2016/2017 SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL
Pedestrian Education Guide
When it comes to creating a well-rounded and effective Safe Routes to School program, it’s important to include specific
education opportunities for your students, in addition to encouragement programming. Increase your students’ safety, confidence,
and willingness to walk to school and around their neighborhoods by bringing pedestrian education to their classrooms.
When, Where and How Long?
With already busy school-day schedules, crowded curriculum
and testing, it may seem overwhelming to find a time or place
for pedestrian education. But, an effective lesson doesn’t
need to be complicated or take long.
Pedestrian education can start at just 15-20 minutes
Consider incorporating into:
Physical education classes
Special school- or grade-wide assemblies
Existing classroom lessons – pedestrian education can
be tied to health, math, science, social studies, reading or
writing!
Key Students to Reach
Start with students who you know are more likely to be walk-
ing on their own or supervising younger siblings. Pedestrian
education is often best targeted towards grades 3-5.
A refresher lesson is also valuable for middle-school
students, especially if dangerous walking behavior has been
observed around school.
Sending the Message Home
Engage parents and guardians in pedestrian education to
make sure safe practices and messages are reinforced out-
side of the classroom.
Send home a safe walking tip-sheet
Include key pedestrian safety messages in email blasts or
newsletters
Address pedestrian safety in person at back-to-school
nights and open-houses
For more information or technical assistance
contact:
Scott Ulrich | stulrich@columbus.gov
What to Cover
The National Center for Safe Routes to School
recommends focusing on the following key points:
1. Always communicate with parents, guardians, or other
trusted adults about where and when you are walking.
2. Choose a route with the fewest streets to cross and least
amount of traffic.
3. Be visible by wearing bright or reflective clothing and
carrying lights in the dark.
4. Use sidewalks and paths. If there are none, walk on the
left – facing traffic – as far from the road as possible.
5. Stop at the edges of driveways, curbs, and streets to
look left-right-left.
6. Walk, don’t run across the street.
7. ALWAYS be looking for motor vehicles – even with
pedestrian signals or crossing guards present. Children
need to know that while drivers are supposed to obey the
rules, they can’t always be relied on to do so.
a. Especially watch for motor vehicles turning or pulling
out of driveways.
b. Watch for parked cars getting ready to move.
8. Make sure children know how to cross safely:
a. At an intersection
b. At mid-block if necessary
c. From between parked cars if necessary
Looking for More Resources?
See the sample lesson plan on the back of this sheet!
Visit guide.saferoutesinfo.org/education for excellent
summaries of key messages and strategies for reaching
different ages and parents.
Search “Every Move You Make Education” online to find
the Ohio Department of Transportation’s site and a wide
variety of lesson guides, tip cards, videos, and activity sheets.
The Every Move You Make Lesson Guides feature pedestrian
and bicycle education activities specifically aligned with Ohio
Academic Content Standards in math, science, writing, and
speaking.
Sample Lesson Plan: Pedestrians, Cyclists & Safety in the Built Environment
Grade Level: Grades 3-5 | Approximate Time: 30 minutes
Materials Needed | Prezi: https://prezi.com/hmiaxqyz9psd/pedestrians-cyclists-safety-in-the-built-environment/
Introduction
Ask students what they think of when they hear “Safe
Routes to School”
Student will most likely talk about safety behaviors and the
different ways they get to school
Ask the class to raise their hand if they walk…bike…
drive… bus to school
Explain that it’s important to make sure that all students
in Columbus have safe ways to get to and from school,
you’ll especially be talking about walking and biking
Ask: Why do we need to pay special attention to walk-
ers and bikers?
They are more vulnerable – they are smaller, harder to
see, more easily injured than people in cars or busses
Start the Prezi presentation
Walking Safely
Image of single pedestrian:
As pedestrians we’re responsible for keeping ourselves
safe – what can you do to walk and cross streets safely?
After getting several answers, highlight the following:
Always stop at the edge of the street.
Always look left-right-left, even with a WALK signal.
Be predictable! Don’t run or dart.
No sidewalk? Stay far to the LEFT side of the street.
Image of single pedestrian, in context of intersection:
While we can do a lot to keep ourselves safe, there is also
a lot surrounding us in the environment that impacts our
safety while walking and biking.
What can you see in this picture that helps people walk and
bike more safely?
What might make it hard for people to walk or bike?
After getting several responses (crosswalks, wide side-
walks, etc.), advance slide to “BUILT ENVIRONMENT”
All of these things that humans add to their surroundings
are called the built environment. The built environment
can make it easier or harder to be a safe walker and biker.
Let’s take a look at a few more examples.
Where Would You Rather Walk?
Let students observe both pictures side by side for a few
moments.
Which place would you rather walk through?
What are some of the things in the environment that would
make you want to walk there?
What are some of the things in the other environment that
don’t make you want to walk there?
These are all examples of how the built environment im-
pacts our physical safety and our feelings of safety while
walking or biking.
Where Would You Rather Bike?
If time, have students brainstorm ways to stay safe while
riding their bikes. (Helmet usage/fit, hand signaling).
Now, let students observe both pictures side by side.
Which road would you feel better about biking?
What would make you feel safer about that road?
After the difference between the before and after pictures
have been highlighted, point out that this is in Columbus.
Right here in our own city, people are changing the built
environment to try to make it safe for everyone – whether
they are walking, biking or riding in a car or bus.
Asking Important Questions About Our
Environment
Now that we’ve seen some examples of how the build en-
vironment can be helpful or hurtful, there are a couple of
questions we can ask ourselves while on our own biking
and walking routes that help us become more aware of
our surroundings.
If time, use the next four slides to have students brainstorm
elements of the built environment that would contribute
to each category. Ask students to think about the places
where they walk or bike often – what are those environ-
ments like?
If not enough time, talk through the elements presented as
they appear, or advance to the picture of the school.
Design Your Safe Street!
(Copy and modify presentation to show image of a street
near your school – take a screenshot of GoogleMaps)
Now that you are all experts on the built environment and
how it can help us be safe walkers and bikers, let’s take a
look at a street you might recognize…
What on [fill in street name] Street makes it easier to be a
safe walker or biker?
What makes it harder?
What would you add or take away from your school to
make this a better place to walk or bike?
Conclusion
It seems like you’re all experts on how to keep your-
selves safe on your way to school, and today we talked
a lot about how our environment can influence us while
we’re walking and biking. It’s important to be respon-
sible for our own actions, but also stay aware of our
surroundings.