Welcome to IShareTheRoad.com
This site covers traffic safety, sharing the road, and Safe Routes to School in the city of Portland, Oregon.
November 2, 2006
Walk and Bike School Bus guidebook now available
A Walk and Bike School Bus works just like a regular yellow school bus…but without the bus! Parents and/or other adult volunteer ‘drivers’ lead a group of students to and from school on foot or bike. The “Bus” travels along a predetermined route, picking up participants along the way at designated “bus stops.”
Sounds like fun doesn’t it?
Now you can learn more about Walk and Bike to School Buses with a new, full-color, 25 page, spiral-bound guide that includes, “Seven Steps to Organizing a Walk + Bike School Bus”, a Toolkit loaded with sample documents and a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ section.
To get a guidebook for your school, your can download a copy here (links to a PDF document) or simply call (866) 452-8300.
More information is also available at WalknBike.org, a joint effort of the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance.
Posted in: Front Page, Safe Routes to School
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October 31, 2006
New Safe Routes award honors James Oberstar
National Bike Summit]
[From the League of American Bicyclists Newsletter]
The National Center for Safe Routes to School has announced it will establish an annual award in the name of Congressman James L. Oberstar.
Oberstar has fought for transportation issues for over 30 years and has been a major champion for Safe Routes to School. His passion for the program helped get funding for Safe Routes included in the current transportation bill to the tune of $612 million.
Here’s an official quote from Oberstar taken from the National Center for Safe Routes website:
“Small changes like adult supervision at intersections, better training of school patrollers, and improved sidewalks or bike paths are enough to encourage parents to let their kids walk or bike to school, instead of sitting on a bus or riding in a car. This program has the potential to improve the health and well-being of an entire generation of school children.”
[more…]
Posted in: Front Page, News, Safe Routes to School
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October 21, 2006
Driving Lessons
My parents met when my father almost hit my mother with his car in the parking lot of Roseburg High School in 1954. He wasn’t paying attention. He felt so bad that he offered her a ride home. They married a year later.
In his mid-20s, my father was involved in a fatal collision in which it was never determined who was at fault, my father and his friend or the family driving through the night.
[more…]
Posted in: Front Page
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October 18, 2006
New pedestrian safety signs coming soon
pedestrian safety]
Last night, pedestrian advocates, interested citizens and PDOT staffers met at City Hall for the monthly meeting of the Portland Pedestrian Advisory Committee (PAC). This committee provides a forum for citizens to get involved in establishing goals and policies within the city that relate to walking.
City Traffic Engineer Rob Burchfield attended the meeting to present some new plans regarding crosswalk markings. At the end of his presentation, he told us about a new type of pedestrian sign that will be piloted in select locations around the city in the coming weeks.
This new sign is meant to raise awareness and remind motorists that they’re required by law to stop at all intersections when a pedestrian is present. It will be anchored into the ground and is spring-loaded in order to withstand an occassional bump from motor vehicles.
[more…]
Posted in: Front Page, News
Comments (7)
October 9, 2006
This site now available in ten languages
I’m happy to announce that this site is now available in ten languages.
Thanks to a nifty Wordpress plug-in that uses Google and Alta Vista’s Babelfish software, you can now easily read this site in any of the following languages: German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Chinese.
To try it out for yourself, simply click the links above. All languages are accessible on every page of the site and are located toward the bottom of the right sidebar.
Posted in: Front Page, News
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October 5, 2006
Kids catch the spirit of Walk and Bike to School Day
Yesterday was International Walk and Bike to School Day and 25 schools from all over Portland took part in the event.
I caught up with some of the action at Sunnyside School in southeast Portland and I was thrilled and inspired to see so many kids walking and biking to school. Sunnyside was chosen as this year’s official media school so the event was made more exciting by the presence of dignitaries like Mayor Potter, Commissioner Adams, TV cameras, and free goodies for the kids.
I joined a “bike school bus” at Buckman Elementary (which included one roller-blader and State Epidemiologist Mel Cohn) and we rode together to Sunnyside.
[more…]
Posted in: Front Page, Events, Safe Routes to School, Southeast
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October 4, 2006
Portland takes community traffic safety seriously
If you ever wondered how serious the city of Portland is about making it safe to walk, drive and ride around our city, take a look at this photo.
[more…]
Posted in: Front Page
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PDOT unveils new Share the Road programs
At a meeting last night of the Community and Schools Traffic Safety Partnership Coordination Council, PDOT announced three exciting new programs within their Share the Road campaign; a Speed Reader Board program, a Yard Sign Lender program, and an “I Share the Road Pledge” program.
[more…]
Posted in: Front Page, News, Sharing the road
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September 28, 2006
Why kids demand our utmost attention
Now that school is back in session, I thought it would be a good time to share some interesting and important information about pedestrian safety from a child’s perspective.
Through my work in Portland I have heard from several people involved with kids and traffic safety about the how children’s development makes them much more vulnerable than adults to being hit by motor vehicles.
The following information was taken from a Trauma Nurses Talk Tough newsletter and was written by a Registered Nurse named Shelley Campbell.
[more…]
Posted in: Front Page, Sharing the road
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Walk and Bike to School Day is coming!
Next week 89 schools across Oregon will participate in International Walk + Bike to School Day. The purpose of the event is to educate kids, parents, and teachers about the benefits of walking and biking to school.
In Portland, 24 schools are signed up to join in the festivities. According to the BTA’s Safe Routes to School Director Robert Ping, Sunnyside Elementary School in Southeast Portland will be the epicenter of all the action. He has invited VIPs (including Mayor Potter) to join groups of kids on six “bike trains” that will be arriving at the school from various points around the city.
I attended Walk and Bike to School Day last year at Abernethy School and it was a fun and inspiring morning. Stay tuned for a full report and photos from this year’s event.
Posted in: Front Page, Events, News, Safe Routes to School
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