Instead of fighting traffic and sitting in a carpool line, families in Carrollton can now safely walk and bike to school.
Local parents living within the Carrollton City School District teamed up with Tanner Health System’s Get Healthy, Live Well initiative and several local partners last year to form a task force dedicated to creating safe routes for biking and walking to school. The timing was perfect since the Carrollton GreenBelt trail system now connects many neighborhoods with the city schools, creating new opportunities to walk and bike to school.
Lack of exercise and obesity are serious problems for children. More than one-third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The school day is often very sedentary — as is sitting in a carpool line — but walking or biking to school is a great way to get exercise.
“Kids spend so much time indoors sitting still, but this is a great opportunity for kids to be able to move their bodies and get exercise and fresh air,” said Wendy Alba, mother of four. “My kids love it and even wanted to walk when it was cold out.”
Alba was one of the parents who got involved with the task force in the initial stages.
As part of the effort, the task force had the National Center for Safe Routes to School conduct a safety audit to identify potential changes that needed to be made. The task force worked with school officials to implement the infrastructure and changes necessary to help kids safely walk and bike to school.
They installed two bike racks, established safe crossing points and helped school administrators create new arrival/dismissal policies to allow for biking/walking. Some parents have organized “bike trains” from their neighborhoods so kids can bike together.
“It has been really neat to see everyone come together and work on finding great solutions,” Alba said.
Parents report that their kids are happier and healthier when they bike or walk to school.
“The kids feel good about it and they get some energy out before and after school,” said Lori Blackmon, a mother of three who serves on the task force. “It really helps get them going in the morning.”
Task force members say they are pleased with the changes but are still working.
One more bike rack will be installed and the task force is working to get a sidewalk or bike lane built from the GreenBelt to the elementary school.
Devising plans for walkers and bikers wasn’t as simple as it sounds,
said Jay Goodman, director of strategic communication for Carrollton City Schools. The Carrollton City School campus is a hectic hub with three schools serving 4,800 kids — about 30 percent of who arrive by car.
“When you look at that many children who are getting on buses or being picked up by their parents and then you decide that now 200 kids are going to start riding bikes instead — it adds a new layer of complexity,” Goodman said. “It’s a dance that takes everybody pulling on the ropes in the same direction to make everything happen flawlessly.”
The safety audit was key to the effort’s success.
“You have to really identify all of the risks and understand how kids think because if you don’t, you could have a kid dart out in front of a car and have a calamity of seismic proportion,” said Goodman.
Now that the infrastructure and policies are in place, the task force will focus on boosting participation.
So far, people have been enthusiastic. More than 200 people took part in the “Walk and Roll” promotion on May 6 by walking and biking to school. The event also attracted the mayor, school board members, county commissioners and law enforcement.
At school orientation in August, the task force will speak to parents about walking and biking to explain the details to them. This fall, they plan to host a “Walk and Roll Wednesday” each month. Parents are starting “bike trains” from neighborhoods for kids to bike together.
Providing safe routes to school will allow more families to embrace a healthier lifestyle.
This is important because west Georgia struggles with low levels of exercise and high rates of obesity. In Carroll County, 27.8 percent of residents report leisure-time physical inactivity, and the rate is 29 percent for both Haralson and Heard counties, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Walking and biking to school is a fun way to help establish healthy habits and fight the obesity epidemic and all of the health problems that go along with it,” Alba said.
To learn more about the Safe Routes to Schools, visit www.GetHealthyLiveWell.org. The Safe Routes to Schools program is funded in part by the Centers for Disease Control’s Partnership in Community Health Grant.