National Walk to School Day:
Bethesda Parents Demand a “Safe Walk to School”
Press release issued October 8, 2013
To mark National Walk to School day, the Action Committee for Transit will leaflet at the intersection of Arlington Road and Edgemoor Lane Wednesday morning to advocate making it safer for children to walk to school. A baby in a stroller was hit in a marked crosswalk at the intersection in February, one block from Bethesda Elementary School.
On May 7, 2013, parents and safety advocates sent the Montgomery County Department of Transportation a letter listing 10 low-cost ways to make the county's streets safer for walking to school. Months later, as of National Walk to School Day, MCDOT director Arthur Holmes still has not replied.
Wendy Leibowitz, Bethesda Elementary School parent, will join the leafleters at 8:30 am. “The county is spending thousands of dollars to bus children a few blocks because the streets are so unsafe.” she said. “The steps to safer streets around our school are clear and inexpensive. If the county made a few of those changes, there would be less need for buses, and we'd have healthier children who can walk to school and back.”