Safe Walk to School

[Anonymous]

There is a campaign to make walking to school safer in Montgomery County:

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/18885/small-changes-can-make-walking-to-school-safer/

If you want to support the campaign, go to SafeWalktoSchool.com

At least 8 children and 1 parent have been hit by cars on the way to school, in just this school year. Meanwhile MCPS spends nearly $100 million on student transportation.

The MC Department of Transportation is the one that would have to make the changes.

[Anonymous]

MoCo already has a pedestrian safety program in place. Including a Safe Routes to School program. Has anyone reached out to them?

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-pedsafety/srts/home.html

A significant problem is that much of this is governed by state law, and MoCo can't do everything. It can't set speed limits on state roads, for example, and MANY roads in MoCo are state roads. Someone will have to lobby on the state level. MoCo government does lobby, but isn't always effective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MoCo already has a pedestrian safety program in place. Including a Safe Routes to School program. Has anyone reached out to them?

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-pedsafety/srts/home.html

Yes. The Safe Walk to School campaign is addressed to the MC Department of Transportation. The Safe Routes to School program is part of the MC Department of Transportation.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this! How are you supposed to get kids moving and active if they can't even walk safely to school...

[Anonymous]

I'm so grateful for this Safe Walk to School campaign. Walking to school is such a basic joy of life. Many people move to Montgomery County for its solid schools and nieghborhoods and then have to live in their cars driving their kids a few blocks to school because the streets are so dangerous.
And the kids come POURING out of school at the end of the day, desperate to run around, but many of them have to pile immediately onto "hazard busing" (buses that take them a few blocks over a hazardous street) and then are home where they turn on a screen. Recipe for obesity AND screen addiction.
So what if some streets are owned by the state and some are controlled by the county? The goal is safe streets--for cars, pedestrians, cyclists, etc.--and that is shared among all government entities, I hope. With e-mail and common cause, we should be able to provide safe walks to schools.
THANK YOU for launching this campaign. It's not rocket science, but the obstacles are great.

[Anonymous]

Bethesda Now Website has a discussion about whether pedestrian collisions are decreasing (because there are fewer fatalities, I think) or increasing (there are more of them). I'll post an excerpt below. It doesn't focus on, or break out, school zones, unfortunately. It surprises me how easily kids walking to school are just folded into pedestrians generally, even though children are (of course) younger and walking in particular patterns, on predictable streets and crossing identifiable intersections, towards a school:

Montgomery County says a recent analysis of car collisions with pedestrians proves its pedestrian safety efforts are working, despite that data showing a bump in pedestrian collisions in 2012 and seven pedestrian fatalities already this year.

An analysis at the May 8 CountyStat review of County Executive Isiah Leggett’s Pedestrian Safety Initiative showed the most severe collisions involving either debilitating injury or death decreased by 20 percent in 2012 compared to 2011. But total pedestrian collisions increased from 399 in 2011 to 423 in 2012, a result of what the county says was an increase in collisions in private parking lots and garages.

More at:
http://www.bethesdanow.com/2013/05/20/moco-claims-pedestrian-safety-progress-despite-increase-in-pedestrian-collisions/?utm_source=BethesdaNow.com+Afternoon+Update&utm_campaign=f3e563b8fa-BethesdaNow.com+Afternoon+Update&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_45ad56dcf7-f3e563b8fa-391098093

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so grateful for this Safe Walk to School campaign. Walking to school is such a basic joy of life. Many people move to Montgomery County for its solid schools and nieghborhoods and then have to live in their cars driving their kids a few blocks to school because the streets are so dangerous.
And the kids come POURING out of school at the end of the day, desperate to run around, but many of them have to pile immediately onto "hazard busing" (buses that take them a few blocks over a hazardous street) and then are home where they turn on a screen. Recipe for obesity AND screen addiction.
So what if some streets are owned by the state and some are controlled by the county? The goal is safe streets--for cars, pedestrians, cyclists, etc.--and that is shared among all government entities, I hope. With e-mail and common cause, we should be able to provide safe walks to schools.
THANK YOU for launching this campaign. It's not rocket science, but the obstacles are great.

The state pretty much ignores Montgomery County needs on a good day. Tries to tear them apart on the bad days.

[Anonymous]

WAMU says that there were 6 pedestrian deaths last year (2012) but this year (2013) there have already been 7.

Something is wrong. Children should be able to walk to school safely. It's ridiculous how many children in MCPS take the school bus to a school within walking distance because it's too dangerous to walk.