Safe Routes Athens
Safe Routes to School (SRTS) had its beginnings
in Denmark as an effort to make biking and walking
to school safer activities for children. In the United
States, SRTS has been embraced by a growing number
of communities as a way not only to increase safety
but also to encourage children to become more physically
active and less reliant on motor vehicles for transportation.
Active children are usually healthier than young people
who lack opportunities to get outdoors and rely on
their parents to get to and from school.
In Athens-Clarke County, our diverse community has
many families with severely limited incomes, and thus
our schools include many children growing up under
challenging, stressful conditions. An increasing number
of our children suffer from diseases like asthma and
diabetes that often result from lack of exercise.
And here, as throughout the United States, childhood
obesity rates have increased markedly during the past
three decades. Safe Routes Athens was founded by BikeAthens
in 2005, and modeled after international SRTS programs.
SRA promotes walking and biking to school as environmentally-friendly
alternatives to each family driving their children
to school.
Sunshine Cycles is proud to be a SRTS Task Force
member. http://www.saferoutesathens.com/
