Safe Routes To School Initiatives
What are the 5 E’s?
Education
Providing students and the community with the skills to walk and bicycle safely, educating them about benefits of walking and bicycling, and teaching them about the broad range of transportation choices.
Examples:
- WalkEd (presentation and walking walking field trip with 3rd graders provided by the Department of Transportation Services, school-wide assembly provided by Walk Wise Hawaii)
- BikeEd Hawaii (teaches 4th graders how to ride a bicycle on the roadway, administered by the Hawaii Bicycling League)
- Walk Bike Drive (driver education at parent orientation, administered by the Hawaii Bicycling League)
- Driving safety flyers to drivers dropping off children
- Tips on driver and pedestrian safety in school newsletter
- Parking rules brochure to residents and businesses in the area
Encouragement
Generating enthusiasm through events, activities, and programs.
Examples:
- Establishing Walk to School Days and remote drop-off locations
- Creating a rewards program
- Organizing walking school buses and bike trains
- Identifying a point of contact for SRTS at the school
- Beautification (artwork, cleaning, plants) along the route to school – Join the City’s Mālama O Ka ‘Aina program. Contact Scott Goto at sgoto@honolulu.gov or 768-3606.
Evaluation
Where are you at? Where do you want to be? What are the major concerns? Understanding current issues, determining if the aims of the strategies are being met, and defining and measuring success.
Examples:
- Annual SRTS Student Travel Tally and Parent Survey
- Assess school policies
- Track tardiness and absenteeism
Enforcement
Detering unsafe behaviors of drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists and to encourage all road users to obey traffic laws and share the road safely.
Examples:
- Identify illegal parking and notify the Honolulu Police Department using Honolulu 311 or by calling 911
- Recruit a traffic monitor (crossing guard) – contact Randy Tolentino at rtolentino@honolulu.gov or 723-3414 with the applicant’s information
- Create a Junior Police Officer (JPO) program – contact Randy Tolentino at rtolentino@honolulu.gov or 723-3414 to start a program
- Establish SRTS Watch
Engineering
Child-focused physical improvements to make walking and bicycling safer, more comfortable, and more convenient by making the roadway intuitive and accessible to children.
Examples:
- Walk audit (walk around school to assess current conditions from a child’s perspective)
- Designate routes to school to focus resources
- Traffic data collection (speed data, traffic volumes, collisions; data collected by the Department of Transportation Services)
- Traffic calming measures to reduce speeds
- Quick builds (use of signs, markings, and temporary materials to quickly test and assess changes to the roadway)
Get Involved
I want to make it safer for students in my area to walk and bike to school. How can I get started?
First, discuss with the school administration as to whether the school has an existing SRTS plan and how you can get involved. If the school does not have a SRTS plan or if the plan needs to be updated, begin by forming a SRTS team. Anyone can be a SRTS champion and form a SRTS team in their neighborhood. SRTS teams are comprised of parents, school staff, local government staff, police and community partners. The purpose of the team is to create a SRTS program by identifying issues and solutions of the surrounding area, documenting this process in a SRTS plan, and implementing the initiatives identified in the SRTS plan.
Next, collect baseline data to understand perceived needs and issues of parents, students, and the community. Data collection is also necessary for setting benchmarks to evaluate future SRTS initiatives and tracking progress over time. The Student Travel Tally and Parent Survey can be used for this purpose. The data should be collected on an annual basis.
Stakeholders:
- School principal (find your school)
- Parent Teacher Student Association
- Honolulu Police Department
- Neighborhood Boards
- City Council Members
- State SRTS Coordinator
- City SRTS Coordinator – cchsrts@honolulu.gov or 768-8312
- Hawaii Bicycling League
If you would like your organization listed here as a resource for SRTS groups to contact, please contact the City SRTS Coordinator.