Wel­come to the Safe Routes to School sec­tion of the web­site! This is a guide to help fam­i­lies nav­i­gate the options avail­able for get­ting their kids safe­ly to school. We hope to encour­age walk­ing and bik­ing as part of a healthy lifestyle and com­mu­ni­ty build­ing and, of course, being safe whether you’re a pedes­tri­an, bik­er or dri­ver! 

How Parents Can Help Keep Kids Safe

• Start a walk­ing bus or bik­ing train. Vis­it “How to Start a Walk­ing School Bus” to learn more.
• Walk to/from the bus stops in the neigh­bor­hood before and after school. This sup­ports safe behav­iors and makes kids more vis­i­ble.
• Assist with cross­ings, using flags to help kids cross the street before and after school. Sign up in the office.
• Advo­cate for safer routes and cross­ing guards. See below for more infor­ma­tion, or vis­it Seat­tle Schools’ Traf­fic Safe­ty Com­mit­tee page.

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Biking to School 

• Bike route map
• Ben­e­fits of cycling
• Bik­ing safe­ly 
• Bike Safe­ty Tip Sheet
• FAQ 
  • Where do I lock my bike? There are bike racks in front of the school for stu­dents to use.
  • What if I for­get my lock? No wor­ries! The office has two spare bike locks for loan. Ask at the front desk.
  • Where do I cross Auro­ra? Bikes should cross Auro­ra at 92nd St.
  • Do I need a light? For night bicy­cle rid­ing (or ear­ly morn­ing when still dark), WA State law requires a white front light (not a reflec­tor) vis­i­ble for 500 feet and a red rear reflec­tor. A red rear light may be used in addi­tion to the required reflec­tor.
  • Where can I get a hel­met? Bike Hel­mets are required by law in King Coun­ty. Check out these sources for free and low-cost bicy­cle hel­mets.
  • What is a green­way? Seat­tle Neigh­bor­hood Green­ways are res­i­den­tial streets gen­er­al­ly one off of main arte­ri­als with low vol­umes of cars going slow­ly enough so that peo­ple who walk or ride bicy­cles feel safe and com­fort­able. Read here for more info.
  • What is “defen­sive” cycling? Defen­sive cycling involves always being aware of what is going on around you and putting your­self in the best pos­si­ble posi­tion for your safe­ty, as well as always expect­ing the unex­pect­ed! Here’s an arti­cle that gives some tips on cycling defen­sive­ly.

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Walking to School 

• Walk­ing route map
• Ben­e­fits of walk­ing to school
• How to Start a Walk­ing School Bus
• Walk­ing Safe­ty Tip Sheet

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Driving to School

If you dri­ve, remem­ber that the speed lim­it in a school zone is 20 MPH and in all cas­es on Seat­tle side streets, 20 mph is plen­ty!  As the Seat­tle Times not­ed on Sept 3, 2017:

“Pedes­tri­an-vehi­cle injuries are the fifth lead­ing cause of death for U.S. chil­dren ages 5 to 19, accord­ing to SafeKids.org. Teach­ing our kids to be care­ful when cross­ing the street, such as mak­ing eye con­tact with dri­vers, could save some lives. But the real respon­si­bil­i­ty rests with the dri­vers them­selves. Slow down, fol­low the rules and dri­ve with everyone’s chil­dren in mind.”

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Advocacy resources for safe routes

Here are some advo­ca­cy resource, includ­ing VisionZe­ro, the zero pedes­tri­an deaths by 2020 pro­gram, places to get more infor­ma­tion about safe routes in our neigh­bor­hood and report outs from PtSA com­mit­tee and actions relat­ed to this work. 

• Safe Routes to Schools Online Guide has lots of gen­er­al infor­ma­tion about Safe Routes devel­oped in col­lab­o­ra­tion with many nation­al and gov­ern­ment orga­ni­za­tions.
• VisionZe­ro 
• SDOT Safe Routes to school link
• Green­ways and Lic­ton Springs project