Are you a staff member at a school or a parent who is interested in helping with Safe Routes to School programming at your local school? Here are some resources and ideas to get you started:
CommuteDPS
Denver Public Schools partnered with other Denver stakeholders to develop CommuteDPS, a resource for families, students, and school leaders to help improve transportation at schools in Denver. Please view the documentation that DPS has at the following link: CommuteDPS
Denver Public Schools Crossing Guard Program
The City and County of Denver and Denver Public Schools have partnered to train and staff Crossing Guards to enhance the safety of families and students arriving to and leaving Denver schools.
More information about the program can be found here: School Crossing Guard Program Information
Teacher Champion Program
Looking for ways to encourage walking, biking, and transportation safety for youth and families at your school? Check out our educational modules available by request here! These are meant to be delivered in a classroom setting for ages K-5. Some modules have take-home components to do with families and adults. The modules are:
- Basic Helmet Fit & Bike Check module to increase safety and success while bike riding,
- Child Passenger Safety while riding in a car, whether it be in a car seat, a booster seat, or with a seatbelt,
- Safe Walking, Rolling, and Biking tips for route planning & building confidence getting around on sidewalks and streets, and
- Safe Drop-Off teaches children, staff, families, and caregivers tips, ideas, and tools to help school drop-off go safely and smoothly.
Each of these great modules includes a kid-friendly educational video with subtitles in English and Spanish, as well as plenty of valuable resources like lesson-plans and take-home handouts for students, parents, and teachers alike.
Request access to the education modules here: SRTS Education Modules Request Form
DRCOG Schoolpool
The Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG), as a part of their Way to Go Transportation Demand Management strategies, offers the Schoolpool program in the Denver region. The Schoolpool program is free to schools to help connect parents and caregivers with each other to find ways to walk, bike, roll, or carpool together to their school locations while building community. Visit DRCOG’s Schoolpool website to learn more: DRCOG Schoolpool
Walking Audits
Walking audits can help identify safety concerns in proximity to the school and can be conducted by school staff or a school PTA/PTO. For instance, School Safety Zones are set up in a standardized approach by DOTI, and sometimes signs are knocked down, or signs and/or roadway striping has faded. These issues and more can be documented and provided to Denver’s Safe Routes to School program to help ensure school zones are communicated to roadway users in a uniform and accurate way.
Walking School Bus
A Walking School Bus (WSB) is a program organized like a traditional bus stop and route, with the exception that the students are walking instead of riding a bus. A WSB has designated routes that are led by a WSB Adult Leader and designated "stops" along those routes at set times where students can join the WSB to walk to school in a group under adult supervision.
Bicycle Trains
A Bicycle Train is a program organized like a traditional bus stop and route, with the exception that the students are riding bikes instead of riding a bus. A Bicycle Train has designated routes that are led by a Bicycle Train Adult Conductor and designated "stops" along those routes at set times where students can join the Bicycle Train to bike to school in a group under adult supervision.
Remote Drop Off/Pick Up
Remote Drop-Off is a policy that encourages or requires parents to drop students off at a location a few blocks from the school. This policy can either rely on parents or volunteers/school staff to walk student(s) from the remote drop-off location to the school building. Consider locations near the school that might be able to facilitate remote drop-offs and see if a partnership can be identified (for example, using a nearby parking lot to try to alleviate traffic pressure immediately around the school).
Kiss-and-Go Lane
Kiss-and-Go lanes are an operational improvement to help increase the efficiency of arrival and dismissal at schools. The Kiss-and-Go Lane generally consists of a marked loading/unloading section that is directly outside the school’s main entrance or one of the main entrances, requires parents/caregivers to stay in their vehicle, and requires the vehicle to remain running and to follow the flow of traffic through the line.
Some aspects of Kiss-and-Go operations that are most successful:
- Highly recommended to have dedicated staff/volunteers to supervise, maintain
- 2-3 people are necessary to operate kiss-and-go
- One or two people should be established at the “front” of the line to open & close car doors and welcome children to school
- One person can “float” alongside the lane to continue to encourage drivers to pull forward to the front of the line, where children exit a vehicle
- Use of traffic cones to denote where the kiss-and-go lane is established and to dissuade parents from pulling out of the lane early
- Signage at the start and stop of the kiss-and-go with instructional information
- Denver’s Safe Routes to School Program has further information on information that can be printed and added to self-standing “A-Frames” that can be used for Kiss-and-Go lanes