Safe Routes to School: 2007 State of the States Report

Publication Date: October 2007

Publisher: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

Very few children walk or bike to school today. But this wasn't always the case. In 1969, according to the National Household Travel Survey, about 50 percent of children in the U.S. walked or bicycled to school. By 2001, only about 15 percent of students walked or biked to school.

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a program that creates safe, convenient and fun opportunities for children to bicycle and walk to and from their schools. The program seeks to increase the number of children walking and bicycling to schools, and to improve traffic safety and mobility. SRTS also aims to play a critical role in helping children be more active on a daily basis.

This report provides an update on the implementation of the SRTS program in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report includes a description of the health, safety and community concerns that the SRTS program helps address, an outline of the enabling legislation, an overview of the progress made in all the states, early success stories, observations and available resources.