On Wednesday, Oct. 8, thousands of students, parents and communities representing more than 4,300 schools across the United States walked and biked to school to celebrate International Walk to School Day: Culver City was one of those communities. El Marino, Linwood Howe, La Ballona, Farragut and CCMS are all planned Walk to SchoolDay Activities.
“Our goals are to reduce traffic around the schools, and introduce safe, active living habits to the community,” Walk ‘n Rollers Founder Jim Shanman said. “This is a great opportunity to teach children essential safety lessons, like stopping at curbs, crossing at intersections and looking in all directions before crossing.
El Marino hosted a welcome table at the bike racks, with goodies and raffle prizes. Linwood Howe had people meet-up at City Hall at 8 a.m. while La Ballona arranged a meet-up at Telfson Park at 8:10 a.m.
Farragut also had a welcome table and goodies at the bike racks, while Culver City Middle School set up a welcome table in front of the school at 7:30 a.m. CCMS is also planning monthly meet-ups at Vets and Lindberg Parks.
This one-day event in the U.S. is a part of an international effort in more than 40 countries to celebrate the many benefits of safely walking and bicycling to school and to encourage more families to consider getting out of the car and onto their feet on the way to school in October. Walk to School Day began in 1997 with a single school. Since then, participation has grown every year.
“Getting to and from schoolare two of the most important journeys children make every day,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx. “Through our new pedestrian and bicycling initiative, Safer People, Safer Streets, we are providing communities with the streets, signals, bike paths and tools needed to make walking and bicycling safer for kids, parents and teachers.”
Walk to School events were hosted nationwide on Wednesday and throughout the month of October.
“We would like for parents to start recognizing that they don’t have to drive door-to-door everyday when getting to school,” Shanman said. “Our hope is that parents will realize that walking a few blocks to school makes a big difference and doesn’t add much time to their schedules.”
The National Center for Safe Routes to School maintains the Walk and Bike to School website, www.walkbiketoschool. org, with funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. The National Center also serves as the clearinghouse for the Federal Safe Routes to School Program, established in 2005, which strives to create safe settings to enable more parents and children to walk and bicycle to school. More than 17,000 schools participate in programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
To view the names and locations of registered U.S. schools participating in Walk to School Day 2014, persons interested can visit www.walktoschool. org/whos-walking/2014.
“Walk to School Day is a chance for families and schools to come together to promote safe walking and bicycling in their communities,” said Lauren Marchetti, director of the National Center for Safe Routes to School, which serves as the coordinating agency for the event. “This event helps reinforce the importance of physical activity, safe transportation environments for walking and bicycling, and provides an opportunity for families to connect with their neighborhood and community.”
For a complete list of other countries participating in International Walk to School Day, visit: www.iwalktoschool.org/ whoswalking.