City staff brief Transportation Commission on Safe Routes to School; commissioners and residents press for enforcement and school-district coordination

Lindsay Terry, the City of Davis Safe Routes to School coordinator, presented an overview of the city’s Safe Routes to School program at the Transportation Commission meeting on Monday, Feb. 10, describing education and encouragement programs aimed at K–12 students and summarizing participation trends and planned events.

Terry said the coordinator position is funded by the City of Davis general fund and that she began in mid-October. She outlined recurring programs including Active For Me (an arrival-scanning program run by volunteers), helmet giveaways, bike rodeos, Polar Pedal (a winter-month riding campaign), Loopaloosa (a May bike-month kickoff) and school-based bike education and repair classes. She said Active For Me participation varies by school, with participation rates in recent years ranging roughly from the mid-teens to about 40 percent of a school’s enrollment, and that the program has trended downward in absolute participants over the last three years.

The presentation included recent program activity: a December helmet check in which staff and Davis Police Department volunteers checked helmets and distributed helmets to roughly 400 people of all…