SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - This is Walk to School Day, an annual event designed to help children develop health habits.
Tara Besch, a health educator in Minnesota, says the nation has an obesity problem.
Besch says the goal is 60 minutes of physical activity every day for kids between the ages of six and 17 years old. She says the idea is to get them outside before and after school, that will help them achieve that goal.
Besch says if kids are walking or biking to school they need safe passage.
She says it's important to build up crosswalks and pedestrian signing and increase safety measures around heavily traveled intersections. Parents know where there are dangerous roadway on the way to school.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says three years ago one in five children who lost their lives in traffic crashes were pedestrians.