promoting walking

The promotion of walking is one of the easiest ways to get pupils and their parents to switch to active travel. Most pupils, particularly at primary level, live within easy walking distance of school and, because no special equipment is required, a travel plan can have significant impacts with very little effort.

Ideas for the promotion of walking:

• Promotion to parents - Children love walking to school! Yet it is often their parents that are holding them back. For this reason it is a good idea to promote the idea to parents as well as pupils.
• Pedestrian training - Working with the local authority to set up pedestrian safety training for pupils.
• Park & Walk! - For those parents that really must drive, encourage them to park five minutes walk from school and walk the rest of the way. As well as building exercise into the child’s day, the initiative also removes traffic from around the school gates. Finding the ‘five-minute-limit’ could be a good class exercise!
• Walking buses – if large numbers of young children live along the same route, a walking bus could be encouraged. A walking bus involves two or more parents accompanying a group of children on the walk to school. With the bus taking the same route at the same time every day, parents are free to do other things in the knowledge that their children are getting to school safely.
• Site Access - Installation of a new pedestrian/cycle entrances onto the school site can allow pupils and parents access without them having to walk all the way round the site.
• Parent shelters – Standing in the rain while waiting to collect their children after school is enough to drive anyone into their cars. Installing ‘parent shelters’ can make the wait much more comfortable.
• Traffic calming – Speed reduction and pavement widening can make walking much more comfortable and even safer than it already is.