Walk This Way – Safer Routes to Elk Grove Schools
School is starting back up this week. Who doesn’t want to keep our kids safe as they walk this way and that way to and from school? If you are anything like me, you have already mapped out your neighborhood for all the registered sex offenders who may be living nearby. We know where they are, what they look like and we show our kids.
Now we have a way to look at other dangers in our neighborhoods!
Streets and Intersections
I recently came upon a mapping site that will allow us to check how safe our streets and intersections are for our children in the vicinity of their respective schools.
Introducing the Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS). It is a safe route to school collision Map Viewer. This amazing website has all the statistics to help us identify problem areas near our local schools. The information is collected and maintained for each school in the Elk Grove Unified School District.
For example, by logging on to the website you can enter the name of your child’s school and review what type of traffic injuries occur in the radius around that school. For example, you are able to determine how many bicycle, pedestrian and car collisions occur in your chosen area and how serious they were. You can view the type of injuries and the mode of transportation (walking or bicycling, etc.).
I find this very helpful in getting key information to my kids about what route they should avoid riding their bicycles along and/or what routes are safest for walking to and from school. I like being able to tell my kids, “hey, don’t walk on such and such a street because there have been three bicyclists hit there.”
Educating our kids on how to choose safer routes to and from school is an awesome idea. Just another way we can all work together to educate our youth. Together we can inform, protect and help save the lives of the next generation!
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” – John Dewey
How to Use Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS)
The website is free and so easy to use. You simply log onto www.transportationInjuryMapping System. Create an account by clicking on “Apply Today.” Provide your email address and some very basic information (name, address, etc.). They will send a password to your email account and you are now ready to log on. Once you log on, click on “Tools.” Now scroll down to “Safe Routes to School Collision Map Viewer.” Input your county, city and school name. Now you are ready to view all crash data for that school. You can see where pedestrian or bicycle accidents, if any, have occurred in and around your children’s school. You can see whether or not that intersection has fatalities or alcohol related motorists causing the accident. This is a powerful tool to help keep our kids safe in the City of Elk Grove.
This information is provided by researches at UC Berkeley in coordination with Project AWARE. Project AWARE conducts Safe Routes to School programs. Project Aware received a $470,000 grant, a portion of which is used to help schools with intervention and safety programs to keep our kids safe while traveling to and from school in and around Elk Grove. For more information about the grant click here.
To check your neighborhood for registered sex offenders, click here.
I’m Ed Smith, an Elk Grove Auto Accident Lawyer with the most informative and comprehensive accident website, AutoAccident.com.
If you or someone you know has been injured in an automobile accident, please call me at 916-694-0002 for free, friendly advice. If you are outside the Elk Grove/Sacramento area, you can call us at (800) 404-5400.
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