Safe Routes to School

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a national program meant to encourage, educate, enforce, engineer and evaluate the walking and biking situations in our communities. The aim is to create convenient and fun opportunities to bicycle and walk, especially around our schools. The result is better health, less congestion and fewer conflict zones around our schools.

What is Safe Routes to School?

Safe Routes to School has been designed to reverse the decline in children walking and bicycling to school. SRTS plays a critical role in reversing the nationwide trend toward childhood obesity and inactivity.

The Moscow SRTS program started in 2007, under the direction of Helen Brown and Grace Goc Karp in the Movement Sciences Department at University of Idaho. An SRTS Coordinator was hired to expand it to all K-8th grade schools that wanted to participate, and enthusiasm has grown as schools and families have benefited from the SRTS program.

SRTS has three main objectives:

  • improve walking and biking conditions
  • increase physical activity
  • decrease air pollution

How the SRTS team achieves these objectives

SRTS organizes four events each year

  • The International Walk to School day (iWalk)
  • The Polar Walk
  • Fill the Racks!
  • Officer Newbill Kids’ Safety Fair

These events help encourage students to walk, bike or roll to school.

Moscow’s SRTS also:

  • Works with the City of Moscow to gain funding for new sidewalks around schools in need
  • Provides maps for all K-8th grade Moscow students
  • Finds and maps safe routes to school
  • Works with principals to make individual school priorities happen, examples include:
    • Providing crossing guards with supplies
    • Funding helmets for students in need
  • Helps coordinate “Walking School Buses” at participating schools
  • Works to implement “it’s the law to stop for pedestrians” signs
  • Improves route safety
  • Works to increase incentive
  • Organizes, with PTA leaders, additional programs like “punch cards” and the “one less car” campaign to encourage daily walking and biking
  • Works with schools to improve drop off and pick up procedures to ensure a safe and efficient program

Partnering with Moscow

The unique partnership of the City of Moscow and University of Idaho has been successful in gaining grant funding to provide a variety of opportunities, events and services for K-8th grade students in Moscow, Idaho, since 2006.

Participating schools

  • A.B. McDonald Elementary
  • Russell Elementary
  • West Park Elementary
  • Lena Whitmore
  • Moscow Charter School
  • St. Mary’s Catholic School
  • Palouse Prairie School of Experiential Learning
  • Moscow Middle School

Community

  • City of Moscow
  • University of Idaho
  • Moscow School District
  • Paradise Creek Bikes
  • Rolling Hills Bikes
  • Moscow Parks and Rec
  • Tri-State Outfitters
  • Palouse Bicycle Collective
  • Palouse Bicycle Racing
  • Gritman Medical Center
  • NIATT (U of I College of Engineering)

We are looking for additional businesses and organizations to work with.

The "Es" of SRTS

Across America, SRTS has 6 Es:

  • Education
  • Encouragement
  • Enforcement
  • Engineering
  • Evaluation
  • Equity

The Coordinator for SRTS in Moscow focuses on the Encouragement and Education "Es." The City of Moscow and U of I NIATT through the College of Engineering have helped us cover other "Es", Enforcement and Engineering. We all Evaluate our work along the way.

Learn more about SRTS national partnership Es

SRTS events

National Bike to School Day

  • May 7, 2025

Bike to school! See our Bike To School page for more details.

Polar Walk

  • Feb. 5, 2025

Walk or bike to school with family and friends!

International Walk to School Day

  • Oct. 2, 2024

Join students from around the world, walking and riding their bikes to school.

Resources

Browse resources related to walking, biking or traveling safely to school.

General safety tips

Stop, look and listen both ways before crossing intersections and drive-ways.

Winter walking and biking

5 tips for winter walking and biking (as posted in the Moscow School District Newsletter)

  1. Stay visible. Drivers of cars can’t see as well in the dark. Make yourself more visible by using reflective clothing when you’re walking, and headlights and taillights when you’re biking. Legally, cyclists need white front headlights and red rear reflectors after dusk.
  2. Walk defensively around cars. Always be prepared for cars to slip on ice. Wait until the car has stopped and you can see the driver’s eyes before you cross in front of a car in the winter.
  3. Travel slowly when you see ice and snow. Take turns and curves at a slower speed and allow longer distances for braking. Be sure to plan ahead for extra travel time.
  4. Cover your extremities. That means your head, neck, hands and feet. The better you are dressed for the weather, the longer you can stay and play in it!
  5. Dress in layers. Dress in layers on your torso and legs and be prepared to strip them away as your body warms up from walking, biking and playing in the wonderful winter weather.

Safe routes maps

Bike safety

Adjust your bicycle for YOU

  • Have one to two inches between you and the top bar for a road bike
  • Have three to four inches between you and the top bar for a mountain bike
  • The seat should be level front to back
  • Seat height should allow a slight bend at the knee when leg is fully extended

Bike safety countdown

12. Helmets are a must! Keep your child smart, protect their brains

11. Check your bike’s ABCs before each ride (Air, Brakes, and Chain)

10. Be seen! Wear bright clothing

9. Be heard! Use bell or voice

8. Use hand signals and look before turning and changing lanes

7. Stop at red lights and stop signs, use crosswalks and let pedestrians cross first

6. Ride in the direction of car traffic

5. Ride with an adult until you have safe bike skills

4. Kids under 10, ride on sidewalk and walk bikes across intersections

3. No headphones and no texting while riding

2. Lock up at bike racks

1. Enjoy the ride!

Your helmet should

  • fit snugly, yet comfortably
  • sit on your head two finger-widths above your eyebrows
  • should pull down when you yawn
  • be replaced after any crash

The Helmet Salute!

2, 4, 1… helmet fitting can be fun!

Wear it Right Nike Safety Infographic

Helmet basics. Website readers can have the contents to read them by clicking the “listen” icon:

KidsHealth

This link shows easy diagrams of how to fit a helmet properly:

National Highway Safety Administration (PDF)

A-B-C Bike Check

Air, Breaks, Chain check before each ride!

Take a practice ride

Ride to school before event days to make sure your child knows how to how to cross intersections and driveways safely and move around cars and other bikers safely.

Remember: It is your responsibility as a parent to make sure your children know how to get to school on a bike safely. Ride with your child and make sure they know how to ride safely before sending them to school on their bikes alone.

Useful links

List of websites to learn about how to walk and bike more safely and to see what people are currently already doing across the nation!

Parents and teachers

Students

Traveling in groups

“Bike Trains” and “Walking School Buses” are ways to organize groups in your neighborhood to travel together.

If you have a group and would like to publish a route that you will be biking on a regular basis, let us know!

Please communicate where your Bike Train will start, what route you will take, the times you will be starting your route, and when you will be arriving at school.

Learn More

Walking school buses

If you are interested in organizing a walking school bus at your school, please send us a message to receive any of these available resources:

  • Parent consent forms
  • Reflective vests
  • Slow signs
  • WSB stop signs