Do you know students are at much greater risk traveling to school than at any other time in their school day? During the 1997-98 school year about 800 children between the ages of 5 through 18 were killed while traveling to or from school. These students were traveling by passenger vehicle, foot, bicycle, and school bus.

In an effort to increase the safety of all students traveling to and from school and school related events, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in conjunction with many partners is developing the "Getting to School Safely" program. The program will provide everyone involved in student travel - parents, care givers, school administrators, teachers, police officers, crossing guards, and the many other community organizations concerned about student safety - the resources they need to improve the safety of students traveling to school.

In August, NHTSA will release the new Getting to School Safely Community Action Kit. The kit will include information on how to identify your community's safety problems related to students traveling to school in all modes of transportation and create lifesaving programs to address the problems.

The kit will include:

- Fact Sheets

- Safety Tip Sheets

- Examples of Successful Programs

- Calendar of Transportation Safety Events

- Newspaper Articles on Bicycle, Car, Pedestrian, School Bus, and Related Safety Topics

- Sample Proclamations

- Catalog of School Transportation Related Materials

- Reproducible Student Activity Sheets

- Listing of National, State, and Local Resources Available on Transportation Safety

If you would like to order the Community Action Kit please fax your name and mailing address to 202-366-7721 Attn: Arlene. The kit will be shipped as soon as it is available.

Also watch NHTSA's website for information about the Getting to School Safely program and links to additional resources addressing safe school travel.

Use this link for NHTSA bike safety materials.

This page was last revised on: April 21, 2010.

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