PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The School District of Philadelphia is launching an effort to teach children the rules of the road when they are walking or biking to school. Those lessons on safety are becoming part of the school curriculum.
The principal of Cramp Elementary School, in the Fairhill section of North Philadelphia, said 90% of their students walk to school. Once they arrive, physical education teacher Joe Ciervo reminds them about safety on the streets.
"Where to cross at each intersection, not to cross in the middle of the block. To look both ways in between the cars," Ciervo explained.
"I think it's important for the young kids to learn as they're walking with their parents, and with big brothers and sisters and eventually by themselves to school, all the dangers of the neighborhood."
The city's Safe Routes Philly program uses videos and activity books. It is now part of the district curriculum for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and in high schools. A middle school program is still being developed.
Deputy Managing Director for Transportation Mike Carroll shared that the aim is to instill safe habits when children are young.
"Beginning to teach safe pedestrian and bicycle habits to young children helps them to be on a safe path," said Carroll.
"When they're older and they're operating motor vehicles or walking around or biking, they can retain these lessons and pass them along to their friends, their kids, their families and their neighborhoods, too."
In announcing the expanded program, Mayor Jim Kenney said adults could learn a thing or two about safety on the street.
"There's too many people with their muscle cars and out in their cars in the street, just gunning it and going crazy moving lane to lane, not signaling, running heavy on big streets and small streets," Kenney said.
"Just slow down."
The city is first targeting schools with the highest pedestrian crashes. It aims to put its Safe Routes Philly classes in a quarter of Philadelphia's schools by 2025.
It is part of the Vision Zero effort to eliminate traffic deaths by 2030.
