San Jose's Walk n' Roll Program: An Evaluation of School Pedestrian Education Programs

The City of San Jose has been recognized as among the safest cities in the United States, but an area that the city seeks to improve in is reducing the number of traffic accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists. As stated by the city, “San Jose’s injury crash rate is about half the national average” (Vision Zero San Jose, 2015, p. 6), but, on average, 40 people are killed annually and 150 are seriously injured on San Jose’s streets. To address this, San Jose is using data, education, and technology to make a shift towards creating streets and roads that benefit not just cars, but everyone who uses streets and roads (Vision Zero San Jose, 2015, p. 6). A key component to increasing pedestrian safety is developing safe and healthy habits at an early age, which is why education and encouragement programs are critical for this goal. This study evaluates San Jose’s Walk n’ Roll program and analyzes whether it has an influence on the number of students who walk or ride a bicycle to school. The effectiveness of this program will be based upon the number of students who choose to walk or ride a bicycle to school instead of riding in a car, and seeing whether there is a measurable difference after the Walk n’ Roll training.