Helping Kids Stay Safe...and Fit!

It is widely advertised that levels of physical activity in children have declined in the past several decades. This drop in physical activity has resulted in declining physical fitness and health and rising obesity rates. Type 2 diabetes, which is closely linked to obesity, was previously called “adult-onset” diabetes, but is now being diagnosed frequently in children and teenagers.

One school in Connecticut requested recommendations to make walking safer on this rural highway with no sidewalks.

Walking or biking to school could play a valuable part in keeping children physically active. The federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program was designed to empower schools and communities to make walking and bicycling to school a safe and routine activity.

FHI is a strong proponet of SRTS, as our vision calls for us to promote livable communities.  Through our bike/ped practice, we are currently assisting the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CT DOT) to expand its SRTS program. Over the next two years, FHI will be providing support to individual schools wanting to develop an SRTS plan or needing services that fall within the non-infrastructure components of SRTS (education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation). 

Another school recently requested engineering recommendations to improve the safety in and around the school entrance and driveway at drop off and pick up times.

CT DOT and FHI expect that a total of 30 schools will be able to participate in the non-infrastructure assistance from Fall 2009 through Summer 2011. FHI and CT DOT will work together to select kindergarten through eighth grade schools in urban, suburban, and rural areas. The selected schools will participate on an on-going basis over the two-year period. All schools will be eligible to participate; however, some of the services, such as a bicycle rodeo event, will only be available to schools that have an adopted SRTS Master Plan. Other offerings, such as mapping, will be availble to any school wishing to develop a SRTS Master Plan.

Over the past several years, FHI has built strong SRTS credentials, working with regions, municipalities and schools throughout Connecticut to help them develop SRTS Master Plans. FHI staff completed an SRTS Master Plan for Roton Middle School in Norwalk in 2009. Susan VanBenschoten and Rachel Bright recently finished a series of walk audits and mapping exercises for schools in South Windsor and Newington. And Marcy Miller, already certified as a League of American Bicyclist Instructor, became certified to teach the National SRTS Instructor Course. This certification gives Marcy the credentials to teach the national curriculum to interested towns and districts.