“”Child safety advocates from the Safe Kids Coalition of the Coulee Region and Safe Routes to School Program along with other organizations teamed up on several pedestrian safety activities and events at area schools for International Walk to School Day.
“International Walk to School Day is an opportunity not only to teach area children about how to be safe pedestrians, but they are also able to then practice those skills on supervised walks to school,” said Gundersen Trauma and Injury Prevention Specialist and Safe Kids Coalition coordinator Megan Anderson. “There were more than 500 International Walk to School Day activities around the country as part of the Safe Kids Walk This Way pedestrian safety program.”
Five School District of La Crosse schools – Hamilton/SOTA I, Northside Elementary, Summit Elementary, Spence Elementary, and Southern Bluffs Elementary – participated in this year’s event.
“Walking to school with my mom and my friends is good exercise and it’s lots of fun,” said Southern Bluffs fifth-grader Laura Lapp. “It’s important so we can stay healthy. We got honked and waved at by like four cars this morning. I bet they wish they were walking right now too.”
“We got really good exercise and we learned how to be safe near the road,” said fifth-grader Sierra Fried.”We want people to pay more attention to their surroundings when they drive so kids can stay safe.”
Each school had predetermined locations assigned to students to meet at and walk to school from. Along the way, adults talked with the students about pedestrian safety tips. Gundersen Health System along with staff from Southern Bluffs Elementary School organized the walk with students and families. They were joined by Mayor Tim Kabat, Safe Kids Coalition members, and the La Crosse County Health Department Health Education manager.
Thanks to funding from FedEx, Safe Kids Coalitions throughout the world have the opportunity to reach out to students, parents, and educators to build awareness for safe pedestrian behaviors, alert drivers to the pedestrian’s rights, and encourage safer walking conditions for children.
“We all met up and walked to school on this beautiful sunny day,” said Southern Bluffs Elementary principal Lisa Schreiner. “It’s an opportunity for kids to realize there’s more than one way to get to school. We want to teach them about that personal health component but also that safety piece – walking safely in our community, crossing streets safely, looking for traffic, those are all things we want our students to learn. We want drivers to please slow down and be aware of children. School is fully in sessions so please keep an eye out for our kids.”
