AAA’s School Safety Patrol Program Celebrates Centennial

CLICK HERE for video about the 100 year anniversary of the AAA School Safety Patrol

WILMINGTON, DE (March 3, 2021) For 100 years, AAA School Safety Patrollers around the world have provided school-aged children an extra sense of safety and security when going to and from school. As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across Delaware, Patrollers and their advisors had to pivot quickly to keep those programs going.

Delaware is home to more than 1,800 Safety Patrollers in 67 schools and as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, Patrollers and Safety Patrol advisors had to pivot quickly to keep those programs going.

“The pandemic took many aspects of daily life away from students this year,” said Ken Grant, manager of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “As it has through the past 100 years, the AAA School Safety Patrol program, along with its Patrollers and advisors, adapted and came up with new ways to make the program a success.”

Created to make schoolchildren safer while walking to school, the program has grown-up and matured with the times while remaining steadfast to its mission to provide a safer environment and leadership opportunities for millions of schoolchildren. Started as a boys-only initiative when horses and buggies were still a transportation mode, the program evolved to include girls. The training that Patrollers receive instills safety sense beyond street crossings, including bus and car drop-offs, monitoring hallway congestion, and teaching Patrollers invaluable leadership skills. The famous Patroller belt has seen change, too, going from white to neon orange to today’s fluorescent green called ‘Lectric Lime.

“Patrollers direct children, not traffic. Their focus is on helping students be safe where traffic is concerned,” said AAA Traffic Safety Advocacy and Community Impact Manager Rhonda Shah. “Their actions save lives. Patrollers serve as role models in schools across the country.”

The program and its more than 440 Lifesaving Award recipients have contributed to the steady decline of U.S. student pedestrian (ages 5–14) deaths—a 24% decrease since 2010.

Three Generation Safety Patrol Family - from Dover to Wilmington

Seth Poore served as a third generation AAA School Safety Patroller. He served at Lombardy

Elementary School in Wilmington, while his mother, Robyn Poore, was a School Safety Patroller at Allen Frear Elementary School in Dover and both of her parents served as Safety Patrollers in New Jersey in the 1960s.

"This is a great program," said Robyn Poore. "I am so proud of my son for taking on this important leadership role at school and his little sister hopes to serve as well. I appreciate AAA's commitment to keep the School Safety Patrol going."

Were YOU a Safety Patroller?

As AAA celebrates the AAA School Safety Patrol’s 100th Anniversary, we are looking for stories from former Patrollers. If you would like to share your Safety Patrol story, visit our web page here.

Notable Patrollers include Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, astronauts, governors, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, Olympic medalists, and authors, like Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney. President Joe Biden was also a Patroller while he was a student in Scranton, Pa.

The 2020–21 school year, different as it may be, boasts 679,000 Patrollers in 35,000 schools in the United States. The legacy doesn’t stop here, however. Over the last 100 years, interest in and excitement for the program have spread around the world. The AAA model has been adopted in at least 30 other countries, including England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

Since 1920, AAA provides various equipment and education materials to Patrollers, including reflective belts, patrol badges and training resources. To learn how to bring the AAA School Safety Patrol to your school, email SchoolSafetyPatrol@national.aaa.com.