Forest Park School Travel Plan - Active Transportation Policy

2.5 Bike Infrastructure 2.6 Road User Behavior
No safe place to ride a bike to school
Currently, only middle school students are allowed to bike to
school in Forest Park School District 91. While the Village has
an extensive network of sidewalks, it currently lacks on-street
bike facilities. The Village of Forest Park will be working to
install more on-street facilities in compliance with its new
Complete Streets policy and its Active Transportation Plan.
Dangerous driving and/or speeding on streets
Members of the steering committee, school principals, and
members of the public who attended the Safe Routes to School
Workshop identified several common and unsafe behaviors
that occur on trips to and from school, including: drivers failing
to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks and when exiting alleys,
drivers using cell phones in school zones, parents double-parking
to drop off students, students darting out from parked cars
into traffic to cross the street, and drivers failing to stop for
school bus stop signs. Each of these behaviors creates an unsafe
environment and dissuades parents from allowing their children
to walk and bike to school. The recommendations contained in
the strategies section of this plan focus on educating all users of
the road about laws that impact pedestrian and bike safety and
working with local law enforcement to target unsafe behaviors
when needed.
Drop-off or pick-up process is unsafe
Providing on-street bike facilities increases safety and awareness of cyclists
and can encourage more cyclists to ride on Village streets.
All schools experience some level of chaos during morning
drop-off and afternoon pick-up. Forest Park schools are no
exception. The schools are particularly challenged due to high
traffic volumes and limited space dedicated for vehicle drop-offs.
Parent education about drop-off and pickup procedures and the
benefits to walking and biking to school can help create a safer
environment.
Texting while driving is one of many safety concerns that was reported by
parents and participants in the School Travel Plan process.
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Forest PARK School Travel Plan