Sonoma County Ready To Walk, Roll To School

From Safe Routes to School, Sonoma County Bike Coalition: Thousands of Sonoma County students will gear up to walk or roll to school on Wednesday, October 4th in celebration of the annual International Walk & Roll to School Day event. This year, a record number of schools have signed on to promote the Countywide “Walk and Roll Wednesdays” initiative, developed by the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition’s Safe Routes to School program.

Over 8,000 students are expected to participate in the October 4th event, and it can be an inspiration to continue walking or rolling to school year round. Schools may also choose to hold “Walk and Roll Wednesday” special events once a month or quarter. Holding special events more frequently keeps the momentum alive and gives families more opportunities to give active transportation a try. It also raises awareness among students and provides additional opportunities for teachers to engage students in lessons about the benefits of walking and bicycling to health, the environment, traffic reduction, and safety.

60 K-8 schools are celebrating international Walk and Roll to School Day on 10/4 (see attached list). 40 of those schools – a record for our county SRTS program – have indicated that they will continue promoting ongoing Walk/Roll Wednesdays events year round. Those sites will receive promotional posters, banners, and additional incentives. Schools who are unable to celebrate on Wednesdays may choose another day of the week to promote.

To enable families to participate together on October 4th, many schools are organizing “meet up points” for walking school buses and bike trains. This highlights the community-building benefits of choosing student-powered transportation to school. International Walk and Roll to School Day is one component of the Sonoma County Safe Routes to School program. Cali Calmecac Language Academy continues to run their weekly Wednesday Walking School Bus from the Town Green to the school – for the 5th year in a row (another Sonoma County record)!

One student walking or bicycling to or from school just one mile, one day a week saves 100 lbs of CO2 a year – if all the students in Sonoma County were able to walk to/from school one mile/day a week, it would save 3532 tons of CO2 a year.

International Walk & Roll to School Day is produced by the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition Safe Routes to School Program, with support from Safe Kids Sonoma County and the Center for Climate Protection's ECO2School Program. The Sonoma County Safe Routes to School program is supported by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s One Bay Area Grant Program, Measure M, and Kaiser Permanente Northern California Community Benefit Program.

For more information about the Sonoma County Safe Routes to School program, go to www.sonomasaferoutes.org

Photo courtesy of Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition