Persons using assistive technology might not be able to fully access information in this file. For assistance, please send e-mail to: [email protected]. Type 508 Accommodation and the title of the report in the subject line of e-mail.
International Walk to School Week --- October 3--7, 2005
October 3--7, 2005, has been designated International Walk to School Week. The week enables children,
parents, teachers, and community leaders to be part of a global event celebrating the benefits of walking and the need to
create communities that are safe for pedestrians. In 2004, approximately 3 million walkers in 36 countries observed
the weeklong event by walking to school.
ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø supports International Walk to School Week and walking and bicycling to school year-round through Safe
Routes to School (SR2S) programs.
KidsWalk-to-School is a community-based SR2S program that encourages walking
and bicycling to school. As part of the program, communities build partnerships with schools, police officers, public
works agencies, public officials, businesses, and civic associations to create an environment that supports safe and active travel
to school. The program was developed in response to low rates of walking, inadequate physical activity levels, and a
300% increase in the proportion of overweight children since the early 1970s.
In 2005, Congress passed a transportation bill that
includes $612 million in funds for SR2S programs to
enhance safety for children walking or bicycling to school. State departments of transportation will administer the program,
and communities will be able to use the funds to make infrastructure improvements near schools (e.g.,
removing road hazards, slowing traffic, building sidewalks, and creating walking trails) and enhance safety through enforcement and
education programs.
KidsWalk-to-School information is available at
. Information
on International Walk to School Week is available at
and
. Information on SR2S is available at
.
Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.References to non-ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø sites on the Internet are
provided as a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply
endorsement of these organizations or their programs by ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø or the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. ÐÇ¿ÕÓéÀÖ¹ÙÍø is not responsible for the content
of pages found at these sites. URL addresses listed in MMWR were current as of
the date of publication.
Disclaimer
All MMWR HTML versions of articles are electronic conversions from ASCII text
into HTML. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors in the HTML version.
Users should not rely on this HTML document, but are referred to the electronic PDF version and/or
the original MMWR paper copy for the official text, figures, and tables.
An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents,
U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800.
Contact GPO for current prices.
**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to
[email protected].
