Active School Travel
The City of Lethbridge is working with schools and community partners to improve road safety around schools and support active ways of getting to and from school. Many students and families face barriers to walking or biking, including traffic safety concerns, congestion during pick-up and drop-off, and limited infrastructure.
Through School Travel Planning, the City, schools and community partners identify these challenges and prioritize practical, school‑specific actions that improve safety and encourage active school travel for students.
What is Active School Travel?
Active school travel includes ways of getting to and from school that are human-powered such as walking, cycling, skateboarding, roller blading, scooting or using a wheelchair to get to and from school.
Active school travel supports healthy, connected communities and offers many benefits for students, including:
- Improves safety and accessibility in and around schools
- Encourages lifelong healthy habits through daily physical activity
- Supports physical health, including cardiovascular fitness and overall wellness
- Enhances cognitive development, attention and academic performance
- Promotes mental health, positive emotions and social connection
- Builds confidence, independence and a stronger sense of place within the community
- Reduces air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and urban noise
- Makes more efficient use of public space by reducing traffic congestion
There are many barriers that prevent students from participating in active school travel, including safety concerns, distance and lack of infrastructure. School Travel Planning helps communities identify these challenges and prioritize ways to address them. This can include recommended improvements to infrastructure, education and encouragement programs, enforcement of bylaws and policy change that supports safer travel choices. Often, it's the combination of these efforts that leads to meaningful and lasting impact.
School Travel Planning
School Travel Planning (STP) is a community-based approach focused on reducing traffic-related safety risks around schools by increasing active school travel and encouraging students to use more sustainable modes of transportation to and from school.
The City of Lethbridge STP Initiative is designed to support schools and community partners in implementing effective, context-sensitive strategies to improve active school travel. To ensure a comprehensive, inclusive and sustainable approach to increasing student active school travel, the initiative is grounded in the “five E’s” framework utilized by Green Communities Canada:
- Education: teaching and learning about the benefits of active school travel
- Encouragement (Programming): initiatives and partnerships supporting and promoting active school travel
- Engineering: physical changes to the environment that improve safety
- Enforcement: supporting safe travel through traffic by-law enforcement and school-zone safety initiatives, in collaboration with Bylaw Services and the Lethbridge Police Service
- Evaluation: assessing the impact of actions and tracking progress over time
The City of Lethbridge has developed STP Action Plans for every elementary school in Lethbridge to support safer, healthier and more sustainable active school travel for students.
View the full library of STP Action Plans below:
If the embedded map doesn't load, click here to view the online map of STP Action Plans.
Education Toolkit
Education plays a foundational role in fostering safe and sustainable travel habits in students. By raising awareness and building essential skills, education empowers both students and families to make safer and healthier travel choices.
This toolkit provides a range of resources to facilitate conversations and actions that encourage safe active school travel. We invite parents, guardians and educators to use these resources to support youth as they develop safe travel habits that are relevant both now as active travellers, and in the future as informed and responsible motorists.
Guided activities and in-class presentations are available through the Education & Outreach team. Visit our booking page or reach out to education@lethbridge.ca for inquiries.
Green Communities Canada
- Drive to 5 - Encourage families who drive to park five minutes away from school and walk the rest of the journey
- Bike Train - Supervise a group of students to cycle together
- Walking School Bus - Organize groups of students to walk to school together under adult supervision
- Walk and Wheel to School Day - A one-day celebration event where all students who can are encouraged to walk or cycle all or partway to and from school
- Bike Rodeo - Give students the confidence and skills to enjoy cycling safely
- Dress for the Weather Activity - Help students get the right gear for the season
- Greening Tree Activity Kit - The Greening Tree is a fun, visual way to track how students get to school
- Routes to School Mapping Activity - Show students and families the best routes for walking and wheeling to school
Lesson Plans
- Traffic Safety Lesson Plans - The City of Edmonton is encouraging safe mobility around schools through lesson plans, activities and stories that engage students in learning to travel safely
- Ontario Road Safety Resource - The Ontario Road Safety Resource gives teachers the tools and teaching aids to educate children and youth about road safety
Pedestrian Safety Resources
- Pedestrian Safety Brochure - Canadian Automobile Association (CAA)
- Crosswalk Safety - Tony the Street-Wise Cat
- Streetlight Crossing - Tony the Street-Wise Cat
Cycling Safety Resources
- Bike Safety Tips - Tourism Lethbridge
- Young Cyclist's Guide - Ontario Ministry of Transportation
- Cycle Safety Brochure - Canadian Automobile Association (CAA)
- Helmet 2v1 Rule Poster - Parachute
Safety Games
- Bicycle & Pedestrian Signals Game - Test your knowledge on bicycle and pedestrian signals
- Bike Ride Checklist - Sort what you should take on your bike ride from things that should stay at home
- Street Diagram - As a pedestrian, learn about what can help to keep you safe as you’re walking
- Road Sign Matching - Do you know your signs? Test your road sign knowledge
- Bicycle Labelling - Label the important pieces of your bicycle