What is the City of El Monte’s Safe Routes To School Program?
The number of children who walk or bicycle to school in the Califoria has steadily decreased over the past 50 years. At the same time, communities are seeing increased traffic around schools, traffic collisions, air pollution, and childhood obesity.
The City of El Monte’s Safe Routes to School program is designed to increase the number of children walking and bicycling to school and positively impact the school communities in the City of El Monte.
These programs include:
- Teach children how to walk to school safely
- Improve student health by cultivating early physical activity habits
- Make walking to school safer by reducing motor vehicle collision injuries and fatalities
- Reduce driving and traffic congestion around schools, leading to better air quality
- Improve academic performance, self-confidence, and independence among children
- Increase physical activity for the whole community
The City of El Monte’s Safe Routes to School program involves multiple approaches with different partners. The program addresses the following 5Es:
- Engineering – making sure the streets and sidewalks around the school are built for safety
- Education – ensuring children, parents, and neighbors know how to walk, bike, and drive safely
- Encouragement – making it fun for children, parents, and neighbors to walk and bike
- Enforcement – ensuring traffic laws and school policies are followed
- Evaluation – checking progress of the program and making changes as needed
