Rails-to-Trails Could Give Schools and Communities Safe Routes to School

Reader Contribution by Rails-To-Trails Conservancy
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This article is posted with permission from Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

Everyone agrees that getting more children walking or riding to school each day would be a great thing. The regular exercise would do them the world of good, not to speak of keeping all those parent-taxis off the road in a.m. and p.m. peak hours. Groups like Safe Routes to School have already started national movements around the issue.

In 1969, about 41 percent of kids walked or biked to school. Now, that number is down to about 13 percent. And in that same time period, the percentage of children who are overweight has more than tripled. This generation of young people is the first in our history expected to have a shorter average life expectancy than their parents, and inactivity is the main reason why.  

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