Traffic overflowing into bikes lanes, a lack of sidewalks and more school zones were some of the safety concerns during walkabouts at a few local schools last month.
The walkabouts took place in December in the neighbourhoods around three schools and included members of the school communities and partners such as the District of Squamish and the RCMP.
“The walkabout is a chance for the community… for the school community to come together with the stakeholders,” said Keely Kidner of Hub for Active School Travel. “Part of the reason for its success is that it’s community-based.”
The program aims to get children to use more active means to get to school, but one of the main obstacles in doing so is danger present on the roads.
The walkabouts took place at Mamquam Elementary, Garibaldi Highlands Elementary and Squamish Elementary.
Mamquam principal Renee Hislop said they came across issues such as traffic flow in the school driveway and a need for full sidewalk, as well as the question of the busy main road, adding that it was helpful to have all the partners in one spot to discuss questions around safety.
“It was really great from that perspective,” she said.
The walkabouts provided the stakeholders a chance to observe the numbers of vehicles present, especially at busy drop-off and pick-up times, as well as look at issues in the surrounding neighbourhood and identify “hot spots” that might present the most danger to students.
“We included students wherever we could,” Kidner said. “They’re the ones that are walking or cycling to school…. As an adult, you don’t always notice the same things.”
The safety questions present a challenge in getting more children to walk or bike to school instead of being driven.
“Not many are walking. They’re driving here most days,” said Garibaldi Highlands vice-principal Brayden Gordon. “The number one concern is there’s no real sidewalks or safe routes to walk…. In an ideal world, we would love to have everyone walk to school.”
One of the common problems occurs around the time when parents drop off or pick up children while buses are in the bus loops. Often, traffic is forced out into bike lanes, which can push students out into the streets to walk.
Gordon also said that many of the children have to take routes along the Boulevard, Highlands Way or Perth, yet there are no posted school zones in the area other than near the school itself.
“We saw some cars heading down Perth going about 80 [km/h],” he said.
Other observations near Garibaldi Highlands included a crosswalk light that did not work and a lack of parking spaces at schools. Following the walkabouts, the stakeholders had a chance to discuss what they saw with the goal of gathering information on safe routes to school, which can be tailor-made into a plan for each school community to handle its safety issues.
“For each school, we’ll develop a map that will go home with students,” said Kidner.
