Road and stranger dangers among concerns for kids and parents

Christy Wong loves to walk her children to school. She takes a few minutes each day to bundle them up and then out the door they go for the 10-minute walk to Eagle Ridge elementary school — even though the route is not the most idyllic.

There is plenty of traffic, a major intersection and a short, steep hill that on winter days can be slippery.

But she does it anyway — even on days she has to drive to work.

“I make sure they cross the street and go up the hill, then I run back,” says Wong, a member of her school’s parent advisory council.

Her schedule allows her to repeat the journey home, something she says has become a family ritual for Griffin, 9, Dagan, 6, and Shamus, 3.

Wong’s children are not the only kids who walk to Eagle Ridge, a neighbourhood school tucked in the hill off Falcon Drive and Guildford Way in Coquitlam. According to vice-principal Don Hutchinson, about half of the school’s students walk to school. Some teachers even ride their bikes.

He suspects so many walk because the school is located close to many homes and because walking is healthy, saves time and gas and is good for the environment.

There are other benefits, too.

“[The children] sure open up to you versus in the car where they’re often fighting,” jokes Theresa Hanson, a Coquitlam mom who also walks her children to school.

This week, Wong, Hansen and other members of the school PAC will be encouraging families to leave cars at home and walk to school. The school has organized an activity to promote walking every day of the week as part of International Walk to School Week. Students will take part in walking school buses, chalk their route to school, measure it using pedometers, enjoy breakfast snacks and a drink, and wear special clothes and hats to show their school spirit. Mileage will be tallied by Leadership students and nearby Scott Creek middle school is being challenged to join the walking school buses on Wednesday.

Encouraging more students to walk to school may result in fewer traffic problems, parents say.

Kirsty Thompson, a PoMo mom who is on the school’s traffic safety committee, says car traffic, especially in the morning, is a nightmare and she is worried someone could get hurt. Idling cars also cause a pollution problem that could be prevented if more families walked.

“We have a corner that is blind and when kids cross the street it’s a hazard,” Thompson said.

Some adjustments have been made to the school’s driveway round-about to make it safer for children to get out of the family car. Parking rules will be changed, too, so parents can park and let their children out safely instead of simply stopping and hoping for the best. But if fewer people drove, there would be even fewer problems, Thompson said.

“You live close to the school,” she said. “There’s no reason you shouldn’t walk.”

Still, there are safety issues with walking to school and many parents can’t walk to school with their children because they have to get to work.

“We don’t want to make anyone feel guilty,” Hansen said.

But parents could walk part-way to school with their children, they say. They might even enjoy it.

Said Wong, “That’s what we’re hoping with Walk to School Day: They might even find they like it and continue.”

NATIONAL PILOT

Coquitlam’s Montgomery middle school and Port Moody’s Glenayre elementary are also taking part in International Walk to School Week.

Monty is hosting a breakfast with the support of Breakfast for Learning BC and the Directorate of Agencies for School Health (DASH BC) while Glenayre students will be wearing hot pink or lime green as part of their visibility awareness campaign — Be Safe, Be Seen.

According to a survey conducted for a national School Travel Planning pilot, only 8% of Glenayre students listed the car as their preferred method of getting to school, a figure in line with most B.C. students. According to the survey, 88% of the B.C. children prefer to walk or cycle to school.

The national pilot is encouraging families to walk at least two days a week to school for health and environmental reasons. For more information, visit www.saferoutestoschool.ca

International Walk to School Day is Wednesday, Oct. 8.

dstrandberg@tricitynews.com