School Safety Patrol Program
Boys and girls, outfitted in bright orange vests, assisting fellow students as they board and disembark their school buses and cross streets, are a familiar sight in most of our Club communities.

The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) is the largest sponsoring body of the School Safety Patrol Program in Canada. CAA provides participating municipalities with audio visual aids, print materials, equipment and guidance in the implementation and operation of patrols. We are honoured to be part of this program and are extremely proud of the accomplishments of our nation's school safety patrollers. School and bus patrollers (in excess of 100,000 across the country) assist teachers and parents in the instruction of more than 3 million school children. They range in age from 11 to 14 and are widely recognized and deserving of their standing as Canada's young "Champions of Safety".

Program History and Development
In the early 1920s the motor car was fast becoming a popular mode of transportation both for business and pleasure. Along with this popularity came a noticeable increase in the number of collisions involving children in the 4-14 age group. Law enforcement agencies were overwhelmed with requests to provide adequate protection for school children and soon found their resources stretched to the limit. The School Safety Patrol Program, first introduced in the U.S., provided a low cost, effective answer to both of these challenges.

As far as can be ascertained, the School Safety Patrol Program was born in the year 1922. The results were startling. In Chicago, patrols were organized in 1922 and from that date through to 1950 child fatalities dropped 62 per cent while fatalities in all other groups increased 43 per cent. This was all the more amazing, considering the 700 per cent increase in motor vehicle registration in that city. The credit for this remarkable record is attributed directly to the work of the Patrols and to safety instruction by police, teachers and parents.

Records show that Canadian patrols started in 1929 in the province of Quebec. The program was accepted by Canadians young and old for its obvious potential in teaching road safety and reducing child injuries and deaths. As the system grew so grew the support. Government, motor clubs, parent/teacher associations, service clubs, school boards, community business along with many other organizations, actively supported this worthwhile program.

In 1959, CAA established uniform procedures to be used by safety patrollers across Canada with cooperation from the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs, The Canadian Good Roads Association (now the Roads and Transportation Association of Canada), the Safety Council (now the Canadian Safety Council), and the Home and School Parent-Teacher Federation. Almost 70 years have passed and although there have been slight variations in the program from time to time, overall the system and the people involved are basically the same as when first organized.

The School Safety Patrol Program in Canada, as in over 20 other countries around the world, has become a successful and respected safety program. It's proven safety record is unequalled by any other program of its type. Never in the history of the program has an injury or death been attributed to the negligence of a school patroller.