Safe Routes to School Task Force to the Secretary of…

      Safe Routes to School Task Force to the Secretary of Transportation
                      U.S. Department of Transportation
                        Seventh Meeting: May 29, 2008

Meeting Type: Teleconference

Location:
This teleconference originated at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway
Administration, Office of Safety, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., Washington, DC 20590. Room E71-124 was
made available to the public to listen to the teleconference.

Meeting time: 1:00 - 3:00pm Eastern Time

Members on the teleconference:

Ms. Barbara Alberson
Chief, State and Local Injury Control Section, CA Department of Health Sacramento, CA
(Representing State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association)

Ms. Sabrina Cruz
Principal, Brichta Elementary School Tucson, AZ
(Representing Pima County - Tucson SRTS Program and the educational community.

Mr. Richard Deal, PE, TE, PTOE
City Traffic Engineer, Monterey, CA
(Representing American Public Works Association and professionals working in the
transportation field)

Ms. Rebecca Levin-Goodman, MPH
Senior Manager, Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention Initiatives, Division of Safety and Health
Promotion, American Academy of Pediatrics, Elk Grove Village, IL
(Filling in for Dr. Phyllis Agran)
(Representing the American Academy of Pediatrics)

Ms. Lauren Marchetti
Director, National Center for Safe Routes to School, UNC Highway Safety Research Center
Chapel Hill, NC

Scott Osberg, PhD
Director of Research, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
Washington, DC
(Representing professionals working in the transportation field with an emphasis on safety.)

Mr. Robert Ping
Representing Oregon Bicycle Transportation Alliance and Willamette Pedestrian Coalition,
Portland, OR


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(Representing practitioners implementing SRTS programs on a local and statewide level)

Ms. Sharon Roerty
Director of Community Programs for the National Center for Bicycling and Walking
(Representing a national bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organization)

Ms. Donna Smallwood, Chair of Task Force
Operations Manager, MassRIDES Boston, MA
(Representing a State Department of Transportation Program)

Ms. Dale Ann Wright
Officer, West Valley City Police Department West Valley City, UT
(Representing local law enforcement agencies)

Designated Federal Official:
Mr. Tim Arnade
Safe Routes to School Program Manager
Office of Safety
Federal Highway Administration

Support Staff:
Ms. Diane Lambert, Toole Design Group


ROLL CALL (DONNA SMALLWOOD)
The meeting was called to order on May 29th at 1:00 pm Eastern Time by Donna Smallwood,
the Task Force Chair. Ms. Smallwood led a roll call to document members in attendance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM MARCH 2008 MEETING (DONNA SMALLWOOD)
Ms. Smallwood directed participants' attention to the minutes from the previous TF meeting. Mr.
Deal moved to adopt the minutes; motion was seconded by Mr. Osberg. The members of the TF
approved the minutes with no opposed, no abstained.

PRESENTATION AND OVERVIEW OF REPORT (DIANE LAMBERT)
Consultant staff reminded that the graphic layout of the report incorporates the preferences of the
TF as expressed during the January meeting held in Phoenix, AZ ­ this includes colors, double
columns and overall style. Staff expressed that the sample design copy received by TF members
is not a printers proof and the color is not 100% accurate to what it will be when the final reports
are printed on a digital press. Additionally, the binder used for the design samples is not what
will be used for final printing.

Consultant staff also reminded that the text in the design sample contains edits requested during
the March teleconference. TF members received a copy of this final text on March 18th and
consultant staff has received no further comments or edit requests. Therefore, this text is
considered final except for any factual errors which may have been missed to this point.




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Consultant staff referenced the cover letter that was attached to the design sample which
addressed the fact that the report title on the design sample erroneously omitted the word
"safety" from the report title. Staff also noted that, inconsistent with the content of the report, the
title does not include the word "transportation". One of the discussion items planned for this
teleconference is the possibility of revisiting the report title. In the cover letter, consultant staff
provided a few potential titles and tag lines for TF review. It was determined that this discussion
item will be addressed last.

Consultant staff reviewed the following comments and suggested graphical edits that were
received via email by TF members unable to join the teleconference. It was determined that TF
members would provide direction on each edit suggested by staff; at the conclusion of the staff
review, TF members would provide additional observations for discussion.
    · Report cover: It was noted that the photos on the cover relate to walking and is suggested
       that we add or replace one of the cover photos with a picture of a student riding a bicycle.
       TF members agreed and requested that the photo displaying the FedEx logo be replaced
       with a bicycling photo.
    · Approval and Transmittal Letter and the Acknowledgements pages:
       1 ­ It was suggested that in both places Donna Smallwood be listed first as she is the
       chair. Everyone else will be listed in alpha order. TF members agreed with this edit.
       2 - It was noted that we don't necessarily need the titles and locations for each task
       member in both places. A recommendation was made to move the Acknowledgements
       page to the back side of the Table of Contents, so that Task Force member information
       will be visible along with the signatures. TF members agreed with this edit.
    · Approval and Transmittal letter ­ consultant staff inquired as to whether the TF preferred
       to have the date on this letter to be the date of concurrence on the report (March) or the
       date of publication (July)? The TF suggested June 2008. Consultant staff explained that
       this letter will contain Task Force signatures so that it more closely resembles a letter.
       Staff will email the TF with instructions for sending an electronic signature.
    · Acknowledgements page:
       1 ­ There is a factual error in the last sentence of the paragraph at the top of the page ­
       the recommendation will go to the US Department of Transportation and Congress, not
       just Congress. TF members agreed with this edit.
       2 ­ It was noted that TDG is not acknowledged anywhere in the report, and it was
       recommended that professional support be added to the bottom of the acknowledgements
       page under "Designated Federal Official". TF members agreed with this edit, and
       suggested a graphic feature that clearly delineates the TF members from Federal and
       Professional Support.
    · Page 5 ­ change the word "biking" in the quote to "bicycling". TF members agreed with
       this edit.
    · Page 8 ­ find a better picture of a crosswalk as this one is faded. TF members agreed with
       this edit.




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   ·   Page 9 ­ remove the 2010 marker on the timeline as there is no label for it. TF members
       requested that the date be changed to 2009 with a label of "Anticipated reauthorization".
   ·   Page 16 ­ The safety statistics included in "Barriers to Walking" were updated to include
       2006 data. TF members agreed with this edit.
   ·   Page 18 ­ change the word "biking" in the quote to "bicycling". TF members agreed with
       this edit.
   ·   Page 21 ­ Impact Table: there was a question as to whether the gas and pollution
       numbers took into account two round trips each day. TF members suggested editing the
       caption to read "assuming one two-mile round trip, 180 school days). TF members also
       suggested editing the endnote to provide full description on how these numbers were
       calculated.
   ·   Page 23 - Under "Tracking State Progress", statistics will be updated with new
       information released this week. Updated text will read: "As of March 2008, States have
       committed to spending approximately $222 million on SRTS programs. Forty-two States
       have announced funding for local and/or statewide SRTS programs involving over 2,600
       schools." TF member agreed with this edit.
   ·   Photos on pages 30, 32 and 42 ­ Suggestions were made to remove these photos as they
       show unsafe conditions and do not include a caption explaining the photos. TF members
       agreed to retain the photos but to add a brief caption explaining each photo.
   ·   Appendix A ­ Case Studies: It was observed that if a person did not read the introductory
       text for this section, they would not be able to reference the source for each case study. It
       was suggested that an endnote be added for each case study (same endnote number for
       each) referencing the National Center for Safe Routes to school, and that the endnotes be
       moved to after Appendix C. The Table of Contents will also be edited to reflect this
       change. TF members agreed with this edit.

Ms. Smallwood asked TF members to return to the cover letter that was attached to their report
sample, and called attention to issue of the report title. TF members agreed that the title should
include the word transportation, and after moderate discussion agreed on the title "Safe Routes to
School: A Transportation Legacy, A National Strategy to Increase Safety and Physical Activity
among American Youth".

Ms. Smallwood invited TF members to introduce additional suggested edits:
    · Ms. Alberson requested a correction in the organization name listed in her
      acknowledgment, and expressed the opinion that the example strategy listed in the 3rd
      paragraph in the second column of page 44 is not powerful enough; it was determined
      that the organization name would be corrected, but no further text changes would be
      made.
    · A TF member expressed that she would like to see more photos of children with special
      needs, and that she does not like the photo of the child on page 1. It was determined that
      the consultant will identify additional special needs photos.




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    ·   A TF member expressed that he would like to see a photo of either skateboarding or in-
        line skating, and would like a caption added to the photo on page 24 explaining the
        construction. TF members agreed with both suggested edits.
    ·   A TF member noted inconsistency in the capitalizing of subheadings in the report. The
        consultant will make full corrections.
    ·   A TF member expressed that she would like to see VMT's addressed in the Executive
        Summary (page 2, first paragraph). It was determined that no further text changes would
        be made.
    ·   A TF member noted that Mike Eberlein's name is spelled incorrectly on page 22. The
        consultant will make the correction.

Upon hearing no further discussion, Ms. Smallwood concluded the discussion of report edits and
asked for TF concurrence on final edits. Concurrence was received at 2pm EST.

TASK FORCE REVIEW OF TIMELINE (DONNA SMALLWOOD)
Mr. Arnade reviewed the next steps for the TF report. The consultant will make final edits by
June 13th, then will receive and approve a printers proof by June 27th. In July, reports will be
printed and reviewed by FHWA. As Mr. Arnade discussed in prior meetings, official transmittal
of the report to Congress over the Secretary's signature is a long process and will take a number
of months. There was some discussion as to whether the Task Force should attend a meeting in
Washington, DC to ceremoniously present the report to a Senior Official. The Task Force
expressed interest in attending such a presentation. Ms. Smallwood reminded members that a
quorum (8 members) will be required in order for this meeting to take place. The consultant will
poll Task Force members to check availability for a potential meeting/presentation in late
July/early August at 11am EST. Mr. Arnade will check availability of Senior Officials within
FHWA. Once sent to Congress, additional copies will be printed and an electronic file of the
report will be posted on the SRTS Clearinghouse website.

ADJOURN
There being no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 2:30pm Eastern Time.



I hereby certify that, to the best of my knowledge, the foregoing minutes are accurate and complete.
Date: July 30, 2008




Donna Smallwood
Chair, National Safe Routes to School Task Force



Tim Arnade
Designated Federal Official for National Safe Routes to School Task Force
Office of Safety, Federal Highway Administration


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