National Safe Routes Agendas: Canada and the US
Encouraging school-aged children to walk and bicycle to school as a way to increase physical activity is becoming an important program in both the United States and Canada. In this presentation you'll learn about the successful Active & Safe Routes to School (A&SRTS), a national Canadian program supported by Go for Green. You'll also learn about the League of American Bicyclists' Safe Routes to School Curriculum for middle school students, new SR2S initiatives from the National Center for Bicycling & Walking, as well as the new National Safe Routes to School (SR2S) Training Course. (6)

Local Active and Safe Routes to School Programs
Developing a successful walk/bike to school program requires building social infrastructures to support the programs. This panel will look at successful programs in Ontario, British Columbia, and Chicago. The Ontario Active & Safe Routes to School program started in 1996 with 3 Toronto schools, and has grown to involve more than 1,000 schools. In 2002, TASK launched its Student Travel Project in four distinct Chicago communities and seven partner elementary schools. Using data on demographics, pedestrian injury rates, parental focus groups and walkability, the Project has initiated several community-specific outreach, recruitment, and intervention programs. The Way to Go! elementary and middle school-based program in B.C. promotes and supports walk and bike to school initiatives and has been available to communities throughout the province since 1998; currently one third of B.C. schools take part in some aspect of the program. (11)

Back to School Supplies: Tools for Creating Safe Routes
This presentation will focus on low-cost, low-tech, and easy-to-implement engineering and operational tools that are effective in promoting Safe Routes to School. Also during this presentation, the Bay Area Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) will present its recently developed comprehensive guidebook on the state of the practice of school area safety. (17)

Canaries in the Coal Mine: Planning Cities as if Children Mattered
Victoria has made some encouraging improvements by slowing traffic through redesigned streetscapes, creating more pocket parks, designating bike routes, and enhancing village centres. What approaches can this and other cities take to encourage more active lifestyles? How can we influence cities to put children and their parents' concerns first when designing and improving streets? You'll hear two short stories told by a master storyteller to help us explore child-friendly answers to these questions. (18)

You Decide: Teen Traffic Safety
This presentation gives an overview of traffic safety programs offered by Phoenix Children's Hospital. Programs like Bicycle Drivers Ed, Helmet Your Brain, The Bike Box, and Share the road, give teens current, accurate information about traffic injuries and deaths and safe options for riding bikes or other "wheels," or walking. Each comes with curriculum and supporting materials. The presentation also shows how a private nonprofit can work with a local governmental agency to produce successful programs. (24)