travel Planning Process, WeeCare surveyed families to identify local road safety concerns and then hosted a community walkabout with traffic officials to communicate what they had learned. One of the major areas of concern was the main road in front of the centre (Young Street) that did not have a sidewalk. The lack of sidewalk made it difficult for centre staff and families to access/exit the centre with young children by foot because of the narrow and steep characteristics of the road.

 

During the walkabout, the Centre Director, Dawn MacFarlane, indicated to Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) staff that she would be willing to lose a parking stall to get a sidewalk. Because of this process and the opportunity for HRM staff to hear from the community, the city began installing a new sidewalk on Young Street this summer. The installation of this sidewalk will lead to many physical activity and field trip opportunities for the children who use this centre.

 

Learn more about Nova Scotia's STP projects and to see more Canadian Success Stories.

 

 

 

 

 

Check out how the Sparks Street Authority want people to have fun while walking and exploring through the installation of these new pedestrian-crossing signs. If you're familiar with Britain's Monty Python comedy troupe then you'll recognize the classic symbol of the 'Ministry of Silly Walks'!

 

South of the border, a movement is underfoot to drastically change American culture and get every American walking enough to achieve a health benefit. It is a double-pronged approach that involves  motivating Americans to move more and making every community walkable. A sold-out walking summit in Washington, D.C. brought together experts from across the U.S. in 2013, to share ideas, plan, and "reimagine" America. The Everybody Walk! collaboration continues to build and is getting Americans walking through social media, with a mobile walking app, a walking pledge, resources, and toolkits. Leaders from many fields are uniting in this cause. A call to action was proposed by the US Surgeon General. Award winning media has been produced including fantastic video clips and public service announcements. A brilliant 30-minute documentary has also been produced. Watch it here! We rate it as a five-star production!

 

The U.S. Everybody Walk! collaborative is led by America Walks and generously funded by Kaiser Permanente.

 

Canada Walks would love to create a similar walking movement here in Canada and we are actively searching for corporate leaders who would be proud to put their name and financial support behind it. Walking IS a wonder drug. Getting Canadians walking is likely the cheapest solution for governments and the benefits of the investment will contribute positively to our health-care crisis, has the potential to significantly reduce traffic congestion, stimulate local economies, all while reducing air pollution and other emissions.

 

"If there were a pill that people could take that would nearly cut in half the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, reduce the risk of cognitive decline, reduce depression and stress, improve emotional well being, every one would be clamouring for it. It would be flying of the shelves. But that pill, that magic potion really is available to everyone in the form of 30 min a day of brisk walking." - The Walking Revolution documentary

 

Freddie the Foot creator recognized  

 

 

 

When we created the IWALK Club resources, we borrowed a great activity from a school in Poole, UK - Find Freddie the Foot. The parent who created this fun activity, Helen Warren, was recently awarded a  for her services to education in the U.K.

 

Congratulations Helen! 

 

 

 

 

 

Zero Vision: A plan to make our roads safe: A report from the U.S.  National Complete Streets Coalition highlights the alarming number of pedestrian deaths -- 4500 pedestrians are killed by motor vehicles every year on the streets of America -- more than those who died in the horror of 9/11 -- and details America's Walking Revolution.

Pro Walk/Pro Bike/Pro Place Conference, Pittsburgh, September 8-11, 2014  

School Travel planning is now available - contact us to learn more.