Traffic safety education programming

Information
A group of four young children on bicycles. They are stopped on the side of a street, wearing helmets, and smiling.
Bicycle and traffic safety education units curated by Portland Safe Routes to School.
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Traffic Safety for Middle School: Train the Trainer

Bring Traffic Safety Education to your students through a health or physical education setting! Safe Routes to School staff will provide free Train the Trainer education to get you started and feeling confident with skills and information.

How it works:

Safe Routes to School staff provide initial training to teachers, then offer in-class support as teachers begin instructing students. Staff are available to observe teachers in class, offer feedback, and help respond to questions. 

Bike safety education

Everything you need to teach bike handling skills and road safety awareness in a classroom and outdoor setting. 

  • A fleet of bikes and helmets are available for use during the program. Availability may vary as the bikes rotate between schools across Portland. 
  • Original lessons were intended for middle school-aged students. 
  • Lessons are paired with Oregon Department of Education's Core Physical Education Standards. 

Traffic safety in the classroom

Two interactive multi-day units covering:

  • health and community benefits of active transportation
  • Oregon traffic safety laws
  • how to ride transit
  • assertive communication in public spaces.

Original lessons intended for middle school-aged students, and are paired with Oregon Department of Education's Core Health Standards and Performance Indicators. 

Ride leader training

Feel confident leading rides for small and large groups. A great option for schools wanting to coordinate family rides but aren't quite ready to offer Bike Safety Education programming.

Traffic Safety for High School: Transportation Academy

Safe Routes is expanding into high schools - jump on the bus and join us. Thanks to a grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), a new high school Transportation Academy will kick off in the Parkrose School District. 

The ODOT Safe Routes to School Education grant funding will go towards the implementation of a Transportation Academy as well as outreach and education efforts at Parkrose High School. PBOT Safe Routes to School staff will train Elevate Oregon’s high school teacher/mentors to lead the Transportation Academy on traffic safety. Elevate Oregon is an organization that builds relationships with at-risk youth to promote education, self-reliance, and leadership with Parkrose students. The partnership will encourage growth beyond the classroom and into students’ day-to-day lives. Additional topics covered in the program will include:

  • Multimodal literacy - getting around Portland by walking, biking, rolling + driver safety
  • Climate connections - effect of transportation on climate
  • Transportation equity - Portland transportation history 
  • Civic engagement - working with city government
  • Safe Systems 

These educational efforts for Parkrose students and their broader community are designed to increase pedestrian, bike, and driver safety, with the goal of reducing fatal and serious crashes.

This Academy was highly informed by previous safe travel engagements with over 140 Portland Metro youth, in partnership with Metro Safe Routes to School, ODOT, and Dr. Autumn Shafer.

Safe travel engagements included:

  • Workshops at Parkrose High School, Alliance High School, and East Portland Community Center
  • Focus groups in all Portland Public School high school clusters, including East Multnomah County, Washington County and Clackamas County focus groups led by Metro partners

For more information, please reach out to us at saferoutes@portlandoregon.gov