As fewer families walk, bike, and bus, and more drive their children to school, arrival and departure procedures have become a common safety concern for schools. The problem is, too many people want to be in exactly the same place at exactly the same time. High traffic volumes at schools can have the effect of discouraging walkers, bringing still more cars to your doorstep.
Feet First and the Seattle Safe Routes to School Partnership are working with Wedgwood Elementary in Northeast Seattle to improve safety during student drop-off and pick-up. One of the key building blocks has been to design a circulation plan for the school that details the rules for drop-off and pick-up by car, and also features information about how best to reach the campus by foot, bus, and bike. The circulation plan image to the right has just been approved by the school’s Safety Committee, and will be distributed to families in the spring and again in the fall.
If arrival and departure is an issue at your school, now is a good time to get started solving this problem. Distributing a circulation plan to families before the year is out and then again in the fall will give you a leg up on improving safety at your school.
Improving arrival and departure procedures is just one aspect of our current Safe Routes to School projects in Seattle. Learn more about our current Safe Routes to School projects and how are making it easier and safer for kids to walk to school: Wedgwood Elementary, Greenwood Elementary, Mercer Middle School and South Shore PK-8.