Safe Routes to School (SRTS) National Partnership's Local School Project (LSP): Baseline Evaluation Results

Background

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a national movement to create safe opportunities for children to walk and bicycle to and from schools. We developed an evaluation framework for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership Local Schools Project, which supports local SRTS projects at various schools across the country during the 08-09 school year. Baseline data were collected in Fall 2008 for four sites in Virginia, Washington DC, Georgia, and California. Follow-up data will be collected in the spring of 2009. This abstract focuses on the baseline data in three areas: safety observations, vehicle counts, and focus group data.

Methods

The evaluation at each school site included the Parent Survey and Student Travel Tally from the National Center for SRTS as well as safety observations, vehicle counts, and focus group findings.

Results

Focus groups revealed that parents were concerned about neighborhood crime and traffic safety near schools and adult supervision would increase participation in SRTS activities. Observations showed that most children crossed the street with an adult or crossing guard; very few conflicts were reported between pedestrians and vehicles. Medium sized vehicles were the most commonly observed vehicle type.

Conclusions

Baseline data provide valuable feedback on current prevalence of walking/biking to school at each location, as well as barriers to walking/biking. The results provided information critical to the planning and development of SRTS activities at the four sites, and will be used with the follow-up data to evaluate the program at the conclusion of the school year.