Safety Ideas for Schools/Neighborhoods

• Increase availability of safe walking/biking routes to schools and in neighborhoods.
  

• Assist community members in assessing walkability of their neighborhoods.
  

• Develop a pedestrian safety action plan for neighborhoods.
  

• Educate drivers and pedestrians on the rules, rights, and responsibilities of different types of travel.
  

• Enforce traffic laws to ensure safe walking/biking environments.
  

• Provide funding and manpower to keep local parks, trails, courts, nature trails and pools safe, clean and staffed.
  

• Promote walking and health in your community.
  

• Source:  Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
  

• Source:  Federal Highway Administration:  "Safety"
  

• Source: American Public Health Association
  

Built Environment Ideas

• Remove barriers to active transportation by addressing safety concerns (e.g. crime, traffic, & poor lighting) of potential walkers and bicyclists.
  

• Incorporate traffic calming designs into streets with pedestrian traffic.
  

• Assure that streets include safety/access designs for special populations such as children, persons with disabilities, and older persons.
  

• Create good pedestrian/bicyclist infrastructure that has sidewalks, bike paths, and trails removed from automobile traffic.
  

• Encourage mixed land use to shorten the distance between homes, schools, workplaces, and recreation so that families can walk/bike more easily to them.
  

• Include access to green spaces and parks.
  

• Source: American Public Health Association
  

• Source:  Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
  

• Source:  CDC Environmental Health web site (Healthy Community Design)
  

How You Can Help

Community Planners

Program and policy planners, you can increase opportunities for physical activity in your community by improving safety and making changes in the built environment. Tip the scales for better health by spreading the 9-5-2-1-0 for Health message and supporting the 9-5-2-1-0 for Health in your community.  Here are some ideas for getting started.

More Resources

To find other resources that can help you promote the  9-5-2-1-0 for Health lifestyle click here.

Top

Community Planners

Healthy Tool Box

This package of tools

can help you to

promote healthy habits

in your community.

Products to download:

Things You Can Do

Community Planners Checklist

Recommended Videos:

CDCG Veggie Mobile

(Capitol District Community Gardens web site, 2 min., [youtube])

CDC Designing & Building Healthy Places

(Centers for Disease Control, 15 min.,)

For more tools that Community Planners can use, visit our Tools to Use web page.

A Project of the

9-5-2-1-0 for Health