Safe Routes to School aims to make getting to class an enjoyable experience for Oregon students

This past school year, three Salem-Keizer students were struck by vehicles before or after school. Two more were hit the year before.

Pedestrian and cyclist safety is an issue across the state, and country, everywhere from urban to rural settings. Safety can be even worse in poorer communities that have less access to public transportation, sidewalks and other protective infrastructure.

A year ago, pedestrian deaths reached a 40-year high in the U.S. And even though Oregon doesn’t have as many fatalities as states like Texas, Florida or California, data shows Oregon is one of three states, alongside Arizona and Virginia, with the fastest-rising rates of pedestrian deaths.

Local advocates want to do their part to stop this — starting with kids.

“I’m always saddened by the fact that children are … always the ones who have to take the brunt of something when they have no decision and they have no control or power,” said Beth Schmidt, the coordinator of Salem-Keizer’s Safe Routes to School.

“I feel like this opportunity at least gives back to them to say we care about them,” she said. “We’re going to walk to school and have fun and show them that they matter.”

Safe Routes to School is a national public health initiative that works to improve, educate and encourage children to walk, roll or bike to school safely. While their projects have existed in the U.S. since the 1990s, Congress has provided funds since 2005.

These federal funds flow through state transportation departments to specific projects at local school districts and governments. Area coordinators like Schmidt then provide safety education, “encouragement events,” and advocacy for improved public infrastructure.

There are established programs across Oregon, including in Eugene, Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Bend and La Grande. And yet, until 2020, there was no program in Oregon’s capital and second-largest school district: Salem-Keizer Public Schools.

Schmidt smiled, saying she likes to think they just “saved the best for last.”

Since the Salem program began at the start of the pandemic, Schmidt said it was hard for the previous coordinator to get into the schools. Schmidt took on the role in fall 2022, fueled with passion for this work after a friend and coworker was killed in a crosswalk.

Since then, Schmidt has been working to build the program in Salem-Keizer. It’s still early days, but she’s already helped implement safety curriculum in P.E. classes districtwide and coordinated several walking and biking “buses,” where students gather before the bell and practice getting to school together.

Schmidt has also advocated for statewide curriculum requirements and worked with other transportation groups to host mobile classrooms.

Through these efforts, kids are learning: How do I ride a bike? What should I do to be more visible when walking or biking in the dark? When does a pedestrian have the right of way? What do you do if a driver doesn’t see you? How do you load your bike on and off a city bus?

Schmidt, a former teacher herself, mostly works with elementary school students but has been expanding efforts to local middle schools as well.

These efforts, Schmidt said, not only give kids more tools and skills, but they also provide important socializing opportunities.

“That’s time for kids to be social, and they really need that right now,” she said. “They don’t have a whole lot of time to do that and to really build community.

“I hope that this is really a beautiful thing that takes off here.”

Keizer students take part in walking bus

On a sunny morning in May, a few dozen students, family members and educators gathered with Safe Routes staff and district administrators at Claggett Creek Park in Keizer for a walking bus event.

Schmidt addressed the crowd before they all headed toward Kennedy Elementary School.

“Please be careful when you cross the street,” she instructed. “Look both ways. Make sure there are no cars. Stay with your adults. Make good choices, and most of all, have fun.”

Keizer Mayor Cathy Clark was there too.

“One of the things we work on really hard as a city is to make sure that the spaces that we can travel on are safe, they’re well maintained,” Clark told the kids. “We’re building more. We’ve got more projects we want to do so that as you grow up, you’re going to have even better ways to get around Keizer.”

Early into the half-mile walk, as the group started up a hill, one child said, “My legs are gonna be on fire!”

“Want me to carry your instrument?” an adult volunteered.

“If you can,” he answered. “It’s heavy.”

There were parts of the walk where there were no sidewalks. Kids in front carried a Safe Routes to School banner so drivers and passersby could see. Kids talked and giggled as they went. Adults made sure they stayed together.

At one residential intersection, several cars drove through, even though Oregon law requires cars to stop for pedestrians who are preparing to cross at street corners.

“Nobody move,” Schmidt said, calm but firm, at the front of the line. “There’s too many cars, and they clearly don’t know about the law, do they?

“Well, I don’t know, but I understand it that the pedestrian has the right of way,” she made sure the students understood, “last time I checked, even at an unmarked cross.”

Kennedy Elementary School Principal Miranda Pickner said she was excited to host such an event for her students for several reasons.

For starters, getting outside and walking is essential for staff and students since it promotes healthy brain activity, she said. Research on Safe Routes programs has shown it promotes increased physical activity, leading to better focus in the classroom and economic and environmental benefits.

It’s also about building students’ confidence and bringing people together. Pickner said they take every opportunity they can to have the staff, students and families in the same place, and this is an easy way to show families that walking to school is an option for them.

Pickner said there are also academic benefits. Not only do kids perform better with that boost of exercise and socializing before school, but it also improves a key metric — attendance.

“When our kids feel a sense of community and a sense of ... togetherness, they’re going to be more apt to come to school on a daily basis,” she said. “Attendance is very important. We need them here every day.”

Pushing for statewide change

Schmidt wants to do events like this at as many Salem-Keizer schools as she can. She said district leadership, including Superintendent Andrea Castañeda, has been extremely supportive. Schmidt hopes to collect more district-specific data as the programs mature to see how their efforts influence things like attendance.

Schmidt is also advocating for a statewide curriculum requirement.

There is precedent. In 2023, for example, Minnesota lawmakers mandated that all K-8 students in public schools during the first few weeks of school must receive age-appropriate education related to safe walking and bicycling.

Schmidt said some Oregon communities, including Eugene, already incorporate pedestrian safety lessons into their curriculum. She’s eager for programs to expand to more areas, too. She listed examples: McMinnville, Monmouth, Redmond and the Dalles.

“They are all working so hard everywhere, to really work to educate students,” Schmidt said of her fellow Safe Routes coordinators, adding these solutions shouldn’t be a hard sell. Afterall, she said, “This is a fun time.”

“By giving them that freedom of choice in how they move about their world, we’re giving them a skill for their life.”