Wednesday is 'Walk+Roll to School Day' in Medford

Kevin Opsahl, Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore.
Updated ·2 min read

Oct. 4—Medford School District is encouraging students to walk or use nonmotorized transportation on their way to school Wednesday morning to educate them about pedestrian safety and decrease bus congestion around district property.

It's all part of "Walk+Roll to School Day," a new event that grew out of the district's efforts to implement the Oregon Department of Transportation's "Safe Routes to School" program.

Brad Earl, the district's assistant superintendent of operations, said the main aim of the event is to make parents and guardians feel comfortable walking or getting their children to school some other way besides driving.

"We're still down a significant number of bus drivers, so a lot of parents have chosen to drive, and it's creating a lot of bottlenecks in our parking lots and frustration among parents trying to drop off and pick up," Earl said. "This (event) is a great way to alleviate pressure — to have more students walking."

The district will have volunteers on hand Wednesday to help the event run smoothly. But in the long term, Earl said he hopes the district can encourage parents to form "walking buddies" or "walking buses" to create a sense of safety as kids walk to school.

"This (event) is a way for a parent to feel comfortable trying it out and seeing how it goes," Earl said. "And we hope it creates new habits."

The Walk+Roll event is supported by Rogue Valley Transportation District, which will provide its staff as volunteers to implement safety protocols, as well as snacks and drinks for participating school kids.

"We encourage the use of active and alternative transportation because we just have too many cars on the road, and it doesn't look like it's going the other direction anytime soon," said Mike Bowman, RVTD's travel trainer. "So the more we can encourage people to do something other than drive, the less clogged the roads are going to be; that's really our goal."

Students will have the opportunity to win prizes and are invited to post their pictures on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with the hashtags #RideRVTD and #MSDWalkNRoll for a chance to win gift cards and more.

Reach reporter Kevin Opsahl at 541-776-4476 or kopsahl@rosebudmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KevJourno.