Shaughnessy Elementary School in Vancouver, Canada, is a part of a program which has the aim of cutting down on car use for transporting kids to school, and promoting healthy alternatives like walking, biking, scooting, pogo sticking...you get to choose. The program is called Way To Go and is administered by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), which is a government-owned company which insures cars and drivers.

I am the point-parent at Shaughnessy Elementary for the school's participation in the Way To Go program. When we started the program in Fall 2000 I wrote a series of mini articles which appeared in the school newsletter under the heading A Step In The Right Direction. The mini articles were intended to coax reluctant parents into giving this walking to school thing a try. I can't say that I noticed a positive change in the number of cars involved in the daily traffic assault on the school in that year or since, but the mini articles themselves were well received and participation in subsequent International Walk to School Days has been exceptional. I have reposted the 37 mini articles here thinking that parents and teachers at other schools might borrow ideas, to help keep a few more of those horseless carriages away from our school zones.

If you would like to chat about the subject, I'd love to hear from you.

Eric Fergusson
(The Walk-To-School Guy)
Vancouver, Canada

eric_fergusson@telus.net