

Safe Routes to School
Ensuring the Safety of our School Children
The City is doing its part to improve the safety of Glendale’s school-aged children when walking and bicycling to and from school by implementing a comprehensive Be Street Smart Glendale Safe Routes to School Program (SRTS) in 21 elementary and 4 middle schools. The SRTS Program is funded by a $500,000 grant awarded to Glendale through the Federal Cycle 3 Safe Routes to School Program to implement a Non-Infrastructure Safe Routes to School Program.
The purpose of the Be Street Smart Glendale SRTS Program is:
- to encourage more students and parents to walk or bike to school and educate them about the proper and safe way to do so
- to raise awareness among all motorists about the role they play in being responsible and careful drivers, in particular when traveling near schools and school children
The SRTS Program incorporates the Four E’s: Education, Encouragement, Enforcement and Evaluation, in keeping with best practices in Safe Routes to School programs nationwide.
Education & Encouragement
The cornerstones of the Be Street Smart Glendale SRTS Program are education and encouragement: educating students, parents, teachers, and school administrators and staff about pedestrian and bicycle safety and encouraging school children to walk and bike to and from school more often. The many events, activities and materials are intended to teach the school children of Glendale – in grade level, easy-to-understand methods – how to be safe pedestrians and bicyclists. See the Calendar of Events for planned activities and events which include:
Enforcement
Working closely with the Glendale Police Department, the SRTS Program monitors school pick-up and drop-off areas, analyzes crash data, and observes crossing guard sites to identify unsafe student/parent and driver behavior, and assess the needs for enforcement activities and education outreach and materials.
Evaluation
Each school year, parents and teachers take a survey at the beginning of the school year then again at the end to determine the commuting habits and trends of the students in their school and how those have changed over the course of the school year. Utilizing a standard federal SRTS survey instrument, the data helps the City determine changes in school travel modes, trip distances as well as how many students walk or bike to school and how often. In the summer/fall of 2016, the “pre” survey was conducted in Glendale elementary and middle schools with the “post” survey taking place in late spring 2017 after SRTS Program activities have taken place in schools.