As recently as 1969 about half the school aged children in the United States walked or bicycled to school. Today fewer than 15% of school children walk or bike to school and as much as 20-30% of morning traffic is generated by parents driving their children to school. Children are less active today and the majority of children living within a 1/2 mile of schools are driven in private vehicles. Obesity rates are on the rise and the cost of obesity and other health related challenges have significant impacts on the rising cost of health care in the Unites States, not to mention the lifestyles of our children. In response to these challenges, in an effort to encourage healthy living, the Colorado Department of Transportation has developed a series of pedestrian and bicycle safety lesson plans in support of the Colorado Safe Routes to School program. These lesson plans, which help educators teach children about safe walking and bicycling, introduce a variety of skills that can help children stay safe while they walk by teaching them skills that will help them safely cross the street. Statistics show that child pedestrians are disproportionately represented in injury crashes and that the typical factors in those crashes that can be mitigated by education and practice.
