Protect the safety of kids walking, biking to school
Every morning, from August to June, children rise from their beds and head to school. For many children, school is the promise of a better start. For others, school is the opportunity to be around friends that “get them,” and for some, school is an escape from toxic homes. School, for children worldwide, is a place that helps them be their best selves.
To get to the institution where dreams are nurtured and realized, youth board buses at assigned stops or trek through their neighborhoods. Regretfully, dreams were suddenly halted for one Norfolk Public Schools student.
Donasia Lee, hit while crossing to Booker T. Washington High School, was left for dead by the driver in the 1100 block of Park Avenue. This hit-and-run, which left her in a coma, occurred in February and no arrest has been made to date. This area is more like a highway with heavy traffic on weekday mornings. I contend that too few crosswalks and inconsistent speed signs are two significant issues.
Walking and biking to school should be safe for children. Failure to assure safe school routes could mean that more children will be involved in vehicular accidents. Implementation of quality programs is necessary to provide safety for students who do not ride their school buses.
Safe Routes to School is one of those programs. SRTS, a federally supported program, “is an approach that promotes walking and bicycling to school through infrastructure improvements, enforcement, tools, safety education and incentives to encourage walking and bicycling to school.”
This grant-funded program directly supports safe routes for youths’ sojourn to the magical kingdom of learning in Norfolk. Administered by Norfolk Public Schools, SRTS hosts activities like the National Walk to School Day, National Bike Safety Day and the Walking School Bus to promote traffic safety awareness and community building. The Crossing
Guard Appreciation program, another SRTS initiative, creates empathy and respect for the service workers who aid children in safely crossing streets.
SRTS programs and initiatives have proven to be beneficial in participating school divisions. In fact, Newport News Public Schools’ best practices have been highlighted in the Virginia Department of Transportation’s 2023 to 2026 Strategic Plan. However, despite the documented successes with the aforesaid programs, SRTS lost funding in Norfolk Public Schools for the 2022-23 school year.
Thus, the city of Norfolk and NPS should work methodically to maintain national programs that build a safety net around our youths’ mobility in their neighborhoods and schools. Our youth are key in guaranteeing a great future and we cannot ensure a great future if we leave to chance, the safety of students walking or biking to school.
One morning while walking my dog, I came upon a dead rabbit that had been run over by a car. Despite what I saw, my senses were diverted to a live rabbit posted on the grass nearby. I believe the living rabbit was present to witness the deadly hit-and-run. Looking this rabbit in the eye, I could feel its sorrow. Notwithstanding, I continued my walk home.
The hit and run of the high school student and the image of the slain rabbit consumed me as I penned this op-ed about students safely walking or biking to school. Now, I am more convinced that we should make sure programs that help make us a “community of caring” don’t run out of time as it did for SRTS.
Socrates wrote, “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” Let us be wise and plant trees of safety that consistently cast a shade of protection over the future of Norfolk, our beloved children.
Doing so may free us from lamenting as a result of another walking or bicycling accident involving children.