Wednesday, April 3, 2013
30 Days of Biking : It's the third day of 30 days. Monday, kicked off ...
30 Days of Biking : It's the third day of 30 days. Monday, kicked off ...: It's the third day of 30 days. Monday, kicked off with a cold morning ride; 12 degrees at 4:02am; Tuesday, a ride around Detroit Lake...
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Safe Routes To Schools Doing its job...
Pedestrian safety program prevents student injuries
NEW YORK |
(Reuters Health) - Fewer kids were injured during early morning and after school hours once new traffic lights, pedestrian signals and speed bumps were put around New York City schools, according to a new study.
Those fixtures were added through the Safe Routes to School program, which received over $600 million from the U.S. Congress in 2005 to improve kids' ability to walk and bike to schools across the country.
"Pedestrian injuries for children, while the numbers have gotten better over the past decade or so, they're still pretty dismal," said Charles DiMaggio, who worked on the new study at Columbia University in New York.
As a result of Safe Routes to School, the city's Department of Transportation undertook safety improvements at the 124 New York City schools (out of a total of 1,471) with the highest injury rates in the city.
For the new study, DiMaggio and his colleague Guohua Li tracked injury rates around 30 schools that had finished safety projects by early 2009.
Between 2001 and 2010, they saw a 44-percent drop in the number of school-aged pedestrians who were injured in the hours just before or just after the school day - from 8 injuries per 10,000 kids each year to 4.4 per 10,000.
In comparison, there was no drop in injury rates in areas without pedestrian safety projects - they held steady over the decade at 3.1 annual injuries per 10,000 students.
The researchers noted in the journal Pediatrics that if the program was expanded, it could prevent 210 pedestrian injuries per year among New York City students.
The deputy director of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership said the same infrastructure changes can positively affect kids' general health, as well.
"We're reducing injuries to kids and when you reduce injuries, parents get more comfortable with their kids walking and biking," said Margo Pedroso, who wasn't involved in the new research.
Physically active kids are healthier, she told Reuters Health, and "one of the easiest ways to do that is to build it into a kid's daily life. Taking that trip to school by foot or on a bike instead of the back of the car, we really urge parents to do it."
For parents who don't think it's safe enough for their kids to walk to school, she recommended working with other parents and the administration to push for sidewalks, new lighting and other safety improvements for the neighborhood.
New York State got $31 million as part of Safe Routes of School, but the partnership no longer receives direct government funding - instead, it's one option states can choose to invest in out of a range of transportation programs, according to Pedroso.
DiMaggio called its impacts "very compelling."
His study was funded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
"Engineering interventions like traffic calming work," he told Reuters Health.
"Education and enforcement, they're important, but these kinds of permanent changes to the built environment are critical."
SOURCE: bit.ly/cxXOG Pediatrics, online January 14, 2013.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Grab a Shovel
Get Active, Grab a Shovel, Do Good for Your Neighborhood!
Detroit Lakes – The Detroit Lakes Active Living Committee announces the Good Neighbor
Shoveling Campaign. This is the second annual and this year is expanded beyond the Polar Fest
Week – we’re encouraging residents to shovel all winter.
With the winter season here, the Detroit Lakes Active Living committee is again kicking off its
Good Neighbor Shoveling Campaign. When there’s a snowfall, we encourage neighbors to help
each other by shoveling their own sidewalk and a neighbor’s walk! Not only will you have done a
good deed, you’ll reap the benefits of physical activity! Then, enjoy your hard work and clean
sidewalks by going for a brisk walk!
Throughout the winter, if the Active Living Committee finds a good neighbor shoveling their
neighbors sidewalk, that person will win a prize donated by local businesses.
During Polar Fest week in February, the campaign will intensify because our Active Living team will
have a bigger presence actively trying to catch shovelers in the act. If we find you shoveling your
sidewalk and/or your neighbors, you’ll have another chance to win a prize donated by local
businesses! Look and listen on KDLM 1340 AM for more information throughout winter months.
For more information, contact Carol McCarthy at 218-847-5624
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