2025 Walk Bike and Roll to School Day

Walk, Bike & Roll to School Day from the National Center for Safe Routes to School

NovoaGlobal’s mission is to create safer communities. We do this with photo enforcement, especially school zone speed enforcement so children are safe to walk, bike and roll to school. We support the National Center for Safe Routes to School’s efforts to encourage children and families to walk, bike and roll to school. 

The National Center for Safe Routes to School is committed to empowering communities to make active trips to school a safe, appealing, preferred choice for families. The National Center facilitates communities in becoming places for safe walking, biking and rolling for everyone, starting with children and the trip to school.   

According to the National Center for Safe Routes to School,  in 2016, they launched the Vision Zero for Youth initiative, linking Walk, Bike & Roll to School Day events with communities and elected officials making a commitment to promote safe walking and rolling and to eliminate fatal and serious traffic crashes. 

The National Center is applying what’s been learned during 10 years of supporting and documenting the many accomplishments of the SRTS program as a framework for advancing the larger goals of Vision Zero/Road to Zero. They promote safe walking and rolling by: 

• Using Safe Routes to School as a framework for Vision Zero for Youth. 
• Engaging local elected officials and communities in building support for Vision Zero starting with youth. 
• Fostering youth advocacy for safe streets. 
• Recognizing and celebrating noteworthy road safety practices through the U.S. and International Vision Zero for Youth Leadership Awards, which are awarded annually to cities taking bold steps to reach zero traffic deaths among children and youth in their communities. 
• Using Walk & Roll to School Day and Bike & Roll to School Day to increase local leader commitment and visibility for traffic safety.
• Expanding student travel data collection to examine the relationship between student and parent walking, biking and rolling frequency.

Promoting Safety

In 2009, 203,000 children ages 15 and younger were injured in motor vehicles crashes; 15,000 of those injured were pedestrians (NHTSA, 2011). Priority must be placed on making it possible for everyone to walk & roll safely, especially in neighborhoods and school zones.

To reduce the risk of injury:

• Children and adults need to learn safe walking, biking and rolling skills.
• Drivers need to watch for others using the road.
• Safety problems along routes to school need to be fixed.

Some of the best ways to increase the safety of a child’s walking or rolling trip to school are to:

• Provide safe, well-maintained walkways separate from vehicles.
• Teach children to cross streets at marked crossings and to always look left-right-left.
• Slow traffic in neighborhoods and near schools through traffic calming strategies and enforcement efforts.
• Work with parents of children with disabilities and special education professionals to identify accessibility barriers.
• Ensure that walkways are continuous and meet or exceed national accessibility standards.
• Install curb ramps at every intersection and at mid-block crossings.
• Provide accessible pedestrian signals at intersections.

A note about personal security:

Parents and other adults sometimes worry about children encountering bullies or strangers on the way to or from school. Parents may fear kidnapping or assault. While the actual occurrences are extremely rare, it’s important to deal with both perceptions and documented problems and to create a plan that will minimize risk. Asking parents to walk with children to school is one way to address this concern. Some communities start walking school buses or bicycle trains as a way to have an adult presence on the street.

Community Benefits

The whole community benefits from efforts to enable and encourage more children to walk, bike or roll to school safely. Benefits include:

• Improved Health. Daily or regular walking or biking improves the overall health of both children and adults. Exercise, in general, refers to physical activity that is performed to enhance or maintain physical and mental health. It involves a variety of activities that increase heart rate and burn calories, contributing to improved fitness and overall well-being.
• Less traffic congestion. According to the 2011 National Center for Safe Routes to School report, personal vehicles taking students to school accounted for 10 to 14 percent of all personal vehicle trips made during the morning peak commute times (based on National Household Travel Survey Data, 2009). Reducing the number of private vehicles commuting to school can reduce morning traffic around the school. Less traffic congestion also improves conditions for pedestrians and bicyclists, creating a positive cycle—as the community sees more people walking and rolling, more people feel comfortable walking and rolling.
• Stronger sense of community. The common goal of improving conditions for walking and bicycling brings families, neighbors, school officials and community leaders together. The sense of community also builds as children and parents develop walking and rolling buddies and chat with neighbors on the sidewalk or path.
• Safer streets. Communities with higher rates of walking and rolling tend to have lower crash rates for all travel modes. One reason may be that motorists drive more cautiously when they expect to encounter walkers and rollers. More walkers and rollers can also improve personal security by providing more “eyes on the street.”
• Lower costs. Encouraging and enabling active trips reduces costs for the family, community and school district. Families save on gas, communities spend less on building and maintaining roads and school districts spend less on busing. In fact, one school district calculated $237,000 in annual savings.
• Improved accessibility. Enabling students of all abilities to walk and roll to school makes it easier for everyone in the community to get around, including parents with strollers, senior citizens, residents without cars and residents with temporary or permanent mobility impairments.
• Economic gains. Sidewalks, paths and other investments in pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure can increase home values and direct additional traffic to local businesses.

Contact Us

Ask us about our School Zone Speed Enforcement that changes driver behavior and makes communities safer for families to walk, bike, and roll together.

Contact us: 888-666-4218, Ext. 6 for East Coast and Ext. 7 for West Coast.  We can also be reached at [email protected]