Vienna Parents Seek Greater Pedestrian Safety for Students

The lack of such convenient, safe routes has led to more traffic congestion, poorer air quality and a rise in childhood obesity, said John Sweeney, a Louise Archer parent.

“I hate to say it, but I see it in my own kids,” Sweeney told the Vienna Transportation Safety Commission on Aug. 29.

The program aims to remove as many barriers as possible for pedestrians and cyclists, Sweeney said. Besides promoting more physical activity in children, the program advocates more sidewalks, crosswalks, crossing guards and police traffic enforcement, he said.

Sweeney cited national statistics showing that while 50 percent of children walked or biked to school in 1969, including 87 percent who lived within a mile of their schools, only 15 percent of children do now.

About 110,000 of Fairfax County Public Schools' 163,000 students are bused to school.

While many live within the distance of school that would mandate walking, county officials bus students who would have to cross dangerous thoroughfares.

The Louise Archer Safe Routes to School Committee spent two days in June studying how students came and went from the school. Observers found that 420 of the school's 650 students (65 percent) arrived via school bus, 80 (12 percent) walked or biked and 150 (23 percent) were dropped off by parents who drove to the school.

Nearly 60 percent of parents ranked vehicular traffic as the top threat to pedestrians, with uneven walkways or roadways rating a distant second at 21.4 percent and crime potential at 9.5 percent.

Ninety-one percent of respondents said they would like to see Vienna make changes to improve pedestrian safety. Suggestions included sidewalks (23.6 percent), crosswalks (18.1 percent), traffic-calming measures (17.3 percent), speed enforcement by police (16.5 percent), street lighting (13.4 percent) and trail or pathway lighting (8.7 percent).

The federal government authorized $612 million for Safe Routes to School as part of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act.

Douglass O'Neill, safety and environmental health coordinator for Fairfax County schools, said the county has yet to see any of these funds, which will be distributed by the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Fairfax County already has several programs that promote safe walking and bicycling to schools, O'Neill said.

Some of these are taught by school education officers in elementary schools, who work jointly with county police.

These officers are not to be confused with school resource officers, who help maintain order at middle and high schools, he said.

County schools also have a Safety Patrol Program to protect students at road crossings and a mobile safety bus program.

Officials have targeted most of the programs at elementary students, who do not drive to school. Some schools have Golden Shoe contests, in which classrooms compete to walk the most, he said.

“The education and encouragement process is better suited toward elementary-school students,” O'Neill said. “At those early ages, we have to get those processes going.”

The interest shown by Sweeney and a parent of a Ravensworth Elementary School student are what's needed to get the Safe Routes to School program going, he said.

“It all revolves around finding a community champion, somebody who has the time to assist us in this program,” O'Neill said.