NYMTC Regional Pedestrian Safety Study - New York Metropolitan ...

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5.3 Education Education can have multiple roles. However, the most challenging role is to change pedestrian and driver behavior. It is difficult to get the attention of adults to this issue, which they tend to take for granted. Education of children for pedestrian safety is more likely to produce results. Additional roles are to introduce and create acceptance of innovative measures, to inform local officials of the importance of pedestrian safety considerations in planning, zoning, and other decisions, and to add to the engineering and planning professionals’ level of expertise in improving pedestrian safety. A good reference for education for pedestrian safety is the NCHRP document, A Guide for Reducing Collisions Involving Pedestrians, Volume 10 of Guidance for Implementation of the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan (Zegeer, Stutts, et al., 2004). 5.3.1 Changing Behavior Public Relations Campaigns: If the campaign is to be effective, the objective, the audience, and the message must be clear. The message will differ depending on the awareness of the target audience. Zegeer, Stutts, et al. (2004) suggest that a public awareness campaign to increase public concern about pedestrian safety should be the first step before trying to change pedestrian or driver behavior. FHWA has initiated a pedestrian safety campaign, which includes a “toolkit” of materials (planning guide, public service announcements, brochures, and other materials) (http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_program/pedcampaign/index.htm). Press Releases: Getting the news media to do stories on pedestrian safety would be more effective than paid for spots; however, to interest the media in pedestrian safety, it needs a “hook” that makes it newsworthy. One possible hook is the release of new data; for example, an August 22, 2006, FHWA press release with the title “Rise in Motorcycle and Pedestrian Deaths Led to Increase in Overall Highway Fatality Rate in 2005” announced the most recent FARS result. Locally, a particularly serious or poignant pedestrian crash might be used effectively. The implementation of an innovative measure could be used with the dual purpose of increasing the public’s awareness of pedestrian safety and developing their understanding and acceptance of the new measure. Targeted Programs: Programs aimed at specific groups, such as children or seniors, can be effective and easier to implement. There are several national program aimed at children, including Safe Routes to School (which is supported by targeted funding in SAFETEA-LU), Walk This Way (sponsored by Safe Kids and Federal Express), and Walk You Child to School Program. Educational programs for children may well be the most effective way of changing behavior; the children are more open to the message, and once the message has been learned, it may stay with them for life. The children can also help to develop awareness among adults; a particularly effective way of reaching parents is to NYMTC Pedestrian Safety Study 88
ask them to act as role models for their children. Pedestrian safety programs can be conducted at schools and health fairs. Two particularly in-depth local programs targeted to developing safe pedestrian behavior in children are Safety City, a NYCDOT program, and Safety Town, run by the Nassau County Police Department. They are both described in Section 3.4 (Educational Programs). These programs are aimed at third graders; children at this age are beginning to become more independent while still be open the message. To reach the older child, including teenagers, NYCDOT puts on an improvisational play. There are also videos designed for the older child. However, by the time they reach their mid-teens, mush of the safety educational materials concentrate on driving issues. There are also educational programs and materials targeted to seniors. NYCDOT has produced a video (There’s More to Taking a Walk than Moving Your Feet: Pedestrian Safety for Older Adults) that alerts seniors to the walking dangers and informs them about safe pedestrian behavior, particularly for crossing city intersections. Changing Driver Behavior: The programs described above are aimed at pedestrians; changing driver behavior may be more difficult since the driver has less at stake than the pedestrian. One means of reaching drivers is to include brochures on pedestrian safety in driver license renewal. However, the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles rotates the brochures that are inserted; therefore, only a proportion of drivers would receive one specifically on pedestrian safety. Further, given the large number of brochures that people receive with bills and other mailings, many people routinely throw them out without reading them. Another way that NYS DMV might assist in making drivers more aware of pedestrian safety is to include more questions on legal and recommended driving behavior around pedestrians on the written examination for becoming a licensed driver, as well as increase the material on sharing the road with pedestrians in the “Driver’s Manual and Study Guide” (http://www.nysdmv.com/dmanual/chapter11-manual.htm#the-ped ). The American Automobile Association (AAA) publishes a magazine for their members, which has on occasion included articles on pedestrian safety. Signs that remind drivers that there are other road users (e.g., “Share The Road” or “Pedestrian Killed Here”) are one way of making drivers more aware. However, to the extent that they add to “sign clutter” they may have a negative impact in some locations. Enforcement is another means of education; as one person put it, “A ticket is the best education” (see next section). Coordinated educational efforts on several fronts will be more effective than any single measures. New Jersey announced a new 3E pedestrian safety program (NJ Office of Governor, 2006), which states “Fundamental to reducing pedestrian safety accidents in New Jersey is a change in driver behavior . . .” (See press release, available at: http://www.state.nj.us/governor/news/news/approved/20060918.html ) Under the Education section of the initiative, they include three driver education efforts: NYMTC Pedestrian Safety Study 89
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New York Metropolitan Transportatio
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1. Report No. 2. Government Accessi
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Table of Contents 1 Introduction 1
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Table of Figures 2.1 Ten Year Trend
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I. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Study Origin an
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in the United States; the 2004 data
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Table 1.1 Organizations That Were I
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II. BACKGROUND ON PEDESTRIAN SAFETY
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Figure 2.1 Ten Year Trend in Pedest
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Figure 2.3 Historic Trend in Annual
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than fatality rates.) The most noti
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III. ORGANIZATIONS FOR PEDESTRIAN S
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• Updating and creating new stand
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The New York State Metropolitan Pla
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getting input from people who have
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i. 20% of priority crash locations
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located by reference marker (the sm
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that the proper signage and other t
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and funding has been secured to adv
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Westchester County and NYSDOT have
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programs in each borough. The NYCDO
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IV. PEDESTRIAN SAFETY ISSUES IN THE
Page 45 and 46: Drivers: Typical statements about d
Page 47 and 48: • Ability to lift foot high decre
Page 49 and 50: The national data indicates that th
Page 51 and 52: Vendors Vendors set up their carts
Page 53 and 54: Table 4.1 Continued Staten Island H
Page 55 and 56: 4.4 Existing Infrastructure and Lan
Page 57 and 58: Some sidewalks are poorly designed
Page 59 and 60: pedestrian design. At least one per
Page 61 and 62: Crosswalks need to be more visible.
Page 63 and 64: V COUNTERMEASURES AND STRATEGIES Th
Page 65 and 66: timing and street lighting. New Jer
Page 67 and 68: Providing Sidewalks: Walking-along-
Page 69 and 70: the pedestrian crash rate was signi
Page 71 and 72: Speed management through engineerin
Page 73 and 74: nearby streets. Whereas Bus-pedestr
Page 75 and 76: and have geometric curvature that e
Page 77 and 78: Roadway narrowings are used to prov
Page 79 and 80: have experienced a maintenance prob
Page 81 and 82: measures with specific geographic a
Page 83 and 84: and 3.0 feet per second more approp
Page 85 and 86: Figure 5.17 Split Phase Cycle Sourc
Page 87 and 88: Combined Automatic and Actuated Sig
Page 89 and 90: 5.2.5 Visibility To insure safety,
Page 91 and 92: Pedestrian Crosswalk Signs: There a
Page 93 and 94: also be placed next to the stop lin
Page 95: Table 5.5 Crash Reduction Factors f
Page 99 and 100: 5.3.3 Educating Local Officials and
Page 101 and 102: • Good planning and organization.
Page 103 and 104: VI. FUNDING Funding for pedestrian
Page 105 and 106: York, Projects are chosen by the NY
Page 107 and 108: NHTSA distributes the Section 402 f
Page 109 and 110: VII. RECOMMENDATIONS As noted in Ch
Page 111 and 112: o Safe Routes to School • NYMTC s
Page 113 and 114: easy to use is residential populati
Page 115 and 116: REFERENCES American Council of the
Page 117 and 118: ITE (1998) Design and Safety of Ped
Page 119 and 120: Parsons Brincherhoff Quade & Dougla
Page 121 and 122: Intentionally left blank. NYMTC Ped
Page 123 and 124: Intentionally left blank. NYMTC Ped
Page 125 and 126: NYMTC Pedestrian Safety Interview f
Page 127 and 128: 12. Do you have any strategies or t
Page 129 and 130: Appendix B: PEDESTRIAN SAFETY CONTA
Page 131 and 132: New York City Department of Transpo
Page 133 and 134: Suffolk County Department of Public
Page 135 and 136: Appendix C: TRAFFIC SAFETY BOARD CO
Page 137 and 138: Appendix D: ON LINE PEDESTRIAN SAFE
Page 139 and 140: FARS Query System is an interactive
Page 141 and 142: Education and Enforcement Counterme
Page 143 and 144: Appendix E: NEW YORK CITY FATATLIES
Page 145 and 146: Appendix F: Prompt Lists for Pedest
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Pedestrian Safety Prompt List Gener
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pathway provide direct access to wa
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If so, is there a sign that explain
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