Belts and Badges: A Century of the AAA School Safety Patrol

The AAA Safety Patrol program dates back to 1920. At the time, car production outpaced important infrastructure like traffic lights and stop signs. Additionally, drivers weren’t required to take a skills test to operate a motor vehicle. With little to no resources to help drivers navigate the roads, crossing those roads could be extremely perilous for pedestrians. This was especially the case for young children.

After witnessing a speeding car kill several children at a school crossing, Charles M. Hayes, then president of the Chicago Motor Club, vowed to help prevent such a horrific tragedy from happening again. He developed the AAA School Safety Patrol program so AAA clubs across the country could provide traffic safety guidance and resources for adults, children and schools. 

By the 1930s, the AAA School Safety Patrol became a national program. The National Safety Council and the National Congress of Parents and Teachers joined AAA to create standardized rules and guidelines for the Operation of School Boy Patrols. (At the time, only male students could become patrollers, but that started to change in the 1940s, when communities expanded recruitment to female students.) Those guidelines have evolved over the years to become the operating standards for all AAA School Safety Patrols in schools.

AAA School Safety Patrollers are volunteers within upper elementary, middle and junior high schools. The patrollers direct children, not traffic. These students are leaders in traffic safety, acting as role models to younger students and teaching fellow classmates the importance of traffic safety. The program boasts an impressive list of alumni that includes former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Joe Biden, Olympic athletes, Supreme Court judges and astronauts.

"First Crush"

In 2024, The Auto Club Group scripted, cast, filmed and produced "First Crush" (above), a short film highlighting the history of the AAA School Safety Patrol program and dramatizing the lifesaving role the program serves to this day.

How to get involved

To participate in the program (with parental permission), safety patrollers must complete traffic safety training. Once they’ve completed the necessary requirements, student volunteers receive their safety patrol certificate, belt and badge. 

While the AAA safety patrol belt color has seen many iterations over the years—from white to neon orange to today’s fluorescent green—the program’s mission remains the same: to provide leadership opportunities and a safer environment for millions of students.

The AAA School Safety Patrol is the world’s largest safety program, with more than 679,000 safety patrollers in U.S. schools helping reduce injuries and fatalities among school-aged children (ages 5-14). The program has contributed to a steady decline in pedestrian deaths among students in the U.S.—a 24% decrease since 2010.

To date, at least 30 other countries have adopted the AAA model of safety patrols in schools, including the Netherlands, England, France, Germany and New Zealand.

Millions of children have benefitted from the AAA School Safety Patrol program throughout its existence. From a safer pedestrian environment to extensive educational and leadership opportunities for students, AAA has helped strengthen communities and schools through this historic program.