Abstract
Active and Safe Routes to School is a national movement dedicated to children’s mobility, health, and overall wellness. The main goal revolves around promoting active school travel through a variety of community and school initiatives. Active and Safe Routes to School promotes healthier students, fewer emissions resulting in less air pollution, and overall safer school zones by reducing traffic volumes due to the focus on non-infrastructure and infrastructure measures. The program addresses a wide array of success factors and is a proven cost-effective intervention to get more kids active on their way to school.
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References
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Acknowledgments
The author would like to express sincere appreciation to the key informants for this case study: Jacky Kennedy of the Green Communities Association in Toronto, ON, Canada and Catherine O’Brien of the Centre for Sustainable Transportation in Eaganville, ON, Canada—whose consultation made this project possible.
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Appendices
BRIO Model: Active and Safe Routes to School
Group Served: Elementary school students .
Goal: Promoting active school travel to improve children’s mobility, health, and create safer school zones.
Background | Resources | Implementation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
The worst child pedestrian accident rate in Europe was found in Denmark, where the preliminary model for SRTS was developed—being successful in reducing the number of injuries Four models exist: Traffic calming model, designed to change motorists’ behaviors; Funding model, to create education campaigns; Encouragement model, for programs that work directly with the public and politics; and the Enforcement model, to respond to child pedestrian injuries and death In Ontario, ASRTS is under the Green Communities Canada and started in 1999 to implement the program | Seven provinces have implemented an ASRTS program, with a variety of communities and hubs required to coordinate efforts—including schools, school boards, municipalities Ontario supporters include the Heart and Stroke Foundation, CAA, and Metrolinx ASRTS lacks a steady budget—but has received two substantial grants in 2001 and 2017 ASRTS has a popular website that allows schools and communities to share success stories and ideas to build a social capital network | More than 200 elementary schools participate in Toronto ASRTS program provides suggested components as part of the school year calendar A variety of programs and campaigns are implemented across the country for a variety of different goals including walking school busses, creating safer school zones, and motivating students and parents to be more active on their way to school | The results indicate that the school routes projects significantly reduced the number of accidents registered with the police by 18%, which corresponds to 17.7 accidents a year Also, there was a falling trend in personal injuries by 20% or 8.8 personal injuries a year ASRTS has also increased physical activity levels of children |
Life Space Model : Active and Safe Routes to School
Sociocultural: civilization/community | Interpersonal: primary and secondary relationships | Physical environments: where we live | Internal states: biochemical/genetic and means of coping |
|---|---|---|---|
Participatory, collaborative planning process involving the whole school community in program goals and delivery Dissemination of knowledge to community about a multitude of issues: child pedestrian safety, childhood obesity, benefits of active living, joy of sustainable transportation, environmental damage, over-reliance on cars Community involvement at different levels: civil engineers, police, municipal government, teachers, parents, and students working together to make roads to school safe Community advocacy is promoted | Increased driver-pedestrian awareness Neighborhood cohesion through programs like WSB Closer school-family relations | Neighborhood walkabout, safety audit Traffic technology measures Traffic calming measures | Empowerment of children, teachers and parents and other members of the community to become advocates of their health, the environment, and road safety Development of long-term appreciation for sustainable transportation |
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Janmohamed, A. (2020). Active and Safe Routes to School. In: Volpe, R. (eds) Casebook of Traumatic Injury Prevention. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27419-1_23
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