Road safety

national ride2school day

In the 1970s and '80s around 80% of children got themselves to school – they walked or rode bikes. Now the proportion of students who walked or ride to school is closer to 20%.

While most children live within a short distance of their school, there are often driven for many reasons. These include perceptions of safety (stranger danger and road safety) and the distance being too far for children. National Ride2School day aims to break down these barriers and encourages students to walk and ride to school. 

There are many benefits to encouraging more active modes of transport including:

• Reduced congestion
• Kids are more active
• Less carbon emissions from cars
• Helping kids gain independence and road safety knowledge  

For more information on National Ride2School Day, or to find out how your school can participate visit the Ride2School website.

Part Way is OK 

RACV teamed with Bicycle Victoria’s Ride2School Program to pilot the ‘Part Way is OK’ program on 25 March 2009 in conjunction with National Ride2School day. The success of the pilot program has resulted in RACV and Ride2School developing a Part Way is OK resource kit for schools across the state to use and implement. The resource kit will be released shortly and will enable schools and students across Victoria to incorporate some form of physical activity in their journey to school.

The ‘Part Way is OK’ program allows primary school aged children to actively travel (walk, ride, scooter, skateboard, rollerblades etc.) for part of their journey.

The program encourages parents to drop-off and pick-up their kids at designated meeting points, based 500 metres to two kilometres from the school. We encourage parents to actively participate in the program by accompanying their children to and from the designated meeting areas. Older students may be allowed by parents to travel unaccompanied.

By giving school students and their parents a structured option to walk and ride to school, Part Way is OK aims to address the perception that the distance between home and school is too far to ride or walk when it is often not the case. The program also helps cut back on traffic congestion and improves safety around schools during hectic morning drop off and afternoon pick up times.
 

For more information on ‘Part Way is OK’ visit the Ride2School website.