Pedestrian Focus States and Action Plans Keith W. Sinclair Highway Safety Engineer FHWA Resource Center: Safety & Design TST

Transcription

1 Pedestrian Focus States and Action Plans Keith W. Sinclair Highway Safety Engineer FHWA Resource Center: Safety & Design TST June 3, 2009 Pedestrian Focus States and Cities Pedestrians are one of our four focus areas. Goal: Reduce ped. fatalities by 10% by 2011 Performance Measures: Implement ped. safety plans in cities with highest ped. fatalities per year. Implement ped. safety plans in states with ped. fatalities above 150 or above national rate of

2 FY 2008 Pedestrian Safety Focus States and Cities California Washington Oregon Los Angeles Nevada Idaho Utah Phoenix Arizona Montana Wyoming Colorado New Mexico New Hampshire Maine North Dakota Vermont Minnesota Massachusetts Wisconsin South Dakota Rhode Island New York New York Michigan Connecticut Chicago City Pennsylvania Iowa New Jersey Nebraska Illinois Indiana Ohio Washington West District of Columbia DC Virginia Delaware Maryland Virginia Kansas Missouri Kentucky North Carolina Tennessee Arkansas Oklahoma South Carolina Texas Louisiana Mississippi Alabama Georgia Alaska Florida Hawaii Puerto Rico States with over 150 Pedestrian Deaths or fatality rate above 2.5 per 100K population 13 States 5 Cities Pedestrian Focus States and Cities Problem: States and Cities needed assistance in developing their plans and direction on how to get started. Solution: Develop a document that would walk them through the process and provide technical assistance as needed. 2

3 Pedestrian Focus States and Cities September 2004: PBIC hired to develop How to Develop a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan Document. Final Document Complete on 2/8/06. Revised by NHTSA to include sections on education and enforcement in March Courses and Technical Assistance Developed Workshops: Designing for Pedestrian Safety (2-day) Developing a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan (2-day) Planning and Designing for Pedestrian Safety (3-day combo) 3

4 Pedestrian Focus States and Cities Each course has one FHWA and one contract instructor. 165 Technical Assistance Courses have been completed thus far in the focus states/and cities ( ). Many more planned this fiscal year. Web-based course on Engineering for Pedestrian Safety to be offered this fall and recorded. Focus States Webconferences Bi-Monthly. Presentations on topics of interest (new technology, success stories, new materials, countermeasures, etc.). Information sharing between focus states. Now include non-focus states as well. 4

5 Developed or are Developing a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan California Florida North Carolina Georgia Hawaii Nevada New York New Jersey Arizona and Phoenix New Mexico Chicago Health based Stakeholders Michigan Healthy Kids/Healthy Michigan Complete Streets movement New York City NYCDOH, NYSDOH, and NYCDOT are partnering on a Pedestrian Fatality & Severe Injury Study This will feed into the NYC PSAP New Jersey NJDOT, NJDOH, and NJ Dept. of Education partner on CDC funded grants to combat childhood obesity 5

6 Safe Routes to School Program Enable/encourage children to walk and bike to school Make biking/walking to school safer and more appealing Plan, develop, & implement projects/activities to improve safety and reduce traffic, air pollution, and fuel consumption near schools Planning and Designing Pedestrian Safety Funding 5-11 Have our efforts in the Pedestrian Safety Focus States had an impact? In 2008, VOLPE conducted an assessment to find out... 6

7 VOLPE Focus States Evaluation Conducted in 5 of 18 focus locations in 2008 (GA, CA, NY, MI, Chicago). Showed overall positive results with farreaching consequences. Being named a focus state helped raise awareness within states and added a legitimacy not previously had. Helped draw attention to and resources for pedestrian safety efforts. VOLPE Focus States Evaluation Participants found courses, technical assistance, and webconferences valuable for: Improving participant attitudes and knowledge of pedestrian safety. Increasing participant ability and confidence to advocate for pedestrian safety. Communicating practical techniques for improving pedestrian safety. 7

8 VOLPE Focus States Evaluation Demand for courses far exceeded capacity. Several focus locations developed follow-on training with assistance from Resource Center. VOLPE Focus States Evaluation Mix of professions in courses (DOT s, health organizations, police, etc.) helped build relationships between groups and aided in improving pedestrian safety. 8

9 VOLPE Focus States Evaluation Most focus locations have implemented or plan to implement countermeasures and initiatives to improve pedestrian safety. VOLPE Focus States Evaluation Focus States Program has spurred changes in policies, business processes and institutional structures focused on pedestrian safety. 9

10 VOLPE Focus States Evaluation Former focus state, Michigan did not use any targeted safety funding to address pedestrian safety until after participation in the Program. Detroit now considers ped. safety in all transportation improvement projects. VOLPE Focus States Evaluation Most focus locations have/will implement countermeasures and initiatives to improve ped. Safety. Small and large countermeasures will be implemented. Practical strategies being implemented based on course content. 10

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