Photo By Maj. Chad Nixon | Utah Gov. Gary Herbert poses for a group photo during a meeting with local community...... read more read more
SALT LAKE CITY – Moving a family every few years to transfer duty locations may seem difficult, but Army Reserve Maj. Terrance Beasley and his wife Laurie find ways to ease the process, and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert paid a special visit to their home this morning to help share their experiences.
His visit is part of the Utah Department of Transportation’s Walking School Bus phone application, which promotes safe walking and biking to school while reducing our carbon footprint.
The new application is all part of the state’s Student Neighborhood Access Program (SNAP) that engages and educates students, parents, school administrators, crossing guards and communities about the importance of child safety when traveling to school.
“It’s really a no-brainer,” said Laurie. “We all pretty much have cell phones these days and most of the kids in the neighborhood are going to walk, scooter or ride their bikes. So you download this app and it tracks their distance so you can tell them how far they walked or how many calories they burned.”
The application is free for everyone and contains a safety tool that notifies parents when children arrive to and from school. Currently there are over 500 walking groups registered and participating with the app.
“I feel safe and I like walking with my friends,” said Alex Beasley, eldest son of Terrance and Laurie. “And it saves gas because you’re not using cars.”
This will be the application’s second school year, and Herbert is proud of the statistics.
“They’ve reduced the number of car trips by 91,000,” said Herbert. “Think of the better air quality we get because we’re taking cars off the roads.”
It isn’t just Mother Nature benefiting from the application.
Children and parents have walked more than 88,000 miles and burned more than 8.8 million calories in the process.
“Our young men and women need exercise, and this is a good social opportunity to walk and talk with friends,” commented Herbert.
“Not every military family lives on a base and has a close network of friends,” stated Terrance. “The app has helped my family get to know people in the area and build a solid foundation with the local community.”
| Date Taken: | 08.13.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.13.2015 17:31 |
| Story ID: | 173105 |
| Location: | SALT LAKE CITY, UT, US |
| Web Views: | 87 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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