Active and Safe Routes to School Newsletter NS: Winter 2010

Ecology Action – Active and Safe Routes to School Newsletter
Friday January 15, 2010

In this issue:

* Winter Walk Day
* Follow ASRTS on Twitter, Facebook
* Bus Strike Could Create Student-Car Conflicts
* Glace Bay Youth Investigate Active Transportation
* Child and Youth Friendly Planning Guidelines for Nova Scotia
* Skater Girls and Teacher Training: Making Tracks
* New Coordinator, Communities and Deputies: Pace Car
* Expanding the School Travel Planning Family: Three new provinces/territories and two new NS schools join the program for the 2009-10 school year
* IWALK Month Success
* Active Transportation How-to Video Available
* NS Road Safety Conference: March 24
* Nova Scotia Cycling Summit May 1
* Child & Youth Unintentional Injury Report Available
* Pledge to “Right the Future”
* Safe Routes Webinars
* On The Move In The Community Conference June 3-4
* International Bike Essay Contest: Due May 1
* US Reports On Safe Routes Success and Policy
* Calendar
* About Active & Safe Routes to School

Winter Walk Day

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Winter Walk Day happens any day in February, 2010. Schools and youth groups register and receive a kit along with ten free toques. The event is a partnership of Active & Safe Routes to School of the Ecology Action Centre, Heart&Stroke Walkabout and Take the Roof Off Winter, which promotes healthy outdoor winter activity in Nova Scotia.

And don’t forget safety this winter. Check out Active & Safe Routes to School Winter Walking Safety Tips as well as Sammy Snowplow’s website.

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Follow ASRTS on Twitter, Facebook

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Active & Safe Routes to School is now on Twitter. Follow us to keep up-to-date on the latest news and events related to children and youth walking and wheeling in Nova Scotia. Follow ASRTS on Twiiter.

If you’re really into social networking, don’t forget to become a fan/friend of the Pace Car program on Facebook.

Bus Strike Could Create Student-Car Conflicts

Active & Safe Routes to School News Release: January 7, 2010

Halifax – A possible strike of CUPE workers across the province (outside Halifax), including school bus drivers, could mean more students on foot as well as cars arriving at school in the coming weeks. The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) says this could mean a potential increase in conflicts between walking students and cars at schools.

“We’ll definitely see an increase in the number of cars arriving at school during drop off and pick up times and this means trouble,” says Janet Barlow, Coordinator of the Active & Safe Routes to School program at the EAC.

If formerly bussed students live within two or three kilometres from school, walking could be an option. This is an attractive choice for parents who have limited time or who are unable to drive their kids. But for parents whose kids can’t walk to school because it’s too far, many will resort to driving their kids.

“This will create a traffic congestion and safety nightmare. Lots of kids and lots of cars driven by harried parents arriving at school all at the same time is a dangerous combination,” Barlow says. “The walk to school will now become much riskier for many students.”

So what are parents to do if the strike happens?

“We can cut the risk by trying wherever possible to reduce the car traffic arriving at school. We urge parents to consider forming walking school buses (walking groups) or carpooling to ease congestion near schools.”

Active & Safe Routes to School has a Walking School Bus guide available for download at www.saferoutesns.ca. It also offers two safety programs to schools and communities. Making Tracks teaches children and youth walking, cycling, in-line skating and skateboarding safety skills. The Pace Car program helps communities stop speeding on their streets.

Making Tracks and Pace Car are offered with support from the NS Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, the Bicycle Trade Association of Canada, St. FX University and Canada’s home, car and business insurers. Active & Safe Routes to School is coordinated by the EAC in partnership with the NS Department of Health Promotion and Protection as part of the Active Kids Healthy Kids Initiative.

The Ecology Action Centre urges the Province, municipalities and school boards to work together to adopt active transportation policies and plans for schools. This will ensure school walking routes are safe, whether there’s a strike or not. It will also reduce our impact on climate change and increase physical activity for our children and youth.

Glace Bay Youth Investigate Active Transportation

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By Wayne McKay, Glace Bay Youth Action Committee Facilitator

In early November, seven youth from the Glace Bay Youth Action Committee had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Fredericton and Quebec City. The youth are working on a project called Youth in Action. They are creating a fun and informative presentation about active transportation which they plan to take to schools, youth clubs and community groups to try to encourage other community members (especially other youth) to walk and bike more. The purpose of the trip was to visit two cities which have very good active transportation infrastructure and get a sense of what the possibilities are for their communities in CBRM.

In both cities, the youth met with city officials who gave presentations about local AT infrastructure, promotion and future plans. In Fredericton, the city officials took the youth on a physical tour of the great network of trails which that city has developed. In Quebec City, the youth explored trails, Old Quebec City and parks to get a feel for what it’s like to walk around the capital city of Quebec. They also met with a local cyclist who talked to them about cycling in Quebec. The youth had an amazing, fun trip and learned a great deal about AT possibilities and are now prepared to share with other youth. The trip was made possible by funding from HPP and through partnerships with the Ecology Action Centre, ACAP Cape Breton and CBRM. We will provide further updates as the project advances.

Child and Youth Friendly Planning Guidelines for Nova Scotia

By Catherine O’Brien and Richard Gilbert

“The available evidence suggests that a combination of urban design, land-use patterns and transportation systems that promote walking and bicycling could help create active, healthier and happier children and more liveable communities.”

This quote is from Page 103 of Nelson, N.M. & Woods, C. (2007). Engineering children’s physical activity: making active choices. Municipal Engineer, 160, Issue ME2, 103-108

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness that public health may be positively or adversely affected by the manner in which we plan our communities, towns and cities. Concerns regarding trends in obesity and physical inactivity in children and youth have led to greater attention to barriers and opportunities for enhancing health and well-being through the built environment. Dr. Catherine O’Brien of Cape Breton University and Dr. Richard Gilbert recognized that there was a need to raise the profile of children and youth with respect to land use and transport planning and developed guidelines to contribute to policy and practice. Working with the Centre for Sustainable Transportation at the University of Winnipeg they have developed Child and Youth Friendly Land Use and Transport Planning Guidelines for every province. These guidelines provide the rationale for considering the needs and aspirations of children and youth with respect to how communities are planned and the policies that influence the travel of young people. Information about the Guidelines may be found at www.kidsonthemove.ca

The guidelines are organized in six groups:

1. Give priority to the needs of children and youth [Guidelines 1-3]. These three guidelines are the most important in that they call for a focus on the needs of young people and indicate processes whereby this can be achieved.
2. Plan for children and youth as pedestrians [Guidelines 4-7]. Walking is the most available mode of active transportation, and thus the most important. It can provide the maximum of exercise for the minimum financial outlay. Land uses should above all facilitate young people’s walking.
3. Plan for children and youth on bicycles (and other wheels) [Guidelines 8-12]. Bicycling is the most common mode of mechanized, non-motorized transportation, and is available to most young people. It can be an important means of enhancing independence in youth; but, even more than adults, young people require a safe bicycling environment.
4. Plan for children and youth as transit users [Guidelines 13-15]. As with cycling, the availability of transit to young people can enhance their independence and social maturation. Young people will use transit if it is easy to use and particularly if they and their parents consider it to be safe.
5. Focus on journeys to and from school. [Guidelines 16-18]. During the school year, trips to and from school usually comprise the majority of young people’s weekday travel. These trips should receive the highest priority when seeking to encourage active transportation (i.e., non-motorized transportation such as walking and bicycling).
6. Reduce transport’s adverse impacts on children and youth [Guidelines 19-21]. Almost all of these impacts result from operation of the internal combustion engines that propel nearly all motorized vehicles. They are experienced mostly when travelling but also when near traffic.

Skater Girls and Teacher Training: Making Tracks

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Creating a New Generation of Skater Girls

In November, the Clare Recreation Department offered a day-long Making Tracks: Skate Pass® workshop with a decidedly female twist. All eight participants – including the instructor – were girls.

“Everyone had a blast,” said Skate Pass trainer Elaine Gobelet. “The girls can’t wait to do it again!”

The session marked the first all-girls Skate Pass® workshop offered so far through the Making Tracks program.

St. FX Student Teacher Training

In other Making Tracks news, Making Tracks Cycling will be a featured workshop at the next St. FX University Education Department Professional Development Day on February 12th, 2010.

The session offers the perfect opportunity for student teachers to be trained in the program before they start their practice teaching placements in the spring. If demand for the program allows, further training sessions in skateboarding, walking and in-line skating may be offered to the student teachers later in the spring.

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New Coordinator, Communities and Deputies: Pace Car

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My name is Maryanne Nduati and I am the new Pace Car Program Officer Intern with Active & Safe Routes to School. I am delighted to be a part of the team and I look forward to answering and assisting each one of you with all your questions with regards to the Pace Car Program. Let’s all work together in making Nova Scotia’s streets safe for the general public so as to foster active transportation.

Regards,
Maryanne Nduati (Ani)

Bible Hill Community Becomes a Pace Car Community

On October 31, 2009, Bible Hill near Truro launched the Pace Car Program. The launch took place in conjunction with the Safe Halloween event held at the Bible Hill Village Hall. There were approximately 50 parents who took up the pledge and became “mobile speed bumps”.

The community hopes that through the launch of this program, Bible Hill streets will become safe for children, youth and other residents. Bible Hills joins 20 communities and schools on the march to make Nova Scotia a Pace Car Community.

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Photo caption: Community Members at Bible Hill Pace Car Program launch

Pace Car Deputy’s First Launch

On Monday, December 7, Meadowfields Community School in Yarmouth became the first school in the province to launch the Pace Car Deputy Program. Approximately 49 students were inducted into the Pace Car Deputy program. Constable Jason Beaulieu of the local RCMP detachment led the group of students in a repeat-after-me pledge to remind drivers of the rules of the road. Each student received a membership card as well as a Pace Car Deputy badge to be worn proudly as they continue to encourage drivers to sign up for the Pace Car program. It is hoped that through this program, the streets of Yarmouth will be safe enough for the students to walk or cycle to school, as well as to play in their own neighborhoods.

The Pace Car Deputy program is an aspect of the Pace Car program, meant to be offered in conjunction with the larger Pace Car program in a community. The Deputy program is for elementary school-aged children, whether in a school or with a youth-serving organization. It is a leadership opportunity helping children address the issue of speeding and road safety in their community. In cooperation with Active & Safe Routes to School (ASRTS) and the local Community Pace Car team, children learn about the hazards of speeding and how they can help stop speeding even though they don’t drive. For more information on the program please contact Active & Safe Routes to School at (902) 442 5055.

If you are interested in bringing the Pace Car program to your community please contact Maryanne Nduati (Ani) at (902) 442 5055 or by email at pacecar@ecologyaction.ca . Pace car is an initiative of Active & Safe Routes to school of the Ecology Action Centre in partnership with Canada’s home, car and business insurers and the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal. For more information, go to pacecar.ca

Expanding the School Travel Planning Family:

Three new provinces/territories and two new NS schools join the program for the 2009-10 school year

By Cheyenne Dickinson, Active & Safe Routes to School STP Facilitator

After a successful pilot period, the School Travel Planning program experienced a growth spurt this year, with three new provinces/territories joining the national network. Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon have all signed on and have started the process in their corners of the country.

STP expanded in Nova Scotia as well, with three new schools beginning the program in September: Westmount Elementary School in Halifax, Basinview Drive Community School in Bedford and Bedford South School (also in Bedford). Baseline travel data was collected at schools in October and November – hands-up surveys of student travel occurred each day for one week, followed by a take-home survey to glean further information about family travel habits on the trip to school.

The School STP Committees will gather in January along with members of the Municipal STP Committee to conduct school area walkabouts. These sessions are a great opportunity to see travel issues first hand and to collaborate with other stakeholders to develop action items for each school’s School Travel Plan.

Plans are in the works to expand School Travel Planning into Cape Breton Regional Municipality as well as add more schools with Halifax Regional Municipality starting in April, pending funding. To find out more about School Travel Planning, contact Cheyenne Dickinson, STP Facilitator, at 442-5055.

The Canadian School Travel Planning project – coordinated in Nova Scotia by Active & Safe Routes to School – is an initiative of Green Communities Canada, and is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, George Westin Limited/Loblaw Companies Limited and the Green Communities Foundation. (Production of these materials has been made possible through a financial contribution from the Public Health Agency of Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the Public Health Agency of Canada).

IWALK Month Success

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A total of 115 schools participated from across Nova Scotia during International Walk to School Month (IWALK) throughout October 2009 with Walk to School Week from October 5 to 9, 2009. Based on an average of 87% participation in each school, an estimated 25,000 students took part in the event. For a list of our prize winners, go to www.saferoutesns.ca (click IWALK). Active & Safe Routes to School extends a heartfelt thanks to all the students, school staff, parents, community members and many others who made this year a success. Keep walking (and wheeling) everyone!

Active Transportation How-to Video Available

The Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities’ Active Transportation Committee has produced a 12-minute video to promote the expansion of active transportation in NS. View the video, created by André Bouchard of Annapolis County, at http://www.swimmingmouse.ca/at/

NS Road Safety Conference: March 24

Safety Services Nova Scotia, with support from the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, will hold a one-day road safety conference called Keeping Road Safety In Focus on March 24, 2010

Nova Scotia Cycling Summit May 1

The 2010 Nova Scotia Cycling Summit will take place on Saturday, May 1from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm in Annapolis Royal at the Annapolis Royal Legion Community Centre – Port Royal Branch 21. Contact Debra Ryan at (902) 532-3139 for more information.

Child & Youth Unintentional Injury Report Available

The IWK Child Safety Link and the Atlantic Collaborative on Injury Prevention (ACIP), in conjunction with Safe Kids Canada, released a new report entitled Child & Youth Unintentional Injury in Atlantic Canada: 10 Years in Review. View it at www.acip.ca under Library – Children and Youth file.

Highlights that focus on children and youth, relevant to active transportation are:

* Pedestrian deaths are the leading causes of injury deaths in Atlantic Canada
* Bicycles are the third leading cause of hospitalizations in NS
* Traumatic brain injury accounts for 21% of all bicycle related hospital admissions
* An overall decline in hospitalizations may be in part due to changes to and introduction of helmet laws
* 89% of bicycle related hospitalizations are non-traffic related

What works to prevent injury: wearing bike helmets, keeping children under 10 years off the road and reducing traffic speeds.

Pledge to “Right the Future”

“Let’s Right the Future,” launched by the Council of Atlantic Premiers, aims to inspire an Atlantic wellness movement. Atlantic Canadian families, community leaders, and groups are encouraged to make a “right the future” wellness pledge at www.rightthefuture.ca.

The website provides healthy eating and physical activity tips, information and resources on the four provincial government websites.

Safe Routes Webinarswin

There are three webinars related to safe routes coming up:

1. January 26, 2pm (ET): School Bicycle & Walking Policies: Addressing Policies that Hinder & Implementing Policies that Help (free)
2. February 2, 12:00 noon (ET): Transportation Demand Management (TDM) for Youth (free for the first 100 qualified Canadian connections)
3. February 23, 12:00 noon to (ET): Active and Safe Routes to School (free for the first 100 qualified Canadian connections)

On The Move In The Community Conference June 3-4

Vélo Québec and the Canadian Active and Safe Routes to School Partnership are excited to present On The Move In The Community, the first major gathering of active transportation stakeholders in Canada. The event will take place on Thursday and Friday, June 3 and 4, 2010 at the Holiday Inn Select Hotel in downtown Montreal. More information will be available soon at www.velo.qc.ca

International Bike Essay Contest: Due May 1

The deadline for the International Bike Essay contest for children and youth is May 1, 2010. Prizes total $100 US and there are three age categories.

US Reports On Safe Routes Success and Policy

Here are two reports on the success of safe routes to school programming and safe routes-related policy:

1. School Bicycling and Walking Policies: Addressing Policies That Hinder and Implementing Policies That Help, by the National Center for Safe Routes to School and the
2. Safe Routes to School National Partnership Safe Routes to School : Putting Traffic Safety First – How Safe Routes to School Initiatives Protect Children Walking and Bicycling, by the Safe Routes to School National Partnership

Calendar

Winter 2010

* Webinar School Bicycle & Walking Policies: Addressing Policies that Hinder & Implementing Policies that Help: January 26
* Heart Smart Month: February annually
* Winter Walk Day: Any day in February
* Webinar Transportation Demand Management (TDM) for Youth: February 2
* St. FX University Making Tracks Professional Development Day: February 12
* Webinar Active and Safe Routes to School: February 23
* Nova Scotia Road Safety Conference: March 24

Spring & Summer 2010

* World Health Day: April 7 annually
* Earth Day: April 22 annually
* Healthy Schools Day: April 26
* Nova Scotia Cycling Summit: May 1
* International Bike Essay Contest deadline: May 1
* International Conference on Safety and Mobility of Vulnerable Road Users: May 30 to June 2
* Safe Kids Week (Got Wheels? Get a Helmet!): May 31 to June 5
* Canadian Environment Week: May 30 to June 5
* Commuter Challenge: May 30 to June 5
* On The Move In The Community Conference: June 3 to 4
* Trails Day: June 5
* World Environment Day: June 5 annually
* Clean Air Day: June 4
* Go Skateboarding Day: June 21

About Active & Safe Routes to School

Active & Safe Routes to School in Nova Scotia encourages more children, youth and their families to use active transportation – such as walking and cycling – for the environment, physical activity and traffic safety. It is coordinated in Nova Scotia by the Ecology Action Centre in partnership with the Nova Scotia Department of Health Promotion and Protection as part of the Active Kids Healthy Kids Initiative.

Active & Safe Routes to School
asrts@ecologyaction.ca
Tel: (902) 442-5055
Fax: (902) 405-3716
Ecology Action Centre
2705 Fern Lane, Halifax, NS B3K 4L3