WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Raising awareness to support the need for more walkable communities — that’s the message on International Walk to School Day. And in West Palm Beach some city leaders are making a public statement by hitting the pavement.
At at 6:50am on Tuesday, city officials will walk students who live near the school zone area from the Boys & Girls Club on Pinewood Avenue to Northboro Elementary School. But their underlying message is regardless of where you live it should be a safe space for walking — especially near school zone.s
It’s a half-mile walk that takes about ten minutes, but there’s a big message behind it. It’s part of the city’s Vision Zero safety plan to reduce and eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries through engineering, enforcement and education. Created in 2018, its focus is to create safer streets for pedestrians and everyone else on the roadway. Fatalities actually dropped 28% the first year it was launched.
But it’s also about promoting health and reducing traffic in a region experiencing an influx.
“Parents should feel safe that their kids can walk to school and any neighborhood is safe,” said Armando Fana, West Palm Beach assistant city administrator. “Zipcodes should not dictate what the outcomes are for our neighborhoods and that's our goal — to continue to work on improving public safety on all our zip codes and improve walkability and safety on all for our pedestrians and bicycles.”
International Walk to School Day isn’t reserved for just one day. Schools are encouraged to support it during the entire month of October. To learn more visit, here: